Integrated Software Development at Amplified
Amplified software developers are best described as roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-shit-done code ninjas. Every engineer is either a full-stack developer, or is on track to become a full-stack developer. Amplifiers love technical challenges and are always looking for opportunities to expand their skillsets. As of today, Amplified’s technical competencies include:
Front-end: JavaScript, TypeScript, React, React Native, Angular, Svelte, NativeScript
Back-end: Java, Node.js, .NET, Play, Express, GraphQL, SQL and NoSQL Databases, C++
Cloud: AWS, Azure, Heroku, Firebase, Hasura
DevOps: Quality Assurance, CI/CD, standby support, data and analytics
We build software in one of two ways. Either we work independently on a standalone project (such as an MVP for a pre-launch startup) or we join forces with a client’s technical team and work in an integrated fashion. The rest of this blog post elaborates on the second model: integrated software development. To learn more about the first model — independent software development — read this blog post instead.
Integrated Software Development
Some startups — typically, post-launch, growth-stage companies — already have a strong internal engineering team. Their problem is not that they can’t build software. Rather, they can’t hire fast enough to execute all of their product goals. For these teams, partnering with Amplified offers the opportunity to scale up their development efforts in a fast and affordable way.
In this staff augmentation model, communication and coordination is key. We will work with your team to synchronize processes and tools. On processes, we will adopt a common agile methodology, such that we are maintaining a mutual backlog and working on the same sprint schedules. On tools, we will join whatever you are using, whether it be Jira, Trello, Asana, GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Teams, Drive, etc.
The first few weeks will be critical, as we will have to constantly ask ourselves “what is working and what is not working?” and then adjust accordingly. Bottom-line: so long as we communicate effectively and both parties are willing to make some adjustments to their work processes, then we can certainly set ourselves up for a successful integration.
Two questions that come up frequently here are: (i) what is it like working across time zones, and (ii) how strong are the English proficiencies of the Amplified contributors?
Amplified’s product team is located in Romania, which is 7 hours ahead of New York and 10 hours ahead of San Francisco. If you’re in Silicon Valley, your 11 PM is our 9 AM, and your 8 AM is our 6 PM. So if your team can schedule calls in the morning (say between 7 AM and 10 AM), or late at night (after 10 PM), then we’ll be able to work across the time difference.
English capabilities vary from person to person, of course. On our team, English proficiency ranges from working proficient to near-native fluency. Nobody on our team struggles to understand written or verbal English. However, some contributors may speak in heavy accents that are more noticeable. And other individuals are naturally quiet and reserved, giving the impression that their spoken English isn’t very strong, when in fact it’s more the case that they are introverted and prefer to listen. That said, our PMs and Engineering Leads speak fluent English, so you will not have a problem communicating with the people leading the Amplified team. If a communication gap does surface at some point, they can step in and bridge it.
How much does this all cost?
That’s always the million-dollar question, isn’t it? And unfortunately, the answer is always, “it depends.”
Amplified bills hourly, which is effectively the same as hiring a team at X price that will work for you over Y period of time. With a dedicated team from Amplified, you can shift direction and priorities without worrying that the development team will insist on new prices and contractual terms.
So, what are our bill rates? They range between $30 and $100 an hour. Someone billing $30 is likely a recent college graduate who is quite good — good enough to pass our technical assessments, which are effin’ hard — but doesn’t have years and years of experience. Senior developers bill between $50 and $70 and Jedi Master developers bill at even higher rates.
That said, we do, of course, provide estimates at the beginning of a project. We will also periodically re-estimate throughout the project as necessary. Additionally, if you have an idea for a new feature we can provide an estimate for that so you can compare the cost of developing that feature to other priorities. But these estimates are purely to provide budgetary alignment and to inform product decision making.
That’s all, folks. If you have more questions or want to chat further, send us an email at hello@amplified.software.
