Hiring developer talent from gig platforms is an ideal way for big companies to push projects to completion. There might be a skills shortage in your Node.js project that needs specialized JavaScript skills your team might not have. It makes sense for companies to hire developers on-demand as necessary, but they should tread cautiously into this brave new world of on-call employment. Picking the right platform will ensure you’re dealing with a skilled contractor rather than a dilettante with no track record of completing projects.
The Promise and Problems of Traditional Gig Platforms
A traditional gig platform allows anyone to join and hawk their skills online. These commodity work platforms are highly competitive, making it hard for companies to choose because nobody seems to stand out. Entry-level gig platforms offer undifferentiated workers to be plugged into any project that simply needs more developer labor.
Developers fight to survive on these platforms by going more and more niche to avoid competition. The problem with too many unremarkable workers is that prices are driven down. Anyone who has any talent will leave these entry-level platforms unless they want to be pounded into a widgetized commodity.
The Problems With Mid-Tier Gig Platforms
There is a tier above the entry-level mass labor gig marketplaces that allow developers to showcase their talents. These mid-tier platforms allow workers to post resumes that reveal what an employer would get by hiring this person. These resumes highlight:
• Their areas of specialties and core skills.
• A brief biography detailing their schooling and work history.
• A gallery of completed work or URLs to completed projects.
The problem with these mid-tier gig platforms is that they are not selective in whom they take. A platform like UpWork allows anyone who meets their basic criteria to post a resume. Talented developers do not feel valued on these platforms as there is too much competition driving the price down.
The mid-tier platforms also suffer from a lack of gating their applicants. What often happens is that there is an overabundance of workers who focus on languages that they think are in demand (e.g., Ruby). But the current marketplace has an even greater need for older languages like PHP and JavaScript.
Mid-tier platforms are open by nature and allow workers easy entrance. This can make their platforms unbalanced with more workers concentrated in programming languages that are popular for newbies to learn but don’t match up to the demand of companies looking for programmers.
Top Gig Platforms Attract the Best Talent
The top gig worker platforms use a rigorous screening process to ensure only the best developers are retained on their site. Platforms like DevReady makes it a priority to attract top developers with proven track records. Large companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Samsung and HP count on DevReady to bring them developers ready to successfully complete projects.
• Developers at DevReady are vetted to ensure they have the technical knowledge that they profess.
• Their problem-solving skills are put to the test in a variety of work-related scenarios.
• DevReady assesses their developer candidates to ensure they have the go-getter personality necessary to complete projects on time.
Hiring On-Demand Developers For Speed & Flexibility
Flexibility is one common value that both employer and employee prefer in work arrangements. It turns out that the top three reasons for companies to hire non-employee gig workers are flexibility, speed and skill. LinkedIn found that 72% of IT professionals could work remotely, far and away the largest percentage of any industry.
Money is not the most important consideration for most companies when it comes to hiring outside talent. The cost to hire talent is not as important as hiring the best-skilled people at precisely the time when they’re needed.
Businesses need to adapt to an ever-changing market landscape by keeping top skilled talent deployed on high-value projects. But highly skilled workers are more challenging to find according to employers. Tech skills needed in the 1st quarter might differ from those necessary later in the year. Hiring developers on-demand allows companies to plug into these tech skills precisely when they’re needed most.
Hiring DevReady is an affordable and smart way to move forward in this new era of employment. Schedule a call to see what we can do for your company.
