January 10, 2025

Nightmare on Dev Street

This article first appeared in our monthly Jacksonville Daily Record Industry Insights Column

How Outsourcing to the Wrong Dev Team Can Haunt Your Business

Spooks and specters have nothing on the horror bad code can cause. When data mysteriously disappears, your login screen freezes, or users are left staring at a never-ending loading wheel, it can be a nightmare.

There’s no ghost in the machine—just a lack of expertise. Many development teams are either out of their depth or fail to check their work before sending the invoice. And while we may not be afraid of the dark, we definitely need to worry when we’re working with a team that’s hard to reach. Lost in translation? Sometimes it seems like they’re just plain lost.

You might imagine you’re hiring a dream team of seasoned pros, only to realize they’re more like a motley crew, haphazardly pieced together. With remote work the new normal, some developers won’t even meet you in person—they hide behind screens, creating subpar communication the real fright.

Development Hall of Horrors

Outsourcing isn’t the problem. It’s when companies deliver lackluster work and avoid communicating until the situation turns dire. Do they really “get” what you’re after, or are they just pushing a cookie-cutter solution? When development teams fail to meet expectations, disappointment can quickly become disaster.

One client, a license plate camera company, came to us from a nightmare scenario. Their offshore team had built a full cloud infrastructure—but it was all under the developer’s account, effectively locking the company out of its own system. In the end, we were able to rebuild the systems to give them control over their own data, code, and infrastructure. We were lucky that the offshore team was willing to work with us to give us proper access. This isn’t always the case. Sometimes they just disappear!

Or consider the chemical company that unknowingly had their project outsourced to a third party. Code quality became unpredictable, sensitive data was shared with faceless avatars, and the client was left cleaning up the mess.

Avoiding Outsourcing Nightmares

If you’re trusting a team with your business’s proprietary information, treat them with the same scrutiny you’d apply to safeguarding your most valuable assets. Vet them rigorously. Ask for airtight references and have them sign a formal NDA with penalties for breaches, subcontracting, or leaving back doors into your system. The final product you pay for should always be a treat, not a trick. Ensure everything— code, infrastructure, and account— is under your control with clear documentation.

Outsourcing doesn’t have to be a house of horrors. By choosing the right team and ensuring transparency and accountability, you can keep your projects on track and your business safe. Ready to work with a team you can trust? Connect with us at hello@valyr.com to start your next project without the scare.

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Melissa Albanes

A product marketer before launching Valyr with Gabriel, Melissa has held growth roles at various technology companies, from startups to DocuSign and Google. Today, Melissa serves as our COO and a sales advocate for our company. She also leads Valyr’s “give back” efforts to our military veteran community. When she’s not at her desk, you can find her immersed in a novel, trying out new board games, or embarking on outdoor adventures.