One of the hardest things you’ve ever been told is that the Series A round may seem tough but the talent crunch is even brutal for startups.
We used to interact with high-growth startups almost every other day and we keep hearing ‘compared to fundraising, acquiring offshore developers or on-demand talent is difficult’.
However, fundraising and recruiting the right talent both are competitive. Takes time, preparation, and selling and if you slow down can kill your startup.
The shortest possible resolution to this quest of hiring the on-demand, on-time talent is ‘you need to be hiring obsessive’ and look out for outsourcing companies you can totally rely upon. The fact of the matter is, it’s not an easy task to do. That’s why we are here to guide you deep down on how to hire offshore developers.
Silicon Valley has figured out building great products and uses methodologies like lean startup, and agile product development, nevertheless, hiring practices remain impractical in most cases.
In this blog post, we will cover the concept of offshore development, benefits, challenges, types of outsourcing models, comparisons between development models, regions from where you should hire, tips on choosing the right company, and the cost of hiring offshore developers.
What is Offshore Software Development?
Offshore software development means outsourcing a software engineering project to teams located at a different location (could be your country or a different continent), thus you may face time zone differences.
Luckily, remote teams or outsourcing has now become the ‘new normal as there are so many quality remote teams management tools and the best video conferencing software in the market.
The outsourcing market is expected to gain $425.19 billion in revenue from 2021-26 according to Statista. Deloitte, another reliable source, listed a few core reasons why companies are opting for offshore/outsourcing, cost reduction, operations effectiveness, and consistency.
You should better cooperate with software development vendors rather than hire a freelancer. You may find one good freelancer/developer but he won’t seek full responsibility for your project. Also, a freelancer is usually skilled in one area and you may need to hire a team of one designer, one developer, and one QA – to say the least.
Related Blog: Offshoring Software Development – When to Outsource & How to Manage?
Types of Software Outsourcing
There are different types of software outsourcing. Offshore development is one of those models. Let’s dive deep and understand each one by one.
Offshore Development
Handing over the full or partial part of the project to the team working at a different location than yours. This offers access to a vast talent pool and bridges specific skillset gaps. Do you know there are some popular destinations for hiring offshore developers like Central Europe and Asia?
Onshore Development
A type of outsourcing where the software development vendor lies within the same geographical area and typically the same country. Plus the point of this development is, you won’t face language and cultural barriers. This sort of development could be expensive and advisable if the budget size is not a problem.
Nearshore Development
An outsourcing type is where the software vendor is located in the neighboring country. Due to the little time zone difference, you can monitor the workflow and manage the team accordingly. Also, there may not be any significant language or cultural barriers.
Related Articles: Software Development Types & Models – Detailed Comparison
Comparison: Inhouse Development vs Outsourcing in General
Developing a new digital product could be a website, an app, a chatbot, CRM, an inventory management system, etc., is easier to ask for than actually bringing it to shape and launch.
There are a zillion things to look into when you want to build a new product, like team management, technical details, deadlines, and whatnot.
Inhouse development means hiring the software development company first and then moving forward with the development and product execution. Whereas, outsourcing means hiring the team instantly without worrying about establishing the workspace/infrastructure.
Since startups are short on time, outsourcing is something that suits them. Also, they can’t afford to hire a team of expensive developers in-house. Outsourcing sometimes reduces costs and offers more productivity.
| In-House Development Team | Offshore Development |
| Costly – it’s expensive since you have to spend on the workspace or office space infrastructure, run payrolls, etc. | Reasonable – offshore development is inexpensive yet offers value for money at the same time. No infrastructure or admin-related hassles or costs are involved. |
| Upskilling team – in-house management is responsible for upscaling the skills of their resources/team. | Software development vendor has to upskill their resources with the latest tools and technologies. |
| Hiring is tough, developers are in high demand, and you’ll have a tough time fending off the poaching attempts of your competitors. | You can hire developers from a vast pool of talent since the hiring is global. |
| Company culture – the team is better aligned with the company’s culture and driven by the high-spirited team of developers. | May not be well-connected with company culture, and language, and cultural differences may exist. |
| Better communication – closely operating teams communicate well and there are little to less chances of misunderstanding requirements. | Communication relies on tools – chances of misunderstanding. |
Why Should You Hire Offshore Development Team? Benefits and Challenges
The startup landscape isn’t the same anymore, there is a limited window of opportunity for landing ideas into the market amid the growing number of competitors and lack of capable resources at hand.
Co-founders are hard-pressed to strike a balance between quality work, cost, and quick development. This is even too expensive in high-cost developed countries thus making offshoring one of the attractive options to go for.
Some of the benefits of hiring an offshore development team:
Access to a global talent pool – this means you get more and better options for hiring a development team.
Hiring time reduced – typical or traditional hiring takes time, reviewing through thousands of applications, offshore hiring is instant, within a week or 2, you get your desired team/resource.
Scalability for future – lean operations structure, you scale as you grow and there is no binding of a long-term.
Keep development costs low – do you know a US developer takes home an average salary of $107,510 annually? Most startups operate on a tight budget and that is why offshore development suits them.
Now, let’s discuss some challenges of hiring offshore developers:
No direct control over the team – unless you ask for a dedicated offshore development team. They don’t work exclusively on one project at a time. This means you will have limited control over the team.
