Before diving into the heart of our topic for today, which is finding a software developer of a good level at a reasonable price, we will start by defining what is meant by software development.
In simple and clear terms, software development consists of studying, designing, programming, transforming, developing, maintaining, and improving software, which can be of all types and intended for all possible uses. This work is carried out by employees of companies working in the software publishing sector or within digital service companies (known as ESNs); it can also be carried out by freelancers or members of the open-source software community.
In this specific industry, it should be noted that software is created step by step by a team of highly skilled engineers and technicians, strictly following the specifications initially established by the client or an internal team. From there, the software is broken down into different modules and a project manager ensures the coherence of the whole by coordinating the teams and modules, and ensuring that the timing is respected and in line with expectations.
It is not widely known by the general public, but upstream, a team is designated to understand the user's expectations in order to create a theoretical model of the software (a first draft often referred to as Alpha or Beta), which will serve as a construction plan. Then, the software must be built, its code structured, while throughout the process, ensuring its proper functioning and adequacy with the needs that were initially set out on paper. This is a crucial and foundational point for the success of such an enterprise; planning and work distribution should allow for anticipating the deadlines and manufacturing costs as closely as possible to reality.
Generally, the software is accompanied by an installation procedure, a procedure for verifying proper installation, documentation (which is sometimes automatically created from comments placed for this purpose in the source code), and a deployment and maintenance support team. In addition to the initial analysis, design, development, and testing work, a procedure called acceptance testing, which simulates a client's acquisition, will determine if the software can be considered usable and completely reliable.