Are you planning a software development project that may be going on for months or even years?
Are you already developing some kind of software product but feel like the project is not progressing fast enough?
Are there often misunderstandings happening between the dev team and other teams at your company?
Are you thinking of starting a new project but are not sure what technology would be best to use?
Do you feel your developers are not working closely enough with each other and lack a good leader?
In all of these cases, one of the best remedies might be to hire a software consultant.
Who is a software consultant?
Software consultants are people who organize and partly lead the technological part of your project. Although they are very important to the whole process, they are often not working full-time for a company, but rather externally, being regularly in touch with the people that need them at your organization.
To give a better understanding of how actually software development consulting works, let’s look at some of the most important and typical responsibilities of a software consultant:
- Recommending technology to be used for a project. This can include programming languages, frameworks and libraries, specific database/server solutions, and more.
- Understanding the needs of clients and translating them into specific objectives and tasks to be performed by the development team.
- Planning and coordinating the development process.
- Reviewing the current processes, modifying them when needed.
- Coordinating the work of various technical teams working on the same project, e.g. developers, QA/testers, designers.
To simplify things, a software consultant is a person you ask what and how to do, and later this information is passed to your technical teams who do the actual work (code, design, test).
Remember, however, that this kind of person providing software consulting services is not a replacement of a Product Owner, Project Manager, Team Lead, or any other similar roles, even though they do seem to have comparable responsibilities. Software consultancy should be rather considered a useful add-on to your whole software development process.
When you might need a software consultant?
Let’s explore a bit more what has been already mentioned in the introduction to this piece: why you actually might need software consulting services?
There are two major situations when software consultants are hired:
- At the start of a new project, when the technology to be used has to be recommended.
- When an existing project reached a stalemate or is simply not doing as well as it was planned.
In both cases, a software consultant can be hired to research the idea behind the project, review the needs of clients, organize the technical process, and more. While some companies hire consultants for a one-time gig, it’s recommended to keep in touch with the same software consultant throughout the whole development process. By taking a holistic approach and regularly reviewing all the processes at your company, they can provide you with the best optimization for the project.
Software Developer vs Software Consultant vs IT Business Consultant — what are the differences?
With so many different new roles popping up in IT these days, it may be difficult to distinguish which person does what. In the case of a software consultant, the misunderstandings come mostly from the similarities between this role, software developer, and IT business consultant.
To put it simply:
- A software developer is someone who is responsible for programming. They write the code, fix the issues with it, maintain the tech side of the product.
- Software consultants advise on what and how should be done on the tech side of the project. They mostly don’t code for you themselves, especially if they work as external contractors. They do, however, have an engineering background.
- IT business consultants are focused on advising on the topics related to management, operational process at the company, marketing, etc. The addition of “IT” before “business consultant” means simply that they are focused on companies who work with software. An IT business consultant is NOT a software analyst, does not advise on the technical aspects of your project (however, they can help you organize your dev team).
What type of experience/background should a software consultant have?
Software consultants may not code for you, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t know how to do it. In fact, a software consultant SHOULD have previous experience working as an engineer.
Most typically, software consultants are people who firstly became senior developers (10+ years of working experience in the area). This suggests that during their career they have also played leadership/managerial roles at development teams.
What does this mean for your hiring process? That you should always review the career of your potential software consultant, looking for one with extensive experience in engineering and leadership positions — one who actually passed the career path from being a junior to a senior dev, and later used their experience to set up a consultancy firm.
What skills a good software consultant should have?
Is being a great software engineer enough to become a great software engineer consultant? Not really, even though significant technical knowledge is a must in this role. Here is a short list of the most important skills you should look for in your potential software consultant.
- Extensive, full-stack knowledge of a variety of technologies (front-end, back-end, mobile, web, etc. — always search accordingly to your needs)
- Knowledge of popular IT management methodologies (agile, DevOps, Scrum, Lean, etc.)
- Experience in facing clients and stakeholders (and openness to do so)
- Extensive experience in communicating the same messages in different ways, to different groups (clients, managers, stakeholders, developers)
- Experience in leadership/management
- Adaptability — being able to analyze the project holistically at any moment of its development, easily transferring to working with new companies/projects/teams
- Understanding of how business is run
- Understanding of good design, UI, UX
- Ability to handle time management for yourself and others
- The attitude of following trends and being able to pick the future-proof ones
Finding a software consultant that fits you perfectly
Besides assessing the skills and experience of your software engineer consultant candidate, you should consider how well they fit your company and your exact project.
Three main things to consider are:
- Industry fit
It’s recommended to look for a software consultant who has previously worked with companies linked to the same industry as yours. If they have, they probably already know some verified solutions that can be implemented also in your project.
- Project fit
Mobile apps, web apps, AI/machine learning software, Internet of Things devices — there are so many different types of IT-related products that are being developed these days, that it’s really difficult to have the necessary understanding of the technology behind all of them. That’s why, when looking for a software consultant, you should prioritize those candidates who don’t only have experience with your industry, but also with a product/type of product similar to yours. Once again, this will give you an advantage in the form of a software engineer consultant who might already have some solutions for your product in mind.
- Company culture fit
As a software consultant is working closely with multiple groups of people related to a product (not only company members but also clients!), it’s especially important to find one that already understands the ideas behind how your company is being managed. This can relate to multiple features, such as flexible or non-flexible working hours, remote or in-office work, focus on teamwork or on more individualistic processes, or the way hierarchy works in your business. Different software consultants prefer different approaches, so it’s incredibly important to find one that won’t only have experience in the type of company culture you strive for, but also enjoys working in such an environment.
Building a team with software consultant
Connecting with a software consultant is the first step to understanding what your project needs to achieve the results you planned. If you are building your team from scratch, a software consultant might also advise on who exactly do you need to hire.
Whoever the software consultant recommends, be it project managers, designers, developers, or data scientists, Ideamotive can deliver. We’ve established an unusually large network of top IT talents looking for new challenges and work opportunities.
Connect with us today to build your unicorn-level dream team.
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