This is always an exhausting task to look for a staff that best fits your requirements. Even, it gets more difficult if you plan to assign the task to a remote tech resource. You must consider appropriate skills to look for in offshore software developers to choose the right employee in 2024.
Nowadays, many IT service provider companies are outsourcing technical capabilities to deliver modern solutions. Also, you can select from a large number of freelance remote software developers. There are also talent acquisition companies that assist in finding them.
Pertinent skills in offshore software developers make hiring such resources always a good idea. As they can provide a lot of value for businesses and startups globally. For now, the United States is the country that generates the most revenue from IT outsourcing.
You can save on many overhead charges and various benefits that in-house employees get. So, hiring a dedicated software developer to code and implement your dream app or solution is a viable option. In this article, we show you the skills to look for in offshore software developers you must try to find.
Capabilities to seek in remote software developers
Here are the essential skills to look for in offshore software developers when hiring resources during 2024.
- Performance in coding test
- Competencies, expertise, and testimonials
- Excellent communication
- Flexibility in the work routine
- Agility and patience to adapt
Considering these competencies helps you in picking the ideal candidates for your technical staffing requirements.
Performance in coding test
Just in case, you desire to hire a remote React Native developer. Then giving them a React Native skills assessment is one of the best methods to evaluate their skills. This test will allow you to hire the best resource who can create, maintain, and update your React Native apps.
React Native framework powers the world’s most popular apps like Instagram and Facebook. This framework enables you to build native applications for iOS and Android platforms. Additionally, it cuts down the development time by using the same JavaScript code for both platforms.
Furthermore, the React Native test helps you identify which offshore developers can build the correct native apps. All candidates who pass this evaluation turn out better choices for hiring. Since, it assesses developers’ skills for developing an app from scratch, upgrading and maintaining it, and adding new features.
Competencies, expertise, and testimonials
Whether you want to hire an offshore software developer from an agency or a freelancer. You can visit their websites and see what kind of reviews, projects, and levels of experience they have. Here are some of the critical factors to focus on when screening skills to look for in offshore software developers.
- Abilities: What kind of skills do these developers have that you are seeking to hire? You should keep in mind that there are many different types of software developers. For example, web developers, full-stack developers, frontend/backend developers, DevOps developers, etc. Ensure you are hiring someone that possesses the skills you are asking for.
- Experience: This is an obvious one as experience defines the problem-solving level a developer is at. Moreover, the better a developer is at solving problems, the software built will have fewer issues. That’s why you must prefer to hire a developer with more years of experience, over those who are entry-level.
- Reviews: Always seek to find a developer’s portfolio and see what they have done in the past. Reviews and past projects help you learn more about a developer’s work and what other people have to say. In any industry that you operate in, testimonials greatly influence decision-making.
Excellent communication
Any offshore software resource you hire must be able to effectively communicate with you. If you hire an offshore software developer who can’t communicate, you are making the wrong choice. This is the first step that determines if you made a good hire or not.
Effective communication helps you and your developers reach deadlines and complete objectives. This is a big factor that makes or breaks the project. With the right communication, you can develop transparency regarding what the project requirements are.
You also get to know how comfortable both you and the resource are in terms of delivering those requirements. The more you communicate with each other, the further you will ensure a comfortable relationship. According to research, lack of communication is one of the significant reasons many businesses fail.
Flexibility in the work routine
Indeed, working remotely is fun but also requires lots of flexibility in the working timetable. Contracting someone to work completely in your time zone is preferable. However, a few overlapping hours can equally do the trick.
Normally, time zone differences result in flexible working hours. A few hours of difference may not cause a huge problem. As long as the resource flexibly works in hours that suit you and them both, you are good to go.
A significant difference in time zones may not turn out as pleasant. Because you can’t stay in consistent communication with your software developer. Assuming that the developer addresses urgent issues that arise, everything else is okay.
Agility and patience to adapt
During different phases of a project, there are many small or even big gaps that software developers need to address. For instance, development sprints, testing stages, coding reviews, etc. In this case, you want to have someone quick and patient in resolving these issues.
Likewise, being agile doesn’t just mean rapidly addressing issues. This also reckons for having someone who doesn’t make excuses when something needs a solution. Many software developers have tight deadlines, so you can’t lose time listening to excuses.
You must communicate realistic times when a project can complete. This should also include a window for product scope/requirements changes. Make certain that your software developers correctly manage their time. If they have any reservations about the timeline of the project, then they must communicate with you earlier.
Top challenges in outsourcing the Software projects
As per research, the total value of the global IT outsourcing market was $359.83 billion in 2021. This study estimates its industry valuation to reach $551.96 billion by 2026. The worldwide IT outsourcing market will have an 8.80% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the forecast period of 2021-2026.
These are the challenges that businesses can face while subcontracting software projects to offshore firms through 2024.
- Seek offshore locations that meet your needs
- Acquire quick response from the team
- Keep the remote staff within budget
- Improve the price-quality ratio of product
- Ensure the resources fulfill your goals
Taking care of these challenging difficulties can make contracting out software projects relatively easy.