Language barrier – all of your team may not be of the same background or speak the same native language or have the same cultural values, this could be a barrier, however, remote teams now are more efficient in communication given the remote-first norm propagating.
Trust or legalities – when you outsource, the trust levels may not be high. This is why we emphasize vetting the development agency’s track record and signing the NDA.
Related Blog: Challenges You Could Face While Hiring Offshore Developers and Their Solutions
From Where Can I Find The Best Offshore Development Team?
Directories
Websites like Clutch, and Good firms – all these directories are amazing at putting together some good software development vendors for you.
You need to apply filters like areas of expertise, senior or junior roles, etc. And you get a list of resources.
One of the great advantages of such directories is that they take reviews and verify them on phone. Do run background checks on the projects for the company you are thinking of hiring.
On the flip side, some of the top software development companies do not get listed on directories because they get enough referral business.
Freelancing Site
Upwork and Toptal are popular freelancing sites.
Small businesses with small projects or limited budget projects can ideally look into such sites, as they found them reasonable and within budget.
The drawback of freelancing sites is that they took their middleman share like Toptal, or you have to sacrifice security and reliability.
Hiring Development Agencies
Hiring a professional development agency is the best bet amongst other options. They offer a full cycle of development from planning, designing, and development to launch.
Here, the important thing to remember is to keep tabs on the hired team, asking for the health reports frequently and seeing if the deadlines are being met.
Regions From Where You Can Hire Value-Driven Offshore Development Team
South American – Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico
They are the new powerhouse of offshore development. Brazil and Argentina are the top two picks from where you get vast talent access, low hourly rates, and value for money. Also, their communication skills are good enough.
Asia – India, China, Vietnam, and Pakistan
A well-known and reasonable outsourcing spot for web and app development. The region has at least 4 million professionals, even more for all sorts of projects. In fact, an average salary of an Indian developer is a fraction compared of US-based developers. There could be a language barrier.
Eastern Europe – Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, and Romania
The region again has hit the sweet cost-effective spot when compared to US developers as the region has talent, lower cultural and language barriers, and manageable time zones. However, Asian countries may stay ahead in terms of cost where they compensate with good quality work, consistency, and on-time delivery. Ukraine leads this region with more than 1600 development agencies.
Golden Tips on How to Hire Offshore Developers for Startups
Now that you have got to know about offshore development, its types, and regions for hiring, it’s time to move on to the next stage and hire development teams.
Hire a dedicated development team for your startup via these sources:
- Recommendations (referrals) from your community, you can trust these people too.
- Networking on events like hackathons, conferences, hackathons, etc.
- Use freelancing portals for hiring development teams or look for software agencies for full-cycle development.
- LinkedIn/Social platforms – go through profiles and see their qualifications and number of years of experience.
Growing from 10-50 developers/ team
You can hire 10 top or right resources for giving your idea an initial kickstart but as you get your first round of funding you need more capable resources and need help from hiring agencies.
Here at CodNinja Consulting Inc, we’ve spent time curating the best talent on demand. Vet hundreds of profiles, interview phase-wise, and keep them on the bench for instant hires. Either by building a distributed team or you have an office, you can reap advantages from offshore development.
An X-factor for Hiring Offshore Development Team from CodeNinja Consulting Inc
CodeNinja has an outstanding reputation for delivering projects as an offshore app development company. We have worked with high-growth startups from different regions where we consider a user-centric approach for app development.
Here we would like to share what ‘sets us apart from other software development vendors. Although, it isn’t limited to this set of benefits.
- A proactive and experienced team works on agile methodology means adapting to new requirements quickly.
- Signing and execution of non-disclosure agreements as requested.
- Product quality checks and control at every development stage, not just at the end.
- Hiring within a week (in most cases) and vetted developers available for instant hire.
- Post-release support and maintenance.
- A dedicated project/delivery manager in case you hire a team.
- Positive reviews from previous and current clients.
- Ability to scale in the future as the project grows.
Typical Hiring Process for Offshore Development Teams
- Hundreds are applications are filtered and categorized in their gigs. It takes time and effort.
- Setting up interviews of the vetted applicants.
- Long and complex interview processes. Usually, 3 interviews per candidate.
- Technical assignment and assessment.
- If approved, signing of the contract.
- Onboarding and introduction with the team.
Time required – can take from 2 weeks to 1 month usually. Finding rare skillset developers even take months.
Step-by-Step Hiring Process of Offshore Teams from CodeNinja Consulting Inc
Time required – within a few hours to 1 week. Usually doesn’t exceed 2 weeks.
Dedicated teams hired from CodeNinja can be controlled directly and they act more like an in-house team as they sync up their work schedule and align with the client’s team accordingly.
Conclusion
Software development vendors are in abundance and many times bring more confusion. It’s hard to choose between thousands of software development agencies offering to hire offshore developers since trust is the ultimate catch here.
Whatever offshoring model you want to pick – project-based or team augmentation – evaluating developer skills and a number of years of experience is the most crucial step of outsourcing, as it will determine the cost, development speed, and project success overall. This guide will help you in every step of how to choose the offshore development agency for a startup.
You may spend a lot of time vetting outsourcing agencies and end up hiring the wrong one. CodeNinja Consulting Inc helps you find the best developers. We suggest a stepwise approach where you can hire one resource and if he meets expectations, expand the team and hire a dedicated team.
