Front-end Development Outsourcing: How to Do it Right Way

Table of Contents

Introduction to Front-end Development Outsourcing

Earlier, a simple web design was enough for users to keep them hinged to your website, web application, or mobile application. However, with modern technology and information presentation advancements, it becomes vital that the front-end developers do magician work to keep their audience captive. Users have numerous attention-seeking options to linger upon in the front-end arena, such as interactive, intuitive, chat interfaces, video calls, and dashboards, etc., much more.

When front-end developers are burdened with such high expectations of keeping your business’ digital presence high, you must ensure that you exclusively give enough room for front-end development. Lately, we have seen the demand for front-end development outsourcing rise steeply.

Statistics for Front-end Web Development

As per Indeed in October 2021, there are around 19.5K job openings for front-end developers, which shows the hiking demands for front-end developers in the USA. Also, if we check on the Google trends, the worldwide interest in the arena of front-end web development is constantly increasing for the past 5 years.

Such precedential growth in demand for frontend developers has changed the perceptions of startup owners and the market scenario. The average salary of front-end developers in the United States is approx $103,193, from Indeed front-end developer statistics.

Looking at the client expectations of intuitive and responsive user interface and the growing demand and higher salary expectations of front-end developers, entrepreneurs are remarking to outsourcing front-end development to offshore service providers.

Though over time, outsourcing has been practiced, focusing on the core (back-end) development of your project on your own, in front of your eyes, whereas delegating the front-end development to external service providers turns out to be a smart decision.

Why is Outsourcing Front-end Development a Wise Decision?

The demand for smart, sharp, acute, and modern digital solutions, be it web applications, mobile applications, or website redesign services, has dramatically increased. This increased the developers’ role and tasks, and hence entrepreneurs have started outsourcing their development outside.

As we saw the stats for front-end development outsourcing, some of you might be questioning why there is a need for outsourcing front-end development when it is comparatively easier than back-end development.

Front-end development deals with HTML, CSS, Javascript, and the newly developing javascript frameworks. Added, the front-end is easily accessible from the algorithm and coding side as compared to the back-end development. The UI development is quite tricky and requires paramount effort and precision. It includes frequent testing of the output with several devices for responsive-ness.

It becomes viable and effective to outsource front-end development because you can focus on the core functionality development of your project and database management and emerging technologies like AI, cloud computing, IoT, etc.

However, you must constantly synchronize your front-end and back-end development, especially when outsourcing either one or both. Let us now look at the advantages of outsourcing front-end development.

1. Focus on Core Project Functionality & Business Processes

As you outsource front-end development to an external service provider, you can lay focus on the essential functionality development or database management of your project.

2. Time & Budget Saving

Offshore outsourcing reduces your development costs and hence it is highly beneficial for your business.

3. Rebuilding existing Front-end

When your team has developed a project from scratch and you are not much satisfied with its front-end, then it is wise that you outsource the front-end development rather than asking your in-house team.

Outsourcing Front-end Development: Things to Consider

Many entrepreneurs are cautious about outsourcing because of the risks associated, but here we have enlisted the things of considerations before engaging in any partnership.

Synchronize & Organize

As you go for outsourcing, you rely on an external service provider for their front-end development services. Hence, it becomes vital that you convey your project requirements clear and precisely. More importantly, because front-end and back-end development go in-hand always. You must assure that you understand your service provider’s process, method, and work pattern for best collaboration.

Backend Integration

Ensure that your front-end development partners provide the API documentation by which you can collaborate your back-end with the front-end development. Some of the popular API documentation tools are Swagger UI, Spotlight, etc. These tools enable the front-end developers to design the front-end accordingly to analyze how the back-end is written.

Surely it demands efforts from backend developers, and it is a two-way process to keep the project working smoothly.

Cultural & Timezone Differences

Mostly you are going to outsource front-end development from distant countries, looking at their cost of development. Hence, you must be considerate about their time difference as well as cultural differences. Though the IT field is flexible enough to coordinate with the time zones globally, you must keep the engagement high.

Reliable Service Provider

No matter where and how you find your outsourcing partner, always keep in mind that a reliable and trustworthy service provider will never let you down. You are always going to remember the human factor or the personal attention they lend to your project. Effective partnership and collaboration are a result of the trust you put in them.

