10 Questions to Ask Your Web Development Team

As it happens with any development project, there’s plenty of things you should do before embarking on a new web development project. From delimiting the resulting product to considering budget matters, preparing everything related to your web project beforehand increases your chances of success down the line.

That’s why the questions you’ll find here are so important: because they’ll let you get acquainted with your web development team more intimately and learn what they are capable of. If you are out there hunting for web development companies, then you need this questionnaire curated by BairesDev web experts who chose the top 10 questions to help you pick the right partner.

#1 Have you worked on similar projects?

One of the first things you need to do is make sure that your potential web development team can fulfill your vision for the final product. This goes way beyond the technical capabilities of the software engineers and into the experience of working on similar projects. You can see this in two ways. First, you need a development team that has experience working on a similar product. Second, you should ideally go for a team with experience in your field (which, though not mandatory, can provide you with additional value and efficiency throughout the development lifecycle).

#2 What does your process look like?

All development projects have multiple things to consider from design to deployment. Web development isn’t any different, so you need a web team that has the roadmap figured out to lead you seamlessly to the project’s success. Ask your potential partner how that roadmap looks for them. How do they research your company and your end-users? How does the work move forward? Are there clearly defined stages? If the team can’t answer these questions, then move on to the next one.

#3 How long will it take for the project to be completed?

While it’s close to impossible to know beforehand, seasoned web developers can provide you with a reasonable estimate as to when you’ll get the finished product. This is especially important if you are working with a deadline because you need a team that’s readily available and can align with your own time frame. That’s why working with nearshore development companies like BairesDev is so good – because you’ll always get access to on-demand talented developers who will work exclusively on your project and get it done in a timely manner.

#4 What services will you provide?

Don’t assume that all web development teams will provide you with the same because their offerings are highly varied. So, it’s up to you to find out which services you will be hiring if you choose a particular team. Services you can ask about include UX and UI design, SEO, and integration with cutting-edge technologies like AI and blockchain. It’ll all depend on the project at hand and your specific needs but you need to be sure that the team you’re paying can provide you with the services you consider essential for your web development project.

#5 How involved will I be?

Depending on the type of business owner you are, you might want to be completely involved in the web development project or just chime in once the product is almost finished. Thus, you need a web development team that can work with the level of involvement you want. For instance, at BairesDev we can provide you with autonomous teams that can work on its own but that gets in touch with you as often as you like. On the other hand, we can also provide you with full-cycle custom software development that takes care of the entire project with minimal involvement from you.

#6 What assets do I have to provide?

This will depend on the type of web development company you are considering and your own expectations. For example, you might want to develop a project from scratch, which means the development team will require branding assets like company logo files and brand guide documents. On the other hand, you may need to refresh an existing web application, which means that you’ll have to share the app’s code and access to databases. Be sure to ask what things will you need to provide and which are ok for the team to create on their own.

#7 Is your work entirely custom-made?

Many web development companies offer custom and template web services to accommodate different needs and budgets. That’s why it’s important for you to know whether your web project will be entirely customized or not. There’ll be times when a hybrid might work for you (for instance, when you are working on your first website). However, you should always aspire to tailor-made web products, because they can provide a trove of benefits. Thus, you need to be sure if your potential partner can deliver high-quality custom work.

#8 Will I be able to update the project on my own?

The ideal scenario with any web development project is that you end up owning the final product in its entirety. This will allow you to work on it as you please without having to call the original development team to upgrade or update anything. So, you need to be sure that the resulting web product will be entirely yours with easy access and code clean enough for anyone to work on it in the future. Sure, you can also look for a long-standing partnership with a respectable web development company but having complete ownership of the final product never hurts.

#9 Can you provide me with past references and clients?

Before hiring anyone, you’ll obviously need to research them. This will surely take you to your web development team’s website and social media, where you’ll be able to check their portfolio and (hopefully) some testimonials about their work. While all this may seem enough, your safest bet is to ask your web developers for references and previous clients you can talk to directly. That way, you can access an unbiased opinion on the work of the team.

#10 What does our potential contract look like?

Finally, you need to protect yourself from potential issues down the line, and there’s no better way to do that than having a comprehensive contract that covers everything that will tie you with the web development team. This can also result in a service-level agreement that governs the services you’ll get from the team. You need to be sure that you’re legally covered in case anything happens so you don’t waste time and money.

