Image Credit: picpedia.org
When a team or organization discusses its technology stack, they discuss technologies that work together to create its product. For most web applications, the technologies in the stack will include an internal language, a front-end framework and/or mobile technologies, a database and possibly a cloud service provider, a web server, and/or a content delivery network (CDN). One might have a website built with Angular, while another might use Python and Django.
The tools and technologies chosen as part of a company’s core stack will significantly impact that company’s ability to develop and deploy code quickly and scale easily. Therefore, a company needs to deal with the right web developer who is skilled enough and knows how to choose technology stack.What Do We Call the IT Stack?
A stack, in general terms, is a “layered” model that allows you to divide the components of a technology or process into separate parts. It’s like a layered pie, which consists of several meaningful pieces. There are many different stacks: software stack, networking stack, technology stack, and so on.
To understand how a stack works, here are three critical factors to take into account:
- The IT stack is a set of tools defining the final product’s nature. The company’s work results are directly related to the choice of stack components.
- The number of layers in the IT stack may vary at different levels.
- Stacks are accumulative. Some projects may use a standard set of tools, accumulating everything’s best from previous projects.
Know How to Choose the Layers of a Stack Pie
The IT stack is formed due to the sequential accumulation of technologies. To describe the features of various IT stacks, learn the classification of stacks, which consists of the same elements – levels.
Here are the levels (from bottom to top):
- Infrastructure/hardware. Hardware components: server hardware, storage systems, network equipment.
- OS/Hypervisor. Operating system and virtualization subsystems.
- DBMS: database management systems.
- Applications server. Transactional OLTP Servers and Web Application Servers.
- Data integration. Components for integrating applications.
- Business applications.
- Datastore. Analytical storages and data lakes.
- Data management. Data Governance Tools.
- Analytics. Business Analytics Tools.
Criteria to Choose a Web Development Studio
Now everyone is positioning themselves as serious experts, so advertising promises should not be a selection criterion. Better pay attention to these three factors.
Portfolio and Cases
They are not synonyms, as some people think. A website developer’s portfolio reflects individual specialists’ work level. It is better to evaluate it not from the position of “like / dislike” but in the task context. If the agreed task from the customer is attached to the examples of work, this is a plus. You can evaluate how the finished result matches the initial request.
Cases are another matter. They show how this or that task was solved. In simple words, a portfolio is “this is what we did,” and a case is “it was > we did > it became.” It is always compiled according to the project’s results, final or intermediate.
In the case of studies, it is essential to have a detailed and understandable presentation with screenshots and infographics.
Guarantees
Everything is more complicated here. The terms and parameters of the warranty for digital products are not regulated by law. Therefore, the advertising phrase “we guarantee the quality of work” means absolutely nothing. What matters is only what is written in the contract, in the “Subject of the contract.”
A common mistake when cooperating with contractors, and not only in the digital sphere, is that the contract is drawn up for a show, and many details of the cooperation are discussed verbally. This becomes a problem in case of non-fulfillment of obligations by the studio. Together with lawyers, we made a detailed contract for web development, specifying all the tasks and expected results of cooperation.
Prices
If a studio asks an order of magnitude more than the average market price, determine if this price is justified. For example, if a studio makes customized sites better rated by search engines using a practical and properly-selected technology stack, this is a justified cost factor. And if the studio charges more for the site simply because its office is in a big city, this is already a lousy signal.
Read carefully what is included in the service. Some studios make websites on a turnkey basis and set the total price for the finished product, and others break it down into components – design separately, content separately, etc. It is often more profitable to collect the service “in pieces.”
How to Decide with the Best Web Contractor?
The better you understand the specifics of the service you plan to order, the easier it will be for you to decide on the contractor. Therefore, if you have not encountered the same website development before, spend a little time and study at least the essential equipment – there is less chance that unnecessary services will be imposed on you.
- Decide on a budget
Designate the maximum amount you are willing to spend on studio services. This will save you from sudden and painful pauses in cooperation for both sides.
- Describe the task with the main requests
The expert’s knowledge of the material will be beneficial. It would be helpful to send references – examples of what you want to see. The more specifics in the task description, the less time you spend processing proposals.
An individual approach will be a big plus when already at this stage, you are offered some solutions for the specifics of your particular business. If the studio sends a template quotation with approximate dates and prices, you are not very interested as a client. Remember that there is only one perfect solution in selecting a tech stack for all web projects. Everything is chosen individually.
Also Read: Software Defined Radio Industry Future, challenges and Demand