Pick the right Outsourcing model

You can choose from the following most common outsourcing models- Staff augmentation, Project-based outsourcing(time & material), and Dedicated development model. Choose whichever suits your project and business requirements.

⦿ Staff augmentation for front-end development outsourcing: When your development team is short of certain skills required for a short period, you should look for expanding your team with outsourced (front-end) developers who can fill in the gap. Suppose if you have a backend development team in-house, then you can outsource front-end development to offshore partners. This type of outsourcing is known as Staff augmentation. Staff augmentation is the ideal method of offshore outsourcing.

⦿ Project-based front-end development outsourcing: Here, you delegate the entire responsibility to the service providers, providing you with the final expected project output. Furthermore, you can take this model in either of two approaches- fixed-cost or time & material.

In fixed cost outsourcing, you pre-decide the cost of development by estimating the development time. On the other hand, in the time & material model, you have a fixed cost of development per hour. At the end of the project, you calculate the number of hours of development multiplied by the cost of development.

Dedicated development for front-end: In this outsourcing model, you hire dedicated developer with an external team who works on your project under your control and observation. In this method, you need to be more engaging than the project-based development but less than the augmented model.

Which outsourcing model is perfect for Front-end development?

The deciding factor is not one but many. As you figure out how much technical know-how you have regarding your project, how much control you want on the project development, or which method feels right to you, and more, then you can find your development method.
If you are still confused about what to choose- staff augmentation, project-based, or dedicated development model for your front-end development, contact us, and we will give you a profitable choice.

Whichever outsourcing method you choose, make sure you communicate and decide the roles and delegation beforehand with your service provider partner.

You may choose a full-cycle development where the front-end development partners will provide you with the wireframes, mockups, app logic, and coding. At the same time, you will have to provide them with the documentation, backend, databases, and integrations.

If you decide on only coding development, your front-end development partners will provide just the code and the rest you need to take care of.

Step by Step Guide to Front-end Development Outsourcing

Now, let us begin by acknowledging and revising the literal method of front-end development outsourcing. Yes, sure, you already know these steps, but visualizing in front of us and then keeping a check on each step helps, right?

Here are the one-by-one things to execute for your planning.

Of course, the first thing is to partner with a reliable partner, which is vital for your outsourcing. Next, you share your plan and ideas with them so that they completely understand your requirements. After that, your part doesn’t end here. You need to engage in regular and frequent communication with your offshore software development company.

As you are outsourcing front-end, it becomes essential to synchronize your backend development with frontend and integrate them hassle-free. Finally, giving a graceful closure to both your development teams is the right thing to do.

Cost of Outsourcing Front-end Development

Of course, pricing or cost-reduction is not the primary and focal agenda of outsourcing front-end development. Still, the project development costs vary drastically as you change your development partner’s geographical location. For instance, it may vary to a vast range-difference, from $15/hr to $175/hr.

Another important aspect of pricing lies in the type of your project and the length of your project. A complex project will require a higher cost compared to a simple, straightforward project. Hence, you can not know the direct cost of your project’s front-end development outsourcing.

However, we have classified the top countries to outsource having varied development costs in six categories.

As we can see, front-end development costs vary immensely in different parts of the world, and also it is a significant factor for your outsourcing. If you compare the front-end development cost of other Asian countries and other front-end development companies with Bacancy, you get simple and transparent pricing along with secure coding and a fully-signed NDA agreement.

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the benefits of outsourcing front-end development?

Some of the advantages of outsourcing are time-saving, cost reduction, expertise, flexible staff, reduced risk, and much more.

What are the different types of outsourcing?

Local outsourcing, nearshoring, and offshore outsourcing are the three types of outsourcing.

Which are the different outsourcing models?

Dedicated team development model, project-based development model, and staff augmentation are the three types of outsourcing models.

What are the risks of outsourcing front-end development?

Certain things to be cautious about before or while outsourcing are:

• Inexperienced staff
• Weak management
• Uncertainty in business
• Lack of learning
• Loss of innovation

What are the responsibilities of the outsourced front-end development team?

Writing a semantic HTML markup along with CSS, javascript manipulation with DOM, testing the front-end across devices, browsers, and screen-sizes, optimizing performance, co-ordinating with back-end development team, architecting flexibility, and maintaining presentational components are the core responsibilities of front-end developers.