How To Hire Offshore Developers (Detailed Checklist Provided)

Hiring offshore developers refers to the process of delegating software production activities to seasoned IT specialists based in a remote location. These could be product design, coding, testing, site maintenance and management, and tech support.

This outsourcing model allows you to attract top talent worldwide, gaining equal footing with big tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. It also aids in assembling a high-performance team for your startup in the shortest possible time. This ultimately accelerates the development process and reduces product time-to-market, allowing you to stay ahead of the competition.

According to Deloitte research, 76% of businesses choose to outsource their software development in 2020 to save funds and increase the quality of their services. It’s worth noting that 78% of these organizations had positive experiences with their outsourcing partners, indicating that startups should carefully consider hiring offshore developers for their technical expertise, cost-effective solutions, and quick product development.

1. Offshore Development vs. In-house: Which one to choose?

Building the best software development team for your startup often means dealing with red-tape, geographic limitations, budget restrictions, and a lengthy recruitment and onboarding process. So, before you choose to decide whether to hire offshore software developers or build an in-house team, you have to answer these questions:

• What is the development budget?

If your development budget is robust, an in-house team might be the right path. Stable cash flow guarantees you will have enough money to pay salaries offer hefty bonuses and upgrade your developer’s skills. If the team has everything they need for comfortable work, their motivation and engagement will likely remain high.

• What expertise does the project require?

Identifying which skills you need to stay competitive is one of your top priorities, especially for startups. Consider framing the expertise of your team with a one-year outlook in mind. This is important because it’s tough to find people with the right tech, problem-solving, and people skills in your area.

• When do you want to deliver the product?

Assembling a complete software development team is the first step to ensuring quick product time to market. If you’re facing a pressing need to deliver your product swiftly, going offshore could be your best bet. This is because usually, there are not enough tech experts locally to do it ad hoc.

Partnering with an offshore development company takes these issues off the table. Offshore developers offer a solution to the challenge of finding local tech talent quickly, without the red tape and extended recruitment periods. They bring a range of expertise to the table, often at a lower cost, and can help you hit your market delivery targets on time.

2. Where To Hire Offshore Developers To Your Team

2.1 Best Destinations to Hire Offshore Developers

Best Offshore Software Development Destinations

Selecting the right outsourcing location is one of the top concerns for those who want to hire overseas programmers. You can find great IT professionals anywhere if you keep an open mind and see that what people do elsewhere in the world isn’t much different from what you are used to at home.

An excellent range of offshore destinations can boast a developed market with advanced infrastructure, accomplished tech companies, and a favorable legal environment. The leading regions in offshore development services are Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Apart from obvious perks, such as a reasonable price-quality ratio and vast talent pool, each location has other characteristics you can benefit from.

Asia

• Asia is still a major player in IT outsourcing, with countries like Vietnam, India, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia being popular outsourcing destinations.
• India is the largest developer population center worldwide, with 5.4M employees in the IT and outsourcing industry.
• STEM disciplines are the key focus areas in schools and universities, which in China alone amounts to 4.7M IT experts joining the labor market every year.
• Due to the rising number of partnerships between businesses and tech service providers, Asia is expected to become the fastest-growing IT outsourcing market in the next six years.

Read More:   Face 15 business risks in software development outsourcing

Eastern Europe

• The most popular IT hubs in Eastern Europe are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Ukraine*, Poland, and Romania.
• 470+ world-renowned IT service providers collectively generate $5B in annual revenue.
• The region houses +700K tech professionals specializing in e-commerce, fintech, education, health, and telecom.
• The main clients of Eastern European vendors come from the United States and EU countries.

Note: The ongoing conflict has significantly impacted the IT outsourcing landscape in Ukraine (since 2022). While some companies continue to operate, there’s a degree of uncertainty.

Latin America

• Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile are among the top 25 business-friendly countries according to the Kearney Global Services Location Index.
• Argentina and Brazil have a lead in the number of regional programmers.
• Local tech hubs are popular outsourcing destinations for North American IT companies. Most of the time, they are located within the same time zone.
• Latin America ranks high among SME companies, with employees 1.8 times more likely to work remotely than the global average.

2.2. Where can I hire an overseas developer?

Models of Cooperation with Remote Software Developers

Browse Freelance Platforms

Freelance platforms are a rich source of potential candidates for remote-first startups. Such platforms allow you to reach overseas for IT professionals otherwise unavailable. You can find seasoned tech talents to complement your in-house development team, even on a tight budget.

Upwork

This freelance marketplace is one of the best-known resources for finding remote specialists. There is a vast pool of developers with diverse expertise, tech stack and job history for you to choose from.

You can even use the platform to build a cross-functional team, as it is a good place to find designers, QA engineers, business analysts, marketing specialists, and a manager to oversee the whole project.

