Ask HN: Should we bring software dev in-house?

As someone that quit a job in this very industry then went back to rebuild when his boss left - people that worked in this domain will always look fondly upon joining such a company.

It's a fascinating domain, and if you're the type of person that can do code but can also see edge cases and understand business logic - you're going to be one of the top paid people around. So, maybe look for people that aren't the usual cut of coders or experts, of course - if your organization allows the "freethinking" type crowd which sometimes might be prone to accepting toxic people (which can and should be filtered out, eventually).

To me this sounds like an ad.

The original question was the perfect setup for an ad, more or less asking “have you ever done this before?”, “What should I be concerned about?”, and “How do I even start this?”. This response may seem ads-y, but it also answers the questions and provides interesting original thoughts (e.g., to start with a cost/benefit analysis). Even if it’s an ad, imo it’s a useful one

I started as a “programmer” for a similar sized company, we’ve 2.5x and I’m the CTO now.

I can share a great deal of input if you would like to chat sometime, message me/I’ll make a point to check tomorrow.

Quick notes * projects that add structure to data, but remain flexible to manual overrides are the most successful + fit logistics.

* full automation is almost never possible. You can automate PIECES of the puzzle, but focus on building software for humans.

* Broadly skilled technical jackrabbits are what you want. Fullstack Developer with great data modeling skills/dangerous with SQL (can DBA, can optimize queries, designing for future analysts)

If you can find a unicorn, that wants to be a #1 and take on the challenge - grab and grow organically. Don’t throw bodies and money at it.

Let them learn the business/bring them to meet everyone and see their processes and - if he’s good - he’ll find small improvements on existing systems/processes that help stabilize the sanity while he continies noodling the big picture.

The big picture will take time / start small and see if you like the results before going two feet in and handing over operations to them.

Attracting talent is easy for #1 show them the size of the company and potential opportunity.

The right person has a long-view in mind and so long as they’re successful, keep them happy and the rest takes care of itself.

Hard to leave an institution like that

I've been working for a software development agency in the past and one of my clients back then was (a different) mid-sized logistics company :)

For us (including the client) the following approach worked great and I'd recommend to give it a try

* hire an agency (or freelancers) to work on (requirements, architecture, design, implementation) your special software - make sure the code is yours legally and you can bring it to another software shop or internal whenever you want * you get bootstrapping important decisions done by someone with experience. because hiring the first employee for that task is hard and risky * you can transition to in house from there, if you're happy with the solution or decide to stay at that agency longer - you're very flexible * Having good and maintained software as a base, start hiring. Build your team and gradually take over development. You don't have to go in-house fully, just so much that it makes sense.

Back then we bootstrapped custom software for that logistics company and gradually migrated it over to their team - even helped them hiring a team in the first place. Over time we lost them as a client (because they happily worked on their software now) but got many more clients since they recommended us highly. So it's a win-win situation.