Software development is a highly complex and quickly evolving industry. Even the strongest development teams sometimes struggle to maintain up with the newest technologies, skills, and trends.
That’s why it’s no surprise that being a lone software developer is particularly difficult. You could have to wear a dozen different hats, including coming up with ideas, concept development, programming, visual design, testing, documentation, hosting, and more.
Developing a whole project by yourself isn’t any small feat, so it’s good to know your options if you happen to ever have to outsource something. It is going to aid you address the solo developer problem effectively.
In this text, you’ll learn how one can outsource the hosting a part of software development and all the advantages that come together with that.
Introducing the Solo Web Developer Problem
If you happen to’re a developer, you’ve likely heard of the lone or solo developer problem. If not, here’s the short version.
When a person programmer builds a whole project by himself, it’s hard for others to keep up or construct on it later.
Dozens of reasons contribute to the solo developer problem, including social isolation, increased stress levels, psychological biases, and more. You’ll learn more about them in the following segment.
Challenges of Being a Solo Developer
Listed here are some common challenges that solo developers struggle with.
- No feedback in your ideas from other people.
- Lack of code reviews done by other people.
- Absence of brainstorming sessions and concepts suggested by other people.
- Confirmation bias or the tendency to search out information and make decisions based in your existing knowledge and beliefs.
- Inefficiency because nobody is equally expert in any respect features of making a software product.
- Social isolation reduces your ability to create something relatable to others.
- Being overwhelmed could cause you to make more significant and frequent irrational decisions.
- Picking the tools you’re acquainted with as a substitute of the very best ones for the job.
Now let’s take a more in-depth take a look at these challenges.
Limited Resources and Support
With limited resources and support, you’ll be able to have a tough time together with your projects as a lone developer. You might be limited to using the tools you might be acquainted with because you’ll be able to’t afford to take a position numerous time learning latest technologies. Moreover, you lack the support of a diversified team equipped with different skills and proficiency levels.
Isolation
Social isolation could cause a complete host of problems. First, without the correct feedback from others, it’s hard to create effective, relatable solutions. Then, when you’ve to cover a dozen different skills by yourself, you’ll be able to’t produce the identical level of quality as a team would. Finally, learning latest development technologies with no mentor may be very time-consuming.
Stress Levels
The dearth of human interaction during a project can increase your stress levels for numerous reasons. That’s since you don’t have anyone to show to when running into issues in areas you’re less experienced in. Moreover, it’s very hard to repair bugs without getting input from one other person, which is a significant stressor for a lot of developers.
Solutions
Thankfully, there are some things you’ll be able to do to tackle the solo developer problem. You’ll be able to herald more developers or outsource a part of your project to freelancers and agencies.
Usher in More Developers
If you happen to’re a small business owner, you can consider the choice of hiring other experienced developers to help you in your projects. This will aid you deal with what matters most and what you’re good at.
Depending on the project’s complexity and what you would like help with, you can consider hiring junior developers to do the job. Doing a cost-benefit evaluation can aid you make the very best decision on the extent of experience you’ll be able to afford.
Outsource
An alternative choice is to outsource an element, or multiple parts, of your work to freelancers or agencies. For instance, you would possibly not enjoy or be very proficient in interface design or software testing. In that case, why not hire an organization or individual to take over that aspect of the project?
Leveraging Managed Hosting for Your Web Apps
Managed hosting is particularly useful if you happen to’re an online developer. Here’s why.
Hosting company support teams are trained to work with server stacks made for web sites and web apps. They know how one can configure, optimize, and suggest the very best software and solutions to your web development needs.
Moreover, hosting support engineers are very effective at recognizing and troubleshooting any server-side issues. They will prevent from the headache of attempting to discover what’s causing a difficulty, whether or not it’s the applying, server, or server software stack.
If an error is attributable to the applying, they will still help by providing you with the relevant log messages and pointing you in the best direction.
Advantages of Managed Hosting for the Lone Developer
As a lone developer, selecting an online host will be daunting. Managed hosting, nonetheless, provides various advantages that could make this decision rather a lot easier for you. One key advantage is the extent of technical support provided, allowing you to focus solely on developing your project without worrying about server maintenance or downtime. Additional advantages include:
- Support engineers will fix any server-side issues for you, letting you deal with what matters most.
- Automated monitoring eliminates the necessity so that you can run manual tests and frequent checks to make sure services are running as intended.
- Support engineers will aid you reduce the time needed to analyze whether a difficulty is on the server or application side.
- You’ll be able to avoid configuring the server software stack and maintaining with the newest trends on this industry and as a substitute depend on support to do that for you.
- Network and DNS issues and configurations not have to cause you a headache, as support engineers are well-versed in these two areas.
- You get notified of the advisable software updates and are supplied with the obligatory update assistance.
The Cost Consider Selecting Managed Hosting
Depending in your budget, a managed support service is a major addition to the initial server price. But consider all of its advantages and the large time-saving potential down the road.
Being a lone developer is a really time-consuming career. So imagine how much value you’re getting whenever you outsource the hosting a part of software development to a managed support team.
It could possibly also get quite stressful if you happen to aren’t an authority at server administration, networking, and server software stacks. Nevertheless it doesn’t should be if you’ve 24/7 access to skilled assistance.
Finding the Right Managed Hosting Provider for Your Needs
There’s definitely no lack of hosting providers today that supply a managed hosting service. But with so many providers to select from, it may be difficult and time-consuming to seek out the very best one to your needs.
There are several aspects to contemplate when picking a managed hosting provider, including pricing, support levels, support channels, and availability.
Pricing
The worth of managed support plans can vary from provider to provider. In some cases, the managed support service is included within the hosting plan’s price, while in others, it’s marketed as an add-on with its own pricing and even multiple plans.
Support Levels
Some hosting providers or plans only support maintaining and configuring their server’s basic software stack. Others provide additional services resembling cybersecurity, migrations, and even application-level support.
Support Channels
Managed hosting support will be provided through several different channels, including phone, chat, and email (ticket) support. Ensure you get all three, as you would possibly prefer different channels in several situations. For instance, calls is perhaps the fastest method to report issues, while chats are convenient if you happen to can’t afford to speak out loud in a business setting or during a web-based meeting.
Final Thoughts
Being a solo software developer will be difficult because of the various responsibilities and tasks involved in developing a project alone. The solo developer problem is characterised by social isolation, increased stress levels, and an absence of feedback.
Nonetheless, there are several solutions you’ll be able to consider in addressing this problem, including bringing in additional developers or outsourcing parts of the project to freelancers or agencies. One other effective solution is leveraging managed hosting, as hosting support teams can provide expertise, troubleshooting, and optimization for the hosting a part of development.
Managed hosting helps solo developers deal with other critical features of their projects and be certain that their development process is running easily.
Select Liquid Web for the Best Managed Hosting Support
If you happen to’re on the lookout for the industry’s best-managed hosting support provider, look no further. With over 25 years of managed hosting experience, LiquidWeb is the hosting partner you’ll be able to trust.