What is staff augmentation and how is it different from outsourcing?
Staff augmentation adds individual engineers to your existing team they work under your management and direction, following your processes, tools, and standards. You assign tasks, review PRs, and manage the engineer's day-to-day work as you would with an internal employee. IT outsourcing, by contrast, delegates a complete function or outcome to ClickMasters ClickMasters manages the team, makes technical decisions, and is accountable for delivery quality. The choice between them depends on your management capacity: if you have a strong engineering lead who needs more execution bandwidth, staff augmentation works well. If you need a team that self-manages and delivers outcomes independently, a dedicated team or outsourcing model is more appropriate.
How are ClickMasters engineers vetted before placement?
ClickMasters engineers go through a multi-stage vetting process before being placed with clients: CV review (experience, tech stack alignment, previous project types), technical screening (60-90 minute technical interview with a ClickMasters senior engineer live coding, system design, architecture questions matched to the role), practical assessment (a take-home task or pair programming session on a problem representative of the client's tech stack), reference check (previous client or employer reference), and trial period (engineers placed with clients are evaluated against specific performance criteria in the first 30 days ClickMasters replaces an engineer who does not meet the client's standards within this window at no additional cost). The client also conducts their own technical interview before accepting an engineer ClickMasters does not place engineers without client interview and approval.
What happens if the augmented engineer is not performing?
ClickMasters has a replacement guarantee: if an augmented engineer does not meet the client's performance standards within the first 30 days, ClickMasters replaces the engineer within 2 weeks at no additional cost. The client communicates the specific performance concerns to the ClickMasters account manager not directly managing the underperformance with the engineer. ClickMasters handles the engineer performance management internally. For performance concerns after the 30-day window, the client gives 30-day notice to end the augmentation for that engineer ClickMasters provides a replacement engineer in parallel if requested. ClickMasters does not charge notice period fees for performance-based replacements within the first 90 days.
How does billing work for staff augmentation?
Staff augmentation is billed monthly at the agreed rate per engineer. The rate is fixed for the engagement duration it does not fluctuate based on hours worked or output volume. The monthly rate covers: the engineer's full-time working hours (approximately 160 hours per month), ClickMasters' account management overhead, and any HR or operational support required. There are no hidden fees for public holidays in the engineer's location (ClickMasters engineers work to the client's calendar, not Pakistani public holidays, unless otherwise agreed). The invoice is issued at the start of each month for that month. Engagements can be scaled up (add another engineer) or down (remove an engineer) with 30-day notice. There are no cancellation fees beyond the 30-day notice period.