Pros

Cons

Exhaustive user profiles. These include the contractor’s skills, previous work experience, and hourly rates. You can also check their portfolio, reviews from former clients, and overall job success ratings. In-build employee monitoring tools. With automatic time tracking and screenshot features, you will always know what your remote engineers are working on and how much time they spend on each task. It could prove useful if you agreed to a time and materials model and your offshore developers charge you an hourly rate for everything they do.

Hefty fee. The platform can take care of the administrative and financial side of the project, but you will have to shell out 23% of the rate you pay the freelance programmer for these services. Not suitable for hiring a dedicated team. Since contractors have their individual accounts, you have to hunt each member of the crew separately.

Guru

This website is the first choice for nearly 800,000 companies worldwide to search for talented remote professionals. Joining this platform will provide you with access to 175K+ specialists engaged in programming and development fields. You can find offshore development team by narrowing your search to a specific location, budget, number of previous employers, and paid invoices.

Pros	Cons
Free job posting. The platform offers a convenient way to post a project description and quotes from top freelancers. Flexible online environment. You can manage your remote staff in special WorkRooms, where you may define project milestones, set deadlines, and keep track of employees’ progress.	A lot of screening work. The service doesn’t pre-vet candidates, so you will have to check their qualifications on your own. Overly strict policies. You might have trouble posting a job offer, as you need to ensure your offer abides by all platform guidelines.

Toptal

The service aims to connect clients and seasoned tech experts and facilitate cooperation between two parties throughout the development process. This might sound similar to what other freelance marketplaces offer, but there is a significant difference. Each applicant undergoes an extensive five-stage selection process to get into Toptal’s network. This ensures you will work only with the best software developers worldwide.

Talent sourcing. First, you discuss your project requirements and expectations with Toptal’s representatives. They will then assess the candidates and match you with programmers who have skills relevant to the role you’re trying to fill. Free trial. Every time you start working with a new tech specialist, you will have a 20-hour probation period before making a final decision on further cooperation.

High service cost. Most startup founders find Toptal’s fees too expensive for their budget range. Plus the developers’ rates are much higher than on other platforms. Rigid cooperation model. The contracts with Toptal freelancers don’t offer much flexibility – you have to hire a developer for a 20 or 40-hour weekly workload, with no regard to your project’s actual needs.

Top Platforms to Hire Remote Developers

Hire Offshore Developers with Offshore Development Company

Delegating some information technology functions, like application maintenance, software support, IT infrastructure, etc to offshore development teams is a now common business practice. This approach draws on the experience of a resourceful overseas partner. The problem with finding a trusted IT Outsourcing company is that there are too many to choose from, and you don’t know which one is best. The list can help you.

Read More:   Staff Augmentation vs Consulting: Which Fits Your Project Best?

Read more: Top 13 Trusted Software Outsourcing Companies In Vietnam

Google search may help you meet your hiring goals quickly and efficiently, but it’s not always enough to make an informed decision. If you want to make the best of what the tech community has to offer, here are a few channels you can use to find a dedicated offshore development team for your project:

References

Leveraging your professional network is a sure way to connect to trusted remote service providers, or at least get some tips on where to find offshore developers. There is a chance someone in your circle has already been through the outsourcing hiring process. They are aware of all the pitfalls along the way and will likely share their experience to your benefit.

An example of someone posting on Twitter to hire offshore developers

In addition to references from your colleagues and partners, you can also use the power of social media. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are effective tools for mass communication. You can create a post describing what kind of company and tech expertise you are looking for and then ask your friends to repost the publication to maximize its outreach.

LinkedIn Outreach

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, and therefore it’s the best place to turn to in the quest for a reliable offshore development partner. Scanning a corporate account will give you an idea about the vendor’s location, number of employees, general overview of their projects, and sometimes even reviews from their former clients and partners.

Once you have a list of offshore development companies that match your goals and requirements, you should also check the profiles of companies’ employees, to see who they are, what they do, and whether they will be keen on hearing from you. Identify the company’s top-level executives, such as CEOs, CTOs, business owners, or management partners.

To jumpstart the communication, send the people occupying those positions a personalized message, explaining why you decided to contact them, and what you are looking to achieve, and ask whether they are ready to continue the discussion on how you can bring value to each other.

3. Step-by-step checklist to hire offshore developers successfully

After shortlisting some potential places to hire offshore software developers, you can follow this checklist to help you choose the best offshore developers.

✔Establish the budget

Funding is one of the top concerns for newly-minted startups. That’s why it’s essential to plan your expenses, including the infrastructure cost, developers’ salaries, and operating expenditures in advance.

✔Choose the outsourcing destination 

Check information about top-ranking offshore development countries to see which one would be the best fit in terms of geographic and cultural proximity.

✔Define your collaboration model

Depending on the scope of your budget and knowledge of remote management tools, you can hire freelancers, partner with an outsourcing company, or open your R&D center.

✔Shortlist potential candidates

Sift through the resumes and portfolios of preferred applicants to try and find the best tech talent you think would fit your project.

✔Test the prospect’s expertise

Whether you work with individual contractors, software development agencies, or local tech consultants, always check if they have a proven track record. Conduct interviews with developers, ask questions about their workflow, check their tech skills, and contact their previous clients if possible.

