Poor article. All cons can be for on-site employees as well.
Confidentiality Issues
While not very common, there are industries and companies in which issues of confidentiality mean that it is difficult to work with freelancers. Of course, you can ask that they sign a non-disclosure agreement, but you’ll still have to weigh up the risks.
How is that much different than with an on-site employee?
Get a patent, if you have anything patentable, otherwise NDA is pretty much nonsense, it’s just more like a formality.
Since freelancers as a rule have multiple projects at the same time, it’s quite possible the freelancer of your choice is unavailable when you need him or her.
Not true.
Freelancing does not imply working on multiple projects at the same time.
Your on-site employee can have some side work as well, this happens a lot in IT. And he\she can become ‘unavailable’ too or perform poorly too.
Less Control
… However, if you plan well, establish milestones, and set clear progress reporting rules, you will be less likely to experience last minute disasters.
Isn’t this the same management you need to do for on-site employees as well?
Also, the article forgets to mention odesk.com, freelancer.com the most popular international freelancing portals.
My random thoughts on freelancing:
- Not all projects are suitable for remote work, but many software work is.
- A freelancer can be as good or as bad as on-site one.
- Depending on the local work legislation, firing an employee can actually be a difficult thing. So freelancing from this perspective can be a better option.
- The hiring process for a freelancer shouldn’t be different than for on-site.
- With the right setup and communication tools(there are lots of good ones these days) remote work isn’t a problem.
- Don’t be greedy. Be realistic about the quote your are looking for to pay.
If you believe in the magical software engineer for 5$ \ hour, don’t cry if it doesn’t turn out like you hoped.
Someone with a good command of English and good skills will quickly find something better than the 5$ \ hour you are paying.