Hiring offshore software developers is a strategic decision, as that brings significant cost savings and access to a broader talent pool. However, different regions offer different advantages in terms of cost, quality, and time zone compatibility. Moreover, there are different approaches to the hiring process itself. For instance, you can hire offshore software developers from agencies, on freelance platforms, or partner with a tech vendor. So, how to choose the destination and way of hiring? Let’s find out together in our comprehensive guide to successful offshore software development.
Where to find the best developers in the world?
Finding software developers that best fit your project depends significantly on the specific skills and expertise you need. However, certain regions are renowned for their high concentration of talent in various technology sectors. Let’s take a look at the region, including CEE (Central and Eastern Europe), Latin America, and Asia.
Hire offshore software developers: CEE
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is a popular choice for many companies due to the region's strong educational backgrounds in technical fields, cost-effectiveness, and relatively similar cultural and business practices compared to Western Europe and North America.
Based on data from Emerging Europe, the tech talent pool in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Balkans and nearby countries, surpassed 2.2M in 2022. Additionally, it is estimated that there are between 4,500 and 6,500 software development companies in the region, employing over 1.4M software developers.
Moreover, many European countries are recognized as reliable offshore destinations. 11 countries were included in the list of the 2023 Kearney Global Services Location Index of the best outsourcing locations.
Hire offshore software developers: Latin America
Thanks to its large and highly skilled tech talent pool, Latin America is a prime destination for software development, which continues to expand. The region offers lower competition for top specialists compared to North America, which simplifies and speeds up the hiring process.
Latin American countries perform well in various international rankings, including the Kearney GSLI, Global Innovation Index, and Ease of Doing Business. Kearney ranks them within the top 50, and the Global Innovation Index places them within the top 100. Countries like Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Chile are also in the top 100 Ease of Doing Business rankings. With a focus on digitalization, improving infrastructure, enhancing digital skills, and attracting foreign investment, most governments in the region are creating a supportive environment for tech initiatives. This is further bolstered by an increasing number of accelerators, tech incubators, and technology parks.
Additionally, with nearly 2M tech professionals, Latin America's tech industry and talent pool make it an appealing choice for companies considering outsourcing software development.
Hire offshore developers: Asia
Each country in Asia offers unique advantages in terms of skills, costs, and industry specializations. In 2021, the tech talent pool in the region exceeded 4.7M. Leading the region with the highest numbers of professional developers were India with 2.7M, China with 1.4M, Vietnam with 300K, and the Philippines with 200K.
India is a leader in IT outsourcing, with a massive pool of English-speaking developers skilled in various programming languages and technologies. It is known for cost-effectiveness and scalability. China is strong in mobile app development, AI, and ecommerce solutions, with a rapidly growing tech ecosystem.
The Philippines is known for its customer service and support capabilities and a growing community of software developers. Vietnam is emerging as a cost-effective hub for software development with a young, tech-savvy workforce.
Another aspect that often drains the budget is the long staffing process and ineffective onboarding. Did you know that nearly 60% of US employers reported having trouble filling specific job openings within 12 weeks or more, which resulted in over $800K in additional annual expenses? Whereas the typical staffing time for offshore software developers varies between three and seven weeks.
Strong tech education and robust skills of developers are important factors to consider when hiring offshore software developers.
Education, English proficiency, skills, and rankings of offshore developers
Each of these factors plays a critical role in determining the success of offshore software development projects. Here’s an overview of what you might expect in different regions:
1. CEE
Education: Strong in STEM education, with many universities offering specialized degrees in computer science and related fields.
English proficiency: Generally high, as English is commonly taught from an early age and is used extensively in the professional environment.
Skills: Developers in this region are known for their expertise in a wide range of technologies, including Java, .NET, Python, and JavaScript. They are also reputed for advanced skills in cybersecurity, blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence.
Rankings: Countries like Poland and Ukraine often rank high on lists like SkillValue or HackerRank, which assess the quality of developers based on their coding skills.
2. Asia
Education: Asian countries have a strong emphasis on technical education with numerous tech institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Tsinghua University in China.
