Best Types of Companies for Programmers

We listed the types of companies that most often employ Java programmers in general and JavaRush graduates in particular. We decided to discuss the features, pros and cons, and pitfalls of employment in these companies. So, the following types of companies are:

• IT outsourcing companies
• IT outstaff companies
• IT product companies
• Companies not directly related to IT

Outsourcing companies for programmers

Outsourcing in IT, as a rule, is called complete execution of any projects or work under the contract by the company providing the appropriate services and, accordingly, called an outsourcing company, with the guaranteed required result from the customer and the company itself controls the work process. Let’s go over the pros and cons of employment in such companies for programmers. 

Pros

1. It is relatively easy to get a job.
   For several objective reasons, many of which will be described in the section “Cons,” the outsourcing companies, as a rule, have a rather significant “turnover” of personnel. Programmers who already have more or less considerable experience and are in some demand on the market often try to avoid outsourcing and work in such companies, running away at the first opportunity they get.
   Because of this, outsourcing companies almost always have a mass of vacancies open year-round. The requirements for candidates for these positions are not as high as in more severe product companies, for example. For this reason, and not only that, hiring an outsourcing company can be a good start in the career of an inexperienced novice programmer, making it relatively easy for them to get a job and learn many essential skills.
   
   
2. Diverse experience
   It is typical for outsourcing companies to work on many completely different projects that can be built on different technology stacks. Thus, working for a company allows (though not always) in a relatively short period of time to gain knowledge and experience in several areas at once, which is helpful for professional and career growth.
3. Time management, work organization, and multitasking
   It is nothing new for outsourcing companies to handle many projects, so their programmers, too, quickly get used to working on several projects simultaneously or switching from one to another relatively regularly. This is another advantage of working for an outsourcing company in the early stages – you can learn not only the technology but also learn other skills, such as time management, organizing your work, multitasking, etc., which are not less or often more important in your career.

Cons

1. High workload
   It’s typical for outsourcing companies to load programmers harder than other types of employers. One of the main reasons for this is their business model. Outsourcing companies compete for the same clients and try to close as many projects as quickly as possible. Many other factors, such as unrealistic promises made to the client on project completion dates, poor quality of terms of reference from the client, and, often, poor communication at different management levels, from the client to the hiring company, also create a high burden. All this leads to the fact that programmers in such companies are required to work long and intensively, often beyond the standard office of eight or nine hours.
2. Low wages
   It is no secret programmers, as a rule, are paid less by outsourcing companies. The reason is again in their business model since, in outsourcing, a company acts as an intermediary between the customer and the project team. They are trying to earn as much as possible, reducing the expenses in the form of the total salary of the specialists on the project.
3. Instability
   In the communities of programmers working in outsourcing companies, it is not uncommon to hear stories about salary delays and periodic layoffs in cases where the project on which the developer was hired to work is completed, and his services are no longer required. Because of the dependence of outsourcing companies on their customers and, more often than not, on one-time orders, their programmers can only dream about stability.
4. The quality of professional experience
   Even though the work in the outsourcing company allows quite an extensive and versatile professional experience, as was mentioned above, it is rarely of high quality. The reasons are all the same: a tight deadline, a desire to close the project as quickly as possible, and to receive the maximum return from each employee with the minimum of investment (read – pay as little as possible, but demand a lot). As a result, the quality of the experience is rarely high. This is another reason why experienced programmers are often eager to leave an outsourcing company at the first opportunity.

Outstaffing companies for programmers

Outstaffing is different from outsourcing because, in this case, the client company seeks and hires specific performers to work on its projects, while the latter work on the staff of an outstaffing company. The difference is that outsourcing implies complete execution of any work or rendering of services with a guaranteed result under a contract. At the same time, outstaffing is simply hiring a specific executive who has the necessary qualifications for the client on a temporary or permanent basis. 

We have sorted out the definition. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of companies. Companies often provide both services to customers – outsourcing and outstaffing. We will primarily speak about the pros and cons of the model. In contrast, the companies that hire programmers according to the outstaffing business model are about the same as those that outsource. 

Pros

1. Personal approach
   In the case of outstaffing, the client chooses each performer personally rather than just ordering a team of a dozen coders. That is why hiring for outstaffing usually means that the programmer’s qualification is quite severe, stimulating the appropriate attitude.
   
