Do I hire a freelance programmer or a “proper” company?
Genuine concern of many of my prospects
One of the usual concerns many of my clients/prospects ask (or at least they have it in their mind, and choose not to ask) is: why should I hire you, a freelance programmer, over a “proper software development company”?
And here are my replies, as told to them:
1) There is no such thing as “proper company”
I have had engagements with a proper company before as a client, namely for the services of renovation. And that too in my country (Singapore), well known for a no-nonsense approach to bureaucratic matters.
And then I realised this brutal truth. A “proper company” can and will close down as easy as an individual (maybe with slightly more delays).
And they can “run away” using legal loopholes leaving behind a half-done job. And there is simply nothing I, the client, can do about it. Yes, I have tried all legal and non-legal avenues against them. Even on winning a Case judgement against them, which they never even bothered to attend, I’m still left hapless with me just counting, and foregoing, my losses.
So, the idea of a “proper” company having a physical address and office being a sign of credibility…
