The Future of Work
Introducing the Fractional Method
Aug 16, 2022
COVID-19 changed the landscape of work.
But it also created an opportunity for new models of work to thrive. The concept of fractional work is not new but was limited to CMO, CEO, or CTO roles. However, the great labor shortage is forcing firms to adopt innovative hiring + work practices, opening the door for the fractional work model to expand across industries including software development.
Fractional hiring allows smaller companies and startups to fill skill gaps with experts but the time and cost associated with hiring a full-time employee. The US Chamber of Commerce describes fractional hiring as a way “for small businesses to tap into advanced expertise at a lower cost,” offering a hiring advantage to smaller firms.
So what is fractional work and how is it changing the tech scene?
What is fractional work?
Fractional work started in academia where professors spilt their time between teaching and various long-term private sector special projects. The concept has spilled over to other industries including marketing, finance, accounting, and law.
How does it work?
At its core fractional work provides opportunities to full-time working professionals looking to join long-term projects based on their expertise. Fractional work has regular hours and employers have a clear understanding of when fractional staff is available. While the look of fractional work varies across industries, its defining feature is that it is not piece meal or project-based and offers an ongoing-engagement with an employer.
Fractional work in software development
Given the long-term nature of software development, growing startups are embracing this model of work, and looking for fractional developers to join their founding development teams. Fraction has figured out how to scale this model by connecting startups with top senior talent not available in the market.
The largest pool of top developers is those already working, and fraction taps their spare capacity to help growing startups. Fraction developers are US-based senior developers with 5+ years of experience and experts in their tech stack. These developers want additional, long term engagements without quitting their day job.
A few successful startups who leveraged the fraction model include: HiddenLevers, a risk technology platform for wealth management, started by Fraction CEO Praveen Ghanta. HiddenLevers started with 1 fractional developer to help scale its portfolio analysis tool. By the time HiddenLevers was acquired by Orion fractional devs represented over 1/3rd of the dev team.
Lumiant, an advice engagement platform for financial professionals, utilized fractional devs to quickly scale up its technical capacity following its successful launch in the US. “By augmenting our already incredible engineering and development team with proven talent, we can continue to scale rapidly and be ahead of the curve in delivering an engaging advice experience," said Blake Wood, CEO of Lumiant US.
With its network of top developers, Fraction makes it easy for growing startups to meet aggressive timelines and hire the best talent quickly.