Features taken from design to production
Interface, API endpoint, database migration, tests and release, done by one person. Nothing waits in a queue between a front-end specialist and a back-end specialist who have never met.
Fractional Teammates · Development
A senior full-stack developer, embedded in your team
One person who takes a ticket from design through front-end, API, database and deployment without a handoff. Embedded part-time in your tools and your standups, with the rest of the OlDevs studio behind them.
A senior specialist, not a junior placement You own the work and the accounts Reply within one business day
build-orchestrator
mainsrc/
queue.ts
pool.ts
retry.ts
types.ts
index.ts
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export interface BuildJob {
repo: string;
region: "ca-west-1";
}
export async function queue(
job: BuildJob,
): Promise<Run> {
return await pool.add(job);
212
Tests passed
0
Type errors
1.4s
Build time
Watching src/ — optimised rebuild on save
What a full-stack developer is
OlDevs places a fractional full-stack developer — a senior engineer from our Vancouver studio — into your team for a defined slice of each week, owning features end to end.One person writes the interface, the API behind it, the database changes it needs, the tests and the deployment, so a ticket moves from design to production without a handoff between specialists. They work in your repository, your ticket tracker and your standups, review other people's code, and keep your build and release pipeline honest. You own all code, accounts and infrastructure. It suits organisations whose development work is constant but not yet a full-time hire.
Key facts
- 01Role group
- Development
- 02Engagement
- Ongoing weekly commitment, quote-based
- 03Works in
- Your repo, board and standups
- 04Covers
- Front-end, API, database, deployment
- 05Typical commitment
- 1–2 days a week
- 06Judged on
- Release cadence · Cycle time · Defect escape rate
Development
What this teammate takes off your plate
What this teammate takes off your plate
API and data models your team can build on
Designs endpoints, schemas and migrations before they harden into constraints. Documents the contract so mobile, front-end and reporting work can proceed without guessing what a field means.
Third-party integrations that stop breaking quietly
Payments, CRM, booking, ERP and internal systems joined up with retries, logging and alerts, so a failed sync surfaces in a channel instead of in a customer complaint.
A release process that is boring on purpose
Environments, automated tests, staged deploys and a rollback that works. Releases stop being an event someone has to be brave about on a Friday afternoon.
Code review for the developers you already have
Reviews pull requests, sets conventions, and checks accessibility to WCAG 2.2 AA and performance before merge. Junior and mid-level developers get a senior reader for their work every week.
The inherited codebase, made safe to change
Reads the system you already have, writes the tests that were never written, and refactors in small steps. Changes stop feeling like a gamble on what else might break.
Benefits
What changes once someone owns the whole stack
01
Buy-or-build calls stop being guesses
Where the line between browser and server sits, and which parts to buy rather than build — identity, payments, search — get settled by someone who has lived with those calls before, at a depth one product rarely keeps busy full-time.
02
Work stops stalling between specialists
A feature no longer waits while one contractor finishes the interface and another wires the database. A whole slice — screen, endpoint, table — moves as one piece, and nobody on your team has to broker between two half-views of it.
03
Faults stop being someone else's end
When something breaks, one person follows it from the browser through the API to the query that is actually slow. No pair of suppliers can each show that their half is fine while the customer still cannot log in.
04
Feasibility answers cover the whole path
Sales and operations can ask whether something is possible and hear an answer that covers the screen, the data behind it and what it would break elsewhere — in the same week, not once an outside agency has scoped it.
05
The whole picture stays written down
One person holding both halves is a risk unless the seams are recorded: how environments are set up, what the deploy path is, why each service is there. That, and every account, stays in your organisation's name.
06
Your first engineering hire gets easier
When you advertise a permanent role there is already a running system, a written architecture and someone who can read a candidate's code across both halves, so you hire against evidence rather than a job description drafted in the dark.
