A Contract Developer is one who is employed on a temporary or fixed-length contract. They are often employed to develop specific applications/software or build specific projects for businesses. Contract developers are expected to be experts in their areas of specialization and are able to work under minimum or no supervision at all. If the project is for a short period of time, businesses are probably better off hiring contract developers for it.

Flexibility seems to be the biggest motivation for developers who work on a contract basis. The ability to choose when and with whom to work is one of the key benefits a contract developer has. They get to choose new and interesting challenges to work on and may even earn higher than their full-time counterparts.

Businesses on the other hand also have the flexibility to check out contractors with small projects and see if they can be trusted with bigger projects. And when their expectations are not met, they can easily let go of the contractors. Contract developers, because of their expertise level, are able to contribute to the project almost from day one. There is also the benefit of not needing office space/ equipment, among others.

Both the contract developer and businesses hiring them have important parts to play towards the success of the contract work.

In this article I am going to point out tips businesses can apply to make sure the contract work is a successful one.

Tips for working with contract developers

• Reasonable job advert: When it comes to contract work, there's a lot of trust involved. Be honest about the scope of work to be done when drawing up the job advert. Put every important detail out. Contract developers are somewhat experienced and can spot unreasonable adverts to avoid them.

• Sign a Contract: A legal agreement between the contractor and business is very imperative. This document should contain specific terms of work, payment structure, deadlines, ownership of software built, as well as exclusivity or non-exclusivity clauses. A contract protects the business from unsatisfactory performance, unmet deadlines etc.

• A well-structured Onboarding: How fast the contract worker is able to blend into the new team highly depends on the business’s onboarding process. You should have a robust process providing the contractor with all the details they need to work effectively so that the lack thereof doesn't disrupt the workflow down the line.

• Keep the communication line open always: Because a contractor is not part of your business full time, maintaining communication in this situation is always tricky. You want to keep up with them and get updates on the progress but you also don't want to be all over the place because they are well able to work unsupervised. Agreeing on the best way to communicate might be the best way to go, like having time in the week for demo and updates. Also, create a workspace like Slack or Discord where the contractor can easily reach out to you about anything.

• Stick to the payment agreement: Once you have hired a contract developer and they have begun doing your project, endeavour to keep up with the payment plan you agreed on. In a contract work relationship, the two parties are usually looking out for themselves and falling short in this area will greatly impact your contractor's productivity, and ultimately your project.

Conclusion

With hiring contractors, you have the flexibility to respond to market needs and demands as they arise. But working with them requires delicate measures to ensure a healthy employer-employee relationship in order to achieve a common goal. The tips above will help you work with your contract developers more efficiently.