✔Sign the contract

An explicit business agreement is the foundation of successful, long-term cooperation. It must cover data protection rules, warranty clauses, software requirement specifications, and a section on code ownership.

You should also sign a statement of work and a non-disclosure agreement to avoid data leakage.

✔Meet your remote team

Initiate a welcome call to get acquainted with your engineers or visit them in person to build trust and facilitate team bonding.

4. Benefits of Hiring Offshore Developers

Closing The Talent Gap

Many Western companies come to emerging IT outsourcing markets because of the dramatic shortfall of experienced developers back home. The talent shortage in the US alone is projected to exceed 1.2M by 2026. Thus, outsourcing will become a necessity rather than a choice in the coming years. The offshore development market provides access to a broader range of qualified tech staff based in different locations worldwide.

Scaling Up and Down at Ease

Scaling your team to meet the demands of your projects can often be a complex process. However, leveraging offshore developers simplifies this task significantly. It’s akin to having a flexible workforce at your fingertips, ready to be scaled up or down based on your current needs. This approach eliminates many of the logistical and administrative hurdles associated with expanding or reducing an in-house team. These hurdles could be recruiting and interviewing, expanding office space, and navigating local employment laws and regulations associated with expanding or reducing an in-house team

By hiring offshore developers, you can swiftly adjust your team’s size and composition. This strategy not only enhances operational flexibility but also maintains project momentum without the need for extensive internal adjustments.

Mitigating Budget Risks

According to business owners, financial issues are the top reason startups don’t get off the ground. You must be very cautious about your budget to escape such a fate. Remember, every change you make, from expanding the product range to launching a new advertising campaign or entering a different market, should be backed by secure funding.

If you decide to outsource software development, you will automatically have more capital in your hands to spend on things that assist your business growth. In this case, you don’t have to invest resources in purchasing infrastructure, building up a comfortable workspace, or HR and other administrative activities. Moreover, outsourcing enables you to hire offshore software developers at a better price than assembling an in-house team would cost you.

Flexible Schedule

You can hire overseas programmers only for one project. You may also outsource specific activities like web development, tech support, ongoing maintenance, or hosting. Their workload depends on your business needs and not the labor standards. Assigning forty working hours one week and five the next is okay.

You only pay the outsourcing developers for the work done. On the other hand, direct employees must get a fixed salary even if they don’t have enough work to keep them busy. Creating a new app feature, waiting for the next task, or doing something else makes no difference.

Business Expansion

Rewarding growth strategy includes adding new resources, like finances, workforce, and technology, and streamlining your company activities. This entails focusing on core business functions and delegating minor assignments and supporting processes to external service providers. It lets you prioritize value-added tasks and free your IT unit from mundane work. This way, your project team will have more time to do what you hired them to do.

5. Challenges of Hiring Offshore Developers and How to Overcome

One common issue is the time difference. Working across different time zones can make communication and scheduling meetings tricky. To overcome this, establish a core hour overlap where everyone is available. Use this time for meetings, updates, and collaboration.

Language barriers and cultural differences can also pose challenges. They can lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations of project goals. Hiring offshore software developers who have a good grasp of your language and investing time in cultural exchange can bridge this gap. Encourage open communication and provide clear, detailed project documentation to minimize misunderstandings.

Read more: 7 Tips to Embrace Cultural Differences with Offshore Teams

Quality control is another concern. It’s essential to maintain high standards while working with teams across the globe. Implementing a robust project management system and regular quality checks can help keep everyone on the same page and ensure deliverables meet your expectations.

Lastly, security risks related to data and intellectual property can be daunting. Make sure to work with reputable offshore companies that adhere to strict security protocols. Use secure channels for communication and data exchange, and have legal agreements in place to protect your intellectual property.

When considering hiring offshore developers for your startup, there are essential factors to consider for a successful partnership:

By carefully considering these factors, you can establish a successful partnership with offshore developers, ensuring effective communication, reliability, and a harmonious working dynamic. This sets the foundation for a productive and collaborative development process, leading to the desired outcomes for your startup.

6. Hiring offshore developers at InApps Technology

InApps Technology is a leading offshore software development company based in Vietnam that connects businesses across the globe with experienced software developers. We have helped over 300 companies hire, manage, and retain their remote development teams in Vietnam. We build dedicated teams enabling clients across the globe to leverage top-notch technologies delivered by experienced software engineers. The InApps service model covers:

• Build a dedicated team of back-end and front-end developers, designers, and project managers who will handle the full cycle of product development.
• Hire remote developers who can bring additional expertise and fresh perspective to your internal software development team.
• Open your own offshore development center and enjoy working with top-notch professionals who share your corporate values.

Our recruitment specialists have the extensive market knowledge to meet the needs of businesses of different sizes. If you want to grow your startup with brilliant tech experts, InApps is the perfect partner for you. So let’s connect with us.