Find suitable IT service providers & digital experts faster (Part 3)

In this series of analyses, we look at the factors that influence the duration of IT project awards. In previous articles we have shown how, by means of meaningful Titles and descriptive texts suitable IT service providers and solo digital experts are found as quickly as possible. Lastly, we have examined the influence of Remote and part-time options under the microscope. In today's analysis, we look at how long it takes to find a certain IT specialist. We compare the time it takes to find individual job profiles and look specifically at differences in the time it takes to find developers.

How long does it take to find specific digital experts?

Many SMEs and corporations will know the problem: A project is about to start and some of the positions in the project team have already been filled. However, experts for a specific area are still missing. Here it is worth keeping an eye on which jobs are filled more quickly and for which areas companies should plan more time.

Our analysis of over 25,000 job advertisements shows that it takes an average of 10 to 20 days to successfully fill a project. However, there are clear differences between the individual job profiles. IT administrators apparently take a particularly long time on average, because projects for database admins (25 days) and system admins (23.5 days) are only awarded after more than three weeks on average. This is possibly due to the fact that potential admins are scrutinised more closely than other project candidates. DevOps Engineers also take longer than average. It can be assumed that demand is higher than supply and it therefore takes longer to fill a position. This is also reflected in the hourly rate of the job profile, because a DevOps Engineer is one of the top earners among digital experts with an average of €97.50/hour.

SAP consultants and developers (16 days), which will be looked at in more detail in the next section, as well as product owners and cloud experts (14 days) are in the midfield in terms of award duration. The process is somewhat faster for UX/UI designers, data scientists and business analysts, whose projects are awarded after an average of 13 and 14 days respectively. Interestingly, the awarding period is particularly short for project managers and Scrum Masters. Here, it only takes 9 days on average.

Award duration for developers

The majority of IT projects are assigned to developers. But not all developers are the same. This is also shown by the length of time it takes to award a contract:

Within the group of developers, the median award duration varies from 14 days for frontend and mobile developers to 19 days for software engineers. In between are Backend and Fullstack Developers. Similar to DevOps Engineers, parallels can be drawn here with the hourly rates of developers. Backend and fullstack developers earn more on average than mobile and frontend developers. However, a general significant correlation between hourly rates and the duration of the contract cannot be established.

Conclusion: This much time should be planned in

In summary, it can be seen that when looking for digital experts and IT service providers, at least 10 - 20 days should be planned from the time the project is published until it is awarded. However, there are also some projects that are awarded much later. This has to do, among other things, with the tender text (Part 1 of the analysis series) and the general conditions (Part 2) of an IT project together. The analysis of this paper also shows that certain jobs are awarded earlier than others. Here are three key statements on this topic:

1. The allocation of admin positions takes the longest. Sufficient time should be planned here or the search should be started early.
2. The search for software engineers and backend developers usually takes a little longer than the search for frontend developers. In general, you should allow at least two weeks for the recruitment of developers.
3. Project manager positions are filled comparatively quickly. Nevertheless, the same applies here: Finding the right one quickly is a challenge.

In our next analyses, we will look at the influence of project length and remote and part-time options, among other things. In addition, we will examine which IT roles are awarded the fastest. In our next and last analysis in this series, we would like to present an example of a tender that contains all the important factors for finding suitable digital experts and IT service providers quickly. In addition, we will take a closer look at the distribution of award times and explain what can be deduced from this for one's own company.

Are you looking for IT service providers or solo digital experts for a project in your company? At Lyncronize, we help you find IT experts and teams that fit your project with our skill-based matching. Learn more at https://lyncronize.com/fuer-auftraggeber/ .