Running Out Of Space and Time
A Fortune 100 financial services firm has been growing at a rapid pace. Their application portfolio includes a large amount of legacy Java software, and they are building out new applications on a modern Java platform. This has generated a high demand for Java full stack/micro services developers to support their business objectives including increased need for:
- Regulatory compliance across the application portfolio
- Digital transformations and improved channel capabilities
- Introduction of new technologies for managing unstructured data, managing meta data and measuring/improving data quality
- Implementing advanced technologies utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning
Our client has been adding consultants to their teams a fast rate but are running out of office space, and their internal recruiting engine and technology leadership teams are unable to meet the rapid hiring demands needed to support the business. Recruiting is unable to find the volume of people needed quickly, and the technology managers are unable to manage existing teams, ensure quality deliverables, and conduct the requisite interviews to meet the demands. The development center was established to offload the interviewing, onboarding and other administrative tasks to focus more on technical leadership and delivering the project requirements on time.
“Framework Development Centers exhibited a solid ability to execute and meet super aggressive timelines. In just six weeks after signing a contract they built out a space that met our stringent information/site security requirements, and recruited, hired, and organized 129 consultants into our Agile team framework. That is why we will continue to partner with them.”
This Softworld Onshore Development Center (ODC) solution provided our client with 129 contractors working on Agile teams comprised of Technical Leads, Software (primarily Java) Developers, Scrum Masters, and an Enterprise Architect. 80% of the team are US Citizens, and 20% are H1b Visa holders. The high ratio of US Citizens is important for this client as they intend, over time, to offer employment to a select number of high-performing contractors, but do not want to incur any sponsorship responsibilities.
For this project, Softworld’ s delivery/recruiting teams sourced over 5,600 candidates, resulting in 380 interviews and 165 offers made. Candidates were hired in several waves, with the first 55 team members starting within 90 days of the signing of the ODC agreement. Additional team members started in groups of about 30 every other week to reach our full headcount commitment within 6 weeks of our first wave of consultants.
Proximity to internal development teams was desired which provided the space relief needed while also enabling face to face project collaboration in their Agile (SAFe) environment. This has proven to be highly effective, with much better productivity/results than this client experienced with their offshore teams.
The Development Center teams have common business goals but operate independently enough to be free of internal corporate distractions. The teams collaborate and identify which projects are best suited to the Development Center teams rather than adding “point staff augmentation” resources across all projects.
