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Hey, this is the Daily Overpass! My name is Eric and I make apps! Now today, I want
to talk about something you should look out for when hiring a software
development firm.
Alright. So today, I want to talk - to those of you out there who might be
thinking about hiring an offshore software development firm, or not
necessarily offshore, it could be onshore, the location doesn't
really make a difference. But like if you're like me, you get a lot of emails
from software companies who say, "Hey. we're a software development firm. We
specialize in mobile application development, PHP, SharePoint, web. they'll list
every technology in the world. By the way, if I ever see SharePoint, I stop reading.
Just a little tip for those of you, guys, who are sending me those emails.
So, that lists all the different technologies that they use and then a
lot of times, they'll list a lot of the apps that they've worked on, so like the
portfolio and most of the time, the apps aren't their apps. But they're their
clients' apps. Alright, so, what I wanted to tell you about are some
experiences I've had. One of the things that I think you should do is
make - is when you look at those fat portfolio of applications, which by the
way is really important. It's important to see what they've worked on before, so
you can see what kind of skills they have and everything. But you can't really
see the code .You can just see the design and the flow of everything; which
they may not have been their decision. But, you know, you see if it's robust and
everything like that. But I want to tell you a story about a company that
I've worked with before that, you know, it's what makes me so cynical when
I see those emails. So, when I started doing apps , you know,
I was started doing it myself, doing the code myself, and then I realized I just
didn't have the time. I had to work at the contract, I had family, so
much stuff going on. So, I thought, I'll hire some developers and I did. hired a
software development company they they had a portfolio of a few different apps.
It was a great deal but I hired them. But they were experts
because they told me they were experts. By the way, I did see
the code after they started in - the code was not great, but I thought, "Okay,
they were juniors. I could live with this." They're really
cheap, you know. We can continue going with this, which is, you know,
it's a trade-off. But then after a while I started realizing that my apps were on
their website. Like they didn't ask me. They just - all of a sudden, my
apps were on their website, So, I said, "You know, it kind of bothered me." But I
thought, I don't know what the rules are here cuz it was still early. I thought
maybe that's just a thing. This, you know, I was did their clients, I said
we've worked on Ear Spy and this one and that one, that one, right?
And then, but some of them were like the they were like I knew that I had done - I
had done the flow. I was the one who came up with idea and I went
hired elsewhere for the designers. Because one of the problems I had in
those early days was we had no design skills in it. The company says, "Oh no,
no. We got a designer. It's gonna be perfect. And it looked terrible!
Everything looked terrible. So, eventually we went out and got other
designer. I was like - I was more like - I wasn't the developer anymore, but I
was more like the producer. I'm like, "I'll get this guy from over here, this guy
over here, to these guys over here or whatever. Everything worked well except
that they were kind of passing off my apps as their own. And it
wasn't - they weren't even saying it was Overpass. I kind of say, "Hey, can you
just change it to put "We did this for Overpass"? At least, you know, all this
stuff. And it took a while but eventually they did. We just
ignored those emails. And then and then like a few months later, like I was
still working with them and then I get - I was on their list, their email list that
goes out the ones that say, "Hey, we're Indian or sorry, but not Indian
specifically, but we're a software development company and we were
specialized in these technologies, whatever..." And it was saying "we could do
your mobile app for you and everything>" And I'm thinking, "Hey, this is the company
that I'm already working with and I've already done it. And all the apps that
were listed under there were my apps. And they didn't do, like I knew
they didn't do any of the design, they didn't do any of the code. I had to fix a
lot of the code myself. So, even though went on to the to the App Store and they
had done,you know, a good deal of work on the back end, the code was really not
great and they didn't do any of the design work. Of course, when you're
looking at the app on the App Store and you're looking at how polished it looks
and how professional it looks, a lot of that has to do with the design. They had
nothing to do with. So, my cautionary tale to you, for those of you who are
thinking about working with a company, if they give you a portfolio of apps and
it's not their own application. They've done it for clients which
is cool. That's fine. You're not everybody does apps for
themselves too. You know, check to see whether or not that designer who worked
on that is actually the designer that's going to be working with them, or if that
came with their client, brought in the designer,
or like that was the case with me and everything. And we - if
that designer is with them, is that designer could be working with you on
your project, if you really like that kind of work. So, it's just something to
look out for. I was just - I was really kind of annoyed with it, and it was one
of those things where I would complain but then I thought, maybe I shouldn't
complain. And to this day, this is the reason why I don't list clients on
my website, on the Overpass website. And we've had really good clients, right?
Every so often I look at other app development company websites
that, I know, we should put these guys, their logos on our website.
I don't really want to ask them. That's one of the things that, you know, I
just - it would bother me if I didn't go and ask permission first. And I just - I
can't be bothered. Besides when clients come and they're looking for an
app to be developed or not, if the story's not about us, it's more about
how we can help them. So, that's always been my my philosophy on that. So, anyway,
let me know what you, guys, think. Would that bother you if you hired a developer
and then all of a sudden they started using your work to promote their
services without checking with you first? Anyway, that's it for today. I will talk
to you, guys, tomorrow.