Hiring a web application design company is pretty difficult if you aren’t an experienced web app developer yourself. Since computer code might be Greek to you, you could hire a 3rd party consultant to help you sort through various freelancers and companies. Regardless of how you proceed, here’s what you need to look out for before you hire anyone to work on your application.
1. Sloppy Programmers
Not all computer programers know how to write clean code. That might seem odd, but it’s true. Amateur programmers often write sloppy and disorganized code without regard or consideration for future growth. In other words, if you go back and want to add to the application, one coder’s work may not allow another to step in and take his place – not good if you want to switch programmers or companies.
Sloppy programming sometimes results from not having a degree, but sometimes degrees don’t matter. Bad companies can hide behind a plethora of certifications, their programmers can tout degrees, but the real benefit to you will be experience.
Most experienced coders have cleaner code simply because they’ve been immersed in the industry for so long and have learned how to do things the right way.
2. Clean, Consistent, Code
There’s more than one way to get the same result. One programming company may write 10 lines of code to another company’s 2 lines. Efficiency counts, especially when you’re paying for professional work. An SQL Query can be written so badly that the SQL server software or CPU can grind to a halt after just five concurrent database connections. Not good.
It’s true that there’s always going to be some type of learning curve for a programmer to study and learn someone’s code, but hiring a company should eliminate this problem – especially if you’re working on a project from start to finish with one company.
3. Adherence to Coding Standards
Finally, you want a company that uses consistent coding standards. Web Application Frameworks are an organizational system that allow programming companies to work on the same project. This is really great because it means that your software is handled on a virtual “assembly line.” When one sift ends for one programmer, another one can step in and continue where the last one left off. This structured system uses reusable libraries and components so that your software app can be expanded in the future.
If your programming company adheres to standards, then the learning curve is pretty short from one developer to the next and, most importantly, anyone can pick up the software and start adding to it without running into any major problems.
Auditing The Process
Before you sign up to work with any company, make sure that you’ll have ownership over the final program code, that you will be able to take the program to another company for future development if you wish, that there won’t be any copyright issues (arising from a coder copyrighting his code), and that the program actually comes with documentation to allow other programmers to expand the app in the future. You also want to know what type of quality assurance testing will be done. The last thing you want is to receive a program that’s buggy right out of the gate. If you make sure to address all of these issues, and follow up with your programmer, you should be good to go on your next project.