   
2. Working for an American (most often) IT company
   Although the de jure programmer works for a local outstaff company, he is a member of the hiring company. These are usually serious American IT companies with serious management and work processes approach. Working for them will almost always be a plus in future employment. This experience can be added to your resume and foreign colleagues “friended” on LinkedIn (increases the chances of successful employment).
3. Business trips to the U.S.
   Opportunities for business trips to somewhere in Silicon Valley are not uncommon for an outstaff either. Getting a visa to the U.S. at the invitation of a well-known IT company is not difficult.

Cons

1. Tedious and uninteresting work
   As many programmers who have worked long enough have said in their reviews, most often, the most tedious, uninteresting, or simply incomprehensible work that local workers do not want to do is dumped on remote team members.
2. The need to get up to speed on a project
   Team members who are already working on a project on the customer’s side are rarely willing to spend time to help a newcomer get up to speed and understand the project, especially if he is working remotely and has not yet proven himself. Therefore, as a rule, you have to get into the nitty-gritty of the project on your own. In this case, the time to get up to speed is often very little or none at all.
3. Working for two bosses.
   Another disadvantage of this model is that the programmer works for two companies at once and therefore has two “bosses” – a foreign one, for whom he works de facto, and a local one in the company that pays his salary. Needless to say, having two bosses does not add comfort.

Product companies for programmers

Product companies develop software products and services directly for themselves, not for third parties, as in the case of outsourcing and outstaffing. Therefore, many programmers contrast product companies and outsourcing companies, choosing between them because they both have advantages and disadvantages. Let’s analyze the pros and cons of working for a software product company. 

Pros

1. Stability and smooth operation
   Product companies, unlike outsourcing companies, do not depend on one-time orders, the flow of which tends to be intermittent. They also tend to have a more measured and relaxed work schedule for the same reasons – after all, they develop their own product or products, striving to make them as high quality as possible, not to finish them as quickly as possible. From this comes the following advantage.
2. Quality professional experience
   As product companies work on their projects slowly and emphasize quality, there are more opportunities for a young programmer to gain quality knowledge of the technologies involved and an understanding of the right approach to developing and implementing solutions. Product companies also spend more time and effort on the training of new programmers because the quality of every employee is more important to them, especially if a project has already been launched – mistakes in a working product have much more serious consequences than in one which is only getting ready for release.
3. Competent management
   Again, management in product companies is of higher quality because they need stability, and it is desirable to minimize staff turnover, especially among developers.

Cons

1. Less varied professional experience
   If in outsourcing, shifting from project to project, programmers must learn different technologies. In product companies, the work is usually based on one technology stack in product companies long tried and trusted. Because of this, developers staying long enough in such a company often suffer from the so-called professional degradation because they stop following new technologies and trends.
2. More routine
   For the same reason, the work in product companies is more routine and therefore dull. Having learned all the technologies and processes, the developer is left to perform the daily tasks of debugging and improving the existing product. Many programmers complain that working without challenges bores them.
3. Higher threshold of entry
   And as a consequence of all of the above, product companies usually have higher requirements for the experience of new programmers, so getting into them for relatively “green” coders is usually more complicated.

Companies not directly related to IT for programmers

Companies that hire programmers to work on software products but do not work in the IT industry. This category most often includes banks, e-commerce companies, and other businesses with their own software products. Still, they are not the key and most essential elements of their operations. 

Let’s try to understand the pros and cons common to this type of companies in terms of employment for programmers. Overall, it should be noted that companies in this category and their working conditions for programmers may be quite different since it includes a variety of businesses and organizations.

Pros

1. Stability
   Judging by the reviews of programmers, the work in non-IT companies is more stable than in outsourcing or even product IT firms. These companies usually have a regular, profitable business, and if there are financial problems, managers and other office workers, but not programmers, can be laid off.
2. High salaries
   They often have high salaries, although it is not so straightforward. Programmers working for central banks and various large companies in e-commerce often boast of high wages, while small organizations often can not afford to pay much to programmers.
   

Cons

1. Bureaucracy
   Large companies and organizations not directly related to IT are more pronounced by bureaucracy than IT. This, according to many programmers, is one of the main problems of working in banks, for example.
2. Career growth
   Career growth in such companies is often much less rapid than in young and innovative IT firms. Binding a career growth to “seniority,” to the number of years that an employee has worked in the company, is not uncommon either.
3. Abundance of formalities
   From dress code to the lack of an informal environment and relaxed zones on the office territory, IT companies are still far ahead of other employers in this respect.

Final thoughts

There are advantages and disadvantages, none of the categories is clearly preferable, but it is possible to benefit from working in any of them. Also, we should not forget that the division of companies into types is somewhat relative. There are excellent places to work in each category, and frankly, not the best companies. You can find yourself and be a respectable professional at any type of employment. 

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