Top App Developers in Houston

Why Outsource Mobile App Development To Houston?

The US’ IT talent pool is slowly decentralizing; With the cost of living skyrocketing in the big tech hubs, IT professionals -app developers included- are migrating to the more affordable, yet equally vivacious cities around the country.

Houston, TX, has been one of the go-to destinations.

The cost of living in Houston is up to 44% lower than in Silicon Valley, while the difference in the average annual tech salary is merely 20% – a tradeoff many are happy to make. 

Additionally, within the past few years, the local government has been planning and implementing incentives for IT organizations, aiming to “[cultivate] an ecosystem of technology and innovation in Houston” (Source: City of Houston, Texas).

The results of these trends and incentives are high quality IT workforce, the ease of doing business and the cost effectiveness of outsourcing your app development to a Houston-based company.

Which Projects To Outsource

App development companies, like their peers in the IT services market, tend to develop deep expertise within the dominant industries in their region.

This is why Houston could be the perfect destination for outsourcing healthcare, energy and construction-related app development projects. 

However, you will find that many app developers in Houston have highly diverse portfolios and are open to new challenges.

How Many App Developers Are Based In Houston?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Houston currently counts approximately 14,620 app developers.

How To Choose App Developers In Houston

To find the best possible candidates for your app development project, be sure to first run a thorough market research and create a detailed business plan for your application. 

Establish realistic and measurable goals, as well as strive to gain an in-depth understanding of your target market and their online behavior.

Your research results will help you determine

1. which operating system(s) (OS) to develop for; App developers in Houston typically have a forte in one of the three dominant OS’s -iOS, Android and Windows- but most will specialize in at least two. 
2. the app development budget; Houston-based developers’ price sheets can vary depending on their expertise, portfolio and operational arrangements.
3. the skill set your project requires; Besides the technical skill set outlined by your project plan, the market research will help you understand your users’ expectations in terms of the look and feel of your app. This will inform your choice of partner in terms of both their technical ability and their creativity.

You now have the filters in place that will help you sift through Houston-based mobile app development companies more thoroughly and efficiently. 

The above-featured lists are a great place to start. In the continuation of the page, we also highlight a few Houston-based app companies by their OS specialization.

Screening App Developers In Houston – 10 Questions To Ask

When your search has produced three to four viable candidates, you will be ready to conduct interviews with each to find the best fit.

Here are the questions to ask app developers in Houston before you hire them:

1. What is your organizational setup? To know if and how your in-house team can synch with your prospective app development partner in Houston, you need to understand how their organization ‘ticks’. Here are the follow-up questions to ask:

• What is your organizational structure? Houston-based app development companies will have different approaches to their organizational structure and hierarchy. Many are abandoning the now-old-fashioned vertical hierarchies in favor of flat organizations to give their app developers space to express their creativity and provide input. Whatever your prospective partner’s organizational setup may be, be sure to ask them to justify it; Look for valid and case-specific rationale. Given the chance, their approach to their own organization will reflect their approach to yours.
• Are your teams working at one or multiple locations? Here, you want to find out if the company delegates any part of their app development to freelancers or subcontracted / owned offices abroad. Distributed development could offer you highly competitive rates, but it could also prove more difficult in terms of execution. Know you options and go in prepared.
• If the latter, where would the developers dedicated to my project sit and how will they be managed? Aim to clarify how distributed development would work for your organization. Who will manage the partner’s teams, how will you track progress, navigate time zones (in case of little to no overlap) and how will you communicate requirements and requirement changes.

2. Where can we find the apps you have developed? Focus on how many Google Play and App Store samples they provide; This will give you an idea of their OS strengths.

• [Research portfolio] Take note of the sample apps the company provides. Download and assess these apps, focusing on the number of reviews, score, comments, functionality, user experience and user interface.

3. Which apps in your portfolio would you highlight and why? This will give you an idea of the standard you can expect for your app.

4. Have you developed any apps for our industry and/or type of users? What advice would you give us based on your experience? While previous industry experience could potentially speed up the development process, chances are that most app development companies would be able to build domain knowledge fairly quickly and produce the same quality results. What you want to achieve with these questions, instead, is to understand how insightful and business savvy your prospective partner is. The good follow-up questions would be:

• Which OS should we develop for? Their answers should be entirely user-centric here.
• Do you have any other technology, UX or UI-related advice? Look for industry, user behavior and business-related insights.

5. How long would it take to develop the type of mobile application we had in mind? With your high-level brief, your prospective development partner will be able to give you a rough time estimate for your project, breaking it down by the phases.

6. How much would it cost to develop the type of mobile application we had in mind?

7. What is you preferred development method and why? Most companies will use Agile for increased flexibility as requirements tend to change throughout the development process. Other companies will also adopt rapid app development (RAD) while very few still stick with the somewhat outdated Waterfall. Be sure to learn more about these methods beforehand, to better understand your prospective development partner’s preferences.

8. How do you document the process and will we have complete access to this documentation? It is important that your app development partner maintains a thorough record of your project and that you have complete access to it, so that you may request improvements, as well as facilitate future development. 

9.Do you have a developer account / program? Experienced app developers will have their own Google Play and App Store developers’ accounts. However, they will advise you to create your own to deploy your app so that you may have complete autonomy once the project is completed. So, be sure to also ask:

• How will you deploy my app? 

10. What type of maintenance services and arrangements can you offer? App require continuous commitment. Unless you are able to do it in-house, be sure to discuss maintenance plans with your prospective development partner.

To conclude your conversation, ask your prospective app development partners to provide several references that you may contact to learn more about the quality of their work and ease of collaboration.

Summary: Who Should Outsource App Development To Houston, Texas?

Houston is a great choice if you are looking for the comfort of developing your project within in the US, safely and cost effectively.

Houston-based app developers are highly skilled and competent to take on any project.

Their strengths are most likely to lie in the regionally dominant industries such as:

• Energy / Oil & Gas
• Healthcare
• Construction 

Scroll up to find the top app developers in Houston!