Everyone Hires a Bad Developer Once!
The most expensive app development mistake a business owner can make is hiring a bad developer – and unfortunately, it’s a pitfall that many fall into!
This inevitably leads to setbacks such as:
- Terrible communication
- Going over the budget
- Missing deadlines, and
- Poor product quality
The really ‘lucky’ ones experience all of the above!
Over the years, Upstack Studio has handled a few business owners like these – new to app development and unaware of red flags to look out for.
They ended up hiring bad developers who kindly taught them what these red flags felt like!
In this post, we’ll be sharing three memorable bad developer stories from our past in the hopes readers take heed and learn how to find a good app development team!
1. A Remote Team With No Accountability
A business owner wanted to build an online tuition matching platform and was shopping around different app development agencies.
Most quoted over $100k, except one which offered to do it for just $60k.
Guess which one this business owner ended up engaging?
The agency used a remote development team from Indonesia, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, remote hiring AND aggressive cost-cutting is a recipe for disaster.
The result was a year of wasted investment, zero communication, and a buggy app that couldn’t be launched after all the trouble they went through!
When the business owners came to us $60,000 poorer, the app’s codebase was salvageable but they were both exhausted and out of funds and so decided to give up.
Lessons for business owners:
- Research your development firm: Ensure they are reliable and capable.
- Never sacrifice quality for cost-savings: You may end up with poor results and wasted money.
- Fire bad developers early: The longer you wait, the more costly the mistakes become.
2. The Technical Co-Founder Was The Bad Developer!
These business owners had secured a government grant from MDEC and came to us for help with the “finishing touches” of their almost complete app.
We’ve heard this before, and it’s never a good sign.
Sure enough, when we took a look at the app and codebase, we found bad UI design, poorly designed navigation, wonky front and backend integration, and a messy codebase to boot!
The app didn’t need finishing touches – it needed a finishing blow to put it out of its misery!
What happened?
The app’s technical co-founder had built most of the app, but they were a backend developer with no mobile app experience.
The grant was nearly spent but the app was far from ready.
Our team did what we could, but after multiple requests for free work, we had to fire the client.
The app was never launched, and hundreds of thousands in government funds got wasted.
Lessons for business owners:
- Ensure your tech team has the right skills: The right expertise is key for project success.
- Don’t expect free work: “Goodwill” doesn’t mean free labor; no developer works for free.
- Government grants rule: We wonder if they would have been so cavalier about spending if the funds had come out of their own pocket.
3. Their Developer Had ALL THE RED FLAGS
In November 2023, a US-based non-profit approached Upstack Studio after facing significant issues with their app and website developers.
Here is a list of their complaints:
- Poor Communication: The development team failed to communicate effectively, causing delays and confusion.
- App Performance Issues: The app was slow and nearly unusable, hindering user experience.
- Design Mismatches: The final product did not match the initial design mockups, affecting the visual appeal and usability.
- Excessive Bugs: There were numerous bugs, and fixing one created more, making it difficult to stabilize the app.
- App and Website Didn’t Sync: The app and website didn’t work cohesively, further complicating maintenance and functionality.
- Unscalable Codebase: The codebase was poorly structured and not scalable, meaning it couldn’t handle growth or new features without breaking.
- Improper Feature Implementation: Some features were not coded properly, limiting functionality and leading to further problems.
We’re used to hearing about issues with developers, but this took the cake – we’d never heard of so much problems from ONE DEVELOPER!
We did some digging and the development agency was founded by a film producer with no background in software development!
We suspect the founder hired someone to build them an app, realized the potential profit, and decided to offer app development services.
The founder then hired a remote team abroad without the ability to assess or oversee their work.
Cue bad developers, wasted money, and a bug-ridden app that couldn’t be launched!
We ended up offering the non-profit two choices:
- Patch the problems temporarily
- Rebuild the app from scratch
We’re happy to say they chose to rebuild, still with us today and very satisfied with results.
Takeaways:
- Rebuilding a non-scalable codebase is often the better choice: Though painful, rebuilding is the most sustainable solution for long-term growth.
- Deal with codebase problems early: Waiting to address an unscalable codebase will make future updates and fixes increasingly difficult, much like a snowball growing bigger as it rolls downhill.
- Good communication is essential: Effective communication between developers and clients is critical to prevent misalignment and issues.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of scalability: A non-scalable app may work temporarily, but it will cause ongoing problems as the app grows.
Key Takeaways from These Bad Developer Stories
We won’t waste your time – here’s what you need to take away from this post.
Across the stories, cost-cutting, lack of expertise, and mismanagement led to wasted time and money with their app development projects.
Dear business owners: If you want good quality work and pleasant teammates, avoid shortcuts, address issues early, and invest in proven app development processes for long-term growth!
If you’re looking to build a mobile application, check out our portfolio of past projects and contact us if you like what you see. Also, consider joining our mailing list for a one-stop resource on everything from micro-SaaS validation all the way to execution and promotion. Get a nifty list of questions to ask app developers when you sign up!
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