How it works
How the engagement works
Scoping call
We look at your codebase, your board and the work waiting on it. If a fractional developer is the wrong answer, we say so on that call.
A written proposal
You get a quote, the weekly hours, the named specialist and what they will own in the first month. Nothing starts until you approve it.
Access and onboarding
Repository, environments, ticket tracker and chat, on your accounts. The first week is spent reading the system and shipping something small rather than proposing a rewrite.
The working week
Fixed days each week in your standups and your board. Work is visible as it happens: branches, pull requests and tickets, not a report at month end.
Weekly demo
Every week you see running software, not a status update. Priorities for the following week are agreed in the same meeting, so the backlog stays yours.
Who it's for
Who it suits
Fractional works when the need is genuine and continuing, but smaller than a full-time role.
Founders with a product and no engineering team
You have paying users and a roadmap, and you are the bottleneck on every technical decision. You need someone senior owning delivery before you can justify a full-time hire.
Small teams missing a senior
Two or three capable developers with nobody to review their work or make architecture calls. A fractional senior gives them a reader and a decision-maker each week.
Associations, franchises and public bodies
Member portals, booking tools and reporting built years ago and still load-bearing. Someone needs to maintain them, keep them accessible and add to them without a rebuild.
Teams covering a gap or a vacancy
A developer has left, or hiring is taking longer than expected. Fractional keeps delivery moving without a rushed permanent hire you would regret in six months.
12+
Years of studio experience since 2014
1–2
Typical commitment — 1–2 days a week
EN/FR
Languages this engagement can be delivered in
Other fractional roles
Often paired with
01
Front-End Developer
Your interface layer gets an owner: components, responsive layout, state, performance budgets and WCAG 2.
Explore02Back-End Developer
Your APIs, data models, queues and integrations get an owner who joins your standups and works in your repositories.
Explore03DevOps & Cloud Engineer
A senior DevOps and cloud engineer from our Vancouver studio joins your team for a defined part of each week.
ExploreFAQ
Before you commit
A fractional developer is a defined slice of a senior person's week, on an ongoing basis. Hiring is the better answer when the work is genuinely full-time, when the context has to live inside your organisation permanently, or when you need someone available every day. Fractional is the better answer when the need is continuous but smaller than a role, and when you would otherwise hire someone less experienced. We will tell you which case you are in.
They stay yours, because they were always yours. Everything is built in your repository, your hosting, your domain registrar and your third-party accounts, under your billing. On the last day we remove our access, hand over credentials we hold, and leave the README, environment notes and deployment steps written down. There is no proprietary framework, no licence to renew and no lock to unpick.
An agency sells you a project with a scope and a handover; a contractor sells you hours and leaves when the invoice clears. A fractional teammate is one named senior person inside your team on an ongoing basis, in your tools and your standups, with a studio behind them for the work that needs a second discipline. It is closer to an employee in rhythm, with a studio's range behind it.
When you need volume rather than seniority — a large build with a fixed deadline needs a team, not a slice of one person. When the work is a one-off project with a clear end, a scoped engagement is cleaner. And when your product is deep in one discipline, a specialist front-end or back-end developer will beat a generalist. We will say so before you commit.
We match the person to your stack rather than the other way round. In practice that means JavaScript and TypeScript on the front end, Node, PHP or Python on the server, PostgreSQL or MySQL for data, and deployment on AWS, Azure or managed hosting. If your system is built on something we do not staff well, we will say so at the scoping call rather than learn on your time.
You choose a number of days or half-days a week and we hold them. It is a standing commitment, not ad-hoc availability, which is what makes the rhythm work. Volume can be raised or lowered at a review — usually quarterly — and busy periods such as a launch are planned in advance. Notice periods are set out in the proposal before you sign.
Let’s connect
Let’s talk about the full-stack developer gap.
Tell us what is not getting done and roughly how much of a week it needs. We’ll reply within one business day with who would cover it and a tailored quote — no obligation.