English proficiency: This aspect varies widely throughout the region. India and the Philippines have very high levels of English proficiency, often considered near-native. In China, English proficiency is improving but varies more by region and education level.
Skills: Known for a vast talent pool specializing in software development, IT, and back-end operations. India, for instance, is a powerhouse in software development and IT services.
Rankings: Asian developers frequently perform well in global coding competitions and are highly ranked on platforms assessing technical skills.
3. Latin America
Education: Many countries in Latin America have reputable universities with strong computer science programs, though the focus may be more on practical applications than on theoretical knowledge.
English proficiency: Increasingly proficient, especially among younger professionals and in major cities. The English language is often a requirement for working with North American clients.
Skills: Local engineers are particularly strong in web development, mobile applications, and software engineering.
Rankings: Latin American countries are climbing in global rankings of software development skills, particularly in specific niches like mobile development.
Once we have estimated the tech talent pool in every location and country, explored their technical and industry expertise, and evaluated their skills, it is time to learn how to hire offshore software developers.
How to hire offshore software developers successfully?
1. Understand your business needs
This step is important to evaluate the amount of work that needs to be done, the cooperation model that will best fit your needs, and the number of offshore developers that are going to be involved in the project. Example of questions to ask yourself:
- Is it a short-term or a lengthy project?
- Do you need developers to expand your in-house team, or do you need a project built from scratch?
- How many people do you need?
- Do you need them full-time?
2. Choose the right location
Understanding what needs to be done will bring you to the next step—finding the right location. In one of our recent articles, we’ve discussed three main IT outsourcing destinations: Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America. Keep in mind all the crucial aspects while choosing the final destination:
- What technical and industry expertise do they have?
- Will they be a great cultural fit for your company?
- How much time will they have for a meeting in terms of time zone difference?
3. Find the right vendor
Unless you are looking for a single developer to work on a small task, you most likely will need to find a company to work with. There are thousands of offshore software development vendors across the globe. Some companies have glorifying customer reviews, some are proud of their experience in every industry, and others have strong portfolios. You will also find vendors that offer insanely low rates while others seem to exaggerate the cost of services.
Discover how to hire an offshore development team successfully
4. Bonus item: Share the bigger picture
If you want your company to succeed, it is important that your tech partner (and your developers) understand your business needs and vision. It will be for them to satisfy you if they know your expectations. Don’t forget to share:
- Product description and its position on the market (or within the company);
- Your business needs;
- Expected deadline;
- KPIs and milestones;
- Your vision of the process.
Working with software developers offshore: Success stories
As a company with 21 years on the market, N-iX has been working with companies around the globe for a long time, establishing long-term partnerships across many industries.
- Gogo is a US-based company that provides in-flight connectivity and wireless entertainment services for commercial and business aviation around the world. We’ve helped Gogo move the on-premises data solutions to the cloud and built a cloud-based unified data platform that collects and aggregates data from over 20 sources.
- Travelport Locomote is an Australian corporate travel platform that simplifies and streamlines traveling life cycles (tickets, hotels, etc.). Three N-iX teams have been working on software development, testing, and enhancing the existing travel platform.
- Another client is TuneIn, an American audio streaming service, which needed to expand its in-house development capabilities.
- N-iX teams have also worked with HotSchedules, a US-based company that provides employee scheduling and labor management solutions in the restaurant industry since 2015.
- Our dedicated team is also working on a Bluetooth communication system for motorcycle riders for a US client—Cardo Systems. The most important expertise in this project was the one in embedded development, software development, and testing.
- N-iX also partnered with OpenText, Canada's largest software company. We partnered to work on a platform that allows the company to design and deliver integrated mobile solutions for clients that use more than one product swiftly and without developers’ involvement.
Wrap-up
As you can see, offshore markets can offer a wide selection of experts within various tech stacks and industries. Asian offshore developers can be a great choice in terms of financial attractiveness. Latin American developers are known for providing nearshore development services to countries from the US. Software developers in the CEE region typically have both strong technical backgrounds and versatile expertise. Besides infrastructure development and significant improvement in tech education, this region has also adopted new technologies and created a thriving market for software development and IT outsourcing services.