Seek offshore locations that meet your needs
There are many countries from where you can choose offshore software developers for your projects in the USA. Each of these countries has its advantages and disadvantages. Seek the right countries that are most beneficial for your business due to having a better time zone.
This can work wonders for you and even improve the quality of remote software development and price ratio. Pick the time zones that don’t differ too much and at least have some overlapping working hours. Generally, software developers require direct communication with their teams. So, it may not turn out as efficient for them to work while you are sleeping and vice versa.
Acquire quick response from the team
A pitfall to avoid while hiring offshore software developers is to not choose people who can’t respond without any slippage. With set deadlines, you cannot have someone who will come up with a lame excuse now and then. Especially, you can’t afford this to happen on the day of phase or product delivery.
The decided timelines must be met and managed properly between you and the software developers. Once again, it is important to constantly communicate with your resources about the deadline expectations. So that all parties try their best to fulfill the project timelines.
Keep the remote staff within budget
Yes, it is affordable to opt for outsourcing rather than hiring technical resources from the U.S. Nevertheless, you can’t waste money on settling for incompetent skills in offshore software developers. So, you want to plan your budget before hiring one.
By doing this, you ensure that you are matching the average payout a remote software developer will request from you. In addition to that, consider agency infrastructure costs as well. Try to guess how much the total costs will turn out, but avoid going for cheap agencies.
Essentially, an agency also provides you the value you are asking for your projects. They are not just offering low costs that won’t provide any value in assisting you. Here are some methods you can use to find offshore software developers that are worth the price.
- Referrals from people you know or may know
- Recommendations from software programming agencies overseas
- Participation in hackathons
- Using social media channels such as LinkedIn
- Searching on freelance sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Guru, PeoplePerHour, etc.
- Inquiring partner recruiters or offshore freelance recruiters
Improve the price-quality ratio of product
One of the primary reasons someone hires a remote software developer is because of the price-quality ratio. Different countries have diverse salary ranges for technical resources. In many cases, you find offshore software developers at a lower price that is more skillful than local resources.
Of course, if you are living in a first-world country like the USA. For example, it costs on average up to $10,000 per month to hire a software developer in the US. In comparison, a 2nd world country like North Macedonia can cost up to $5,000 depending on the skill level. Better yet, a 3rd world country such as Pakistan costs around $3,000 for the same skillset.
Ensure the resources fulfill your goals
One of the biggest errors many businesses make is the acquisition of inept skills in offshore software developers. Such resources don’t play their part in accomplishing the goals and needs of their employers. To avoid making these mistakes, ask yourself the following questions.
- What type of developers do I need?
- Which kind of skills should the developers have?
- What application do I want to build?
- How will I test my product?
- How much is my budget?
Outsource software development needs to have answers to these questions so that you know which direction you are heading. When defining goals, think of every question possible that you can answer relating to offshore software development hirings. You must set priorities and get a clear picture of how your project can turn out. This is a crucial step in hiring offshore software developers.
Reasons for lack of in-house developers and tech talent
The dearth of in-house developers and technology talent is happening to several causes.
- Great Resignation
- Remote work
- Own work culture
Now, we take a look at these motives contributing to the shortage of in-house developers and tech staff.
Great Resignation
As of February 2022, 63% of workers have quit their jobs due to low salaries. Also, the researchers call the great resignation as the “midlife crisis”. Companies not meeting salary demands only damage themselves and make their competitors shine in hiring tech talents.
Remote work
This may sound surprising, but remote work causes skill shortages for many companies, and thus, disruption at workplaces. Subsequently, technology talents who prefer to work remotely avoid companies promoting at-site work or a hybrid schedule. The rise of home-based work encourages nearly 70% of developers to change their jobs because of the endless remote opportunities.
Own work culture
The increase in digital transformation spending is boosting the need for hiring developers. But more and more technology graduates are embracing startups and entrepreneurship universally and in North America. Also, own business drive is making it competitive for recruiters to hire the perfect web and tech resources.
Factors you may be overlooking when hiring developers
We continuously face the same problem in almost every industry — talent shortage. However, the issue of talent shortage is even bigger in software development. Many companies are having difficulty finding competent software developers, and it’s happening in record-breaking numbers.
Technological advancements are increasing the demand for software engineers in the US and internationally. These specializations are in specific programming languages, big data, machine learning, IoT, and more. Human embrace of knowledge covering modern technologies is producing software developers more than ever.
Nonetheless, there is a difference between demand and supply, so it doesn’t completely solve the problem. All of this has left recruiters thinking about what they have to consider when hiring developers within 2024. Well, don’t go anywhere because, in this article, we will be looking at those factors.
- COVID-19’s effect on supply & demand
- Shortage of IT workforce
- Compliance with data privacy
- Searching for talent abroad
- Standing out from the competition
Next, we pay special attention to these factors that help in finding the right developers.
COVID-19’s effect on supply & demand
Since the coronavirus pandemic’s beginning, supply and demand have been affected differently. First of all, the need for the majority of employees to go remote has been quite a “shock” for companies. Since most of them were used to working in the office before COVID-19.