The Right Web Development Partner

Finding the right partner for your web development project can take you some time but conducting thorough research about your options is the only way you have to ensure your project’s success. If you take the time and do the extra effort, you’ll likely find the web development provider that better suits your needs.

What’s more, you can end up finding a web development team like BairesDev, that can offer you the Top 1% of Web Development talent to jumpstart your projects on demand and provide value throughout the development lifecycle. We can answer all of the questions above and plenty more and are eager to hear about your project so contact us and tell us how we can help you.

Apps developed in different programming languages can communicate and exchange data through web services, which use XML to ensure platform independence. Web services can be used to invoke different procedures, functions, and methods over a network.

Web services are secure and agile. You can use them to pass documents, texts, and objects over the internet. They can also safely handle complicated tasks such as integrating frameworks. A web services provider is used to create web services and make them accessible to requestors.

Relevance of Web Services in Today’s Industry

Web services play an integral role in information exchange over the internet. Web services can connect different types of applications, whether they are local, distributed, or cloud-based. All major companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Dell use web services for exchanging data and messages over different networks.

The interoperability of web services makes them very valuable. It allows companies to save time and cost of finding a communication medium for connecting different applications. In addition, the SOAP protocol, normally used in web services, is also a low-cost option for transferring XML data over a network. This further reduces the cost associated with developing and using web services.

Issues companies have while hiring web services engineers

One of the major problems companies face when hiring an effective web services engineer is that most engineers only know the basics of web service development. They are unequipped to handle the technical challenges that come with it. Most web services can’t handle long-term sessions or large service requests. An experienced engineer should know how to optimize services along with managing their downsides.

Another issue with web service development is that HTTP and HTTPS servers are stateless, i.e., they don’t keep track of any user or their data. This means that web services have to be engineered in such a way that every request has metadata required to complete the request. That requires business expertise and knowledge that many engineers lack. As a web service engineer, you should be able to establish communication for stateless sessions securely.

How to select the perfect web services engineer?

A web services engineer has excellent knowledge of network communication and web services. Using that, they create platform-independent services for the internet. To check if a candidate is good, test their knowledge of web development. They should know how to integrate data into backend services and databases.

Go with an engineer who knows API modeling. The engineers should also be proficient in HTML, AJAX, Java, and Javascript. In addition, candidates with knowledge of SQL and Linux should be preferred.

FAQ

What’s the difference between web services and APIs?

API refers to the application programming interface, an interface used for building functionality over a network. It can run on both online and offline platforms and doesn’t need a network to work. It can also run on different protocols.

On the other hand, web services are specific code snippets you can use to complete a specific task. They require a network for execution and only use specific protocols for their operations (SOAP, REST, UDDI).

What is UDDI?

UDDI stands for Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration. It’s an XML framework for web service assistance. It uses Web Service Description Language (WSDL) to define service availability.

What are loosely coupled and tightly coupled systems?

In a loosely coupled web system, the users aren’t bound to any particular component. That means that the components are independent and can be modified easily. Web services are generally loosely coupled.

In a tightly coupled system, there is a direct connection between the user and the components. Therefore, if the client interface is changed, the server logic also needs to be changed to keep working properly.

What are the tools that you can use to assess a web service?

You can use the SoapUI tool for checking SOAP and REST web services. It simulates data transfer to check the functionality and state of a web service. The Poster is a Firefox add-on for web services analysis, while you can use Postman for Chrome.

You can also use WebInject to perform regression testing on services. It’s a command-line tool that evaluates systems response time.

Define synchronicity of web services.

Web services can be both synchronous and asynchronous. In synchronous web services, all client interactions are stopped till a call is returned. Once the call is returned, further client interactions or tasks are performed.

In asynchronous web services, the customer doesn’t wait for the service to complete its process. Instead, they can continue sending data while the first call is being returned.

We are looking for a highly qualified engineer to join our web development team. They will primarily work on front-end web development. We are looking for smart individuals who have good communication skills and can work on large projects.

The engineer should be able to perform code review and analyses. This is an excellent opportunity for engineers who want to work on exciting problems and improve their skills.

Responsibilities

Work on reusable and advanced architectures for web services
Develop, test, and implement web services. Should also be able to work on different technologies and APIs.
Use optimization techniques to improve application performance and security.
Perform code review to identify bugs and errors.
Use API modeling language and annotations for passing queries.
Use SQL statements for ORM databases.
Follow best industry practices and standards.
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