Hiring an in-house developer vs. working with a custom dev shop
If you need custom software, you've got two real options: hire a developer, or work with a shop that does it for you. Both can work — here's the honest trade-off for a small or mid-size business.
At a glance
| Factor | In-house hire | Custom dev shop (YittBox) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Full salary + benefits, ongoing | Pay for the project |
| Time to start | Months to recruit | Days |
| Skill coverage | One person | A full team |
| Risk if they leave | High | None |
| Best for | Constant large workload | Defined projects + ongoing support |
Hiring in-house — the reality
A good developer is a six-figure salary plus benefits, recruiting time, and management overhead. If they leave, your software knowledge walks out the door — the classic “only Bob knew how it worked.” And one person rarely covers database, front-end, hosting, and security all at once.
A dev shop — the reality
You get a team's worth of skills on demand and pay only for the work you need, with no single point of failure. The trade-off: you're one of several clients, so pick a shop that's responsive and treats your project like it matters.
Where YittBox fits
We're a team on demand — 20+ years across Access, Excel, databases, web apps, and BI — with a no-call free-review start, so you can size up a project risk-free before committing a dollar.
The bottom line
Constant full-time dev workload? In-house may be worth it. Specific projects and senior skills without the salary and key-person risk? That's us.
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