According to statistics, 16% of the global workforce works remotely. However, developers don’t have to show up to do great work, so the digital transformation doesn’t affect them much. In effect, most companies are going fully remote and increasing their tech hiring.
For example, after the pandemic broke out, Facebook hired more than 10,000 product and engineering staff members. Secondly, the number of new developers that have been trained after the pandemic has increased by more than 2%. Above and beyond, more companies need developers, so slightly, the supply rate has staggered.
Shortage of IT workforce
As per statistics, there’s a worldwide shortage of more than 40 million workers. In the next decade, there may be a talent shortage of more than 80 million skilled workers. Accordingly, the worst part is that it’ll put companies’ revenue at significant risk.
According to the U.S Bureau statistics, more than eight trillion dollars of company revenue are put at risk. Overcoming these challenges requires much more than complaining, like needing some modification to the hiring process for software developer jobs. For instance, recruiters are finding it overwhelmingly challenging to hire skillful candidates in this period.
This is because resumes have the power to show a few things about the abilities of applicants. But sometimes, they are close to useless when it comes to assessing technical knowledge. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) can scan candidates who possess the appropriate capabilities from a candidate that best fits your position.
However, consistent with a study conducted with more than 100,000 developers, 80% of developers are self-taught. None of them had learned their skills, frameworks, or programming languages inside any part of formal education.
For succeeding in the hiring process, you need to look beyond traditional hiring methods. Looking at a résumé, CV, or biodata; and asking a couple of questions is not enough anymore. HR managers and talent acquisition firms have to take smart measures to identify suitable candidates.
Compliance with data privacy
Businesses and recruiters often overlook data privacy laws. However, you must prioritize data confidentiality, when hiring someone. The moment applicants store their information within your organization, you need to conform to data secrecy rules.
You can only imagine the number of candidates you’ll be recruiting during the recruitment phase. Also, you can be unaware of the amount of personal data you’ll collect. Thus, you’ll need to comply with data privacy regulations depending on your own and the candidates’ living region.
Navigating these laws can turn quite stressful, especially when you aren’t familiar with them. Yet, it’s important to be aware of these commandments. Data privacy laws differ in each country and region. However, the most common data privacy laws are the following.
- The GDPR: This is the data privacy law that protects users within the boundaries of the European Union. It safeguards customers against companies using private data for illegal purposes. You are obliged to comply with the GDPR if you collect data from EU citizens.
- CPRA: Long for the “California privacy rights act”, the CPRA is a data privacy law protecting users within California boundaries. Extending the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the CPRA is different from the GDPR since the latter targets more countries. However, the CPRA and its predecessor CCPA have many similarities with the largest data privacy law worldwide GDPR. It has benefits like limiting the duration a company may retain private data, increasing fines for child data breaches, etc.
Searching for talent abroad
With the increase in remote work, you aren’t obliged to hire local talent anymore. Working from home increases flexibility and allows you to go international when searching for potential talents. Flexible work such as remote work and hybrid schedules attract up to seven times more applicants than regular office work.
A survey reveals that 75% of developers want to work from home, and 60% are already working remotely. With the increase in flexible working schedules, developers seek opportunities beyond their local boundaries. Especially, for developers living in countries with lower income rates, it’s an excellent chance to take advantage of new opportunities.
Similarly, there are many benefits for recruiters as well. Recruiters in the USA or other higher-income countries can hire a developer from a lower-income country. Getting the same level of expertise at a much lower compensation will go in their favor.
After all, remote work is removing all possible boundaries between continents, countries, and regions. It allows hiring managers to be even more flexible in the hiring process. The world is global, and African/South Asian countries like Pakistan are getting on a par level with developed nations.
Standing out from the competition
With the high level of competition, it’s more important than ever to stand out as a recruiter. Nowadays, developers have lots of options both locally and globally. Particularly, capable developers get to choose which job position they’ll like to fill from the options they have available.
Fortunately, tech resources have many aspects to consider from. Instead of the only issues like salary or reputation. Employers can work hard in tackling the most common challenges developers are facing each time.
- Unclear directions in their career
- Inadequate work tools
- Unintentional issues, work, and changes
- Overflowing with deadlines and more
Companies must continuously improve their culture and work ethics. Thus, businesses can facilitate developers and other technology resources who were struggling to overcome these challenges in the past. Other opportunities include offering more flexibility, such as a hybrid schedule and the possibility to work remotely entirely.
However, excluding this option will discourage developers and they will seek other options. After all, 16% of the global workforce is working remotely. So, to stand out as an employer, you also need to offer the essential tools that developers need.
Specifically, when developers have more experience, they want to work for companies with a vision. They prefer organizations that have vital tools for promoting their personal growth. Due to a worldwide workforce shortage, top tech talents are going after companies that support them in their daily endeavors.
Technology resources opt to work for businesses that have a growth-centric mindset. Yes, many developers care about salary today. In case, the work culture isn’t there and they lack the required tools for work. Then, they most likely won’t join that company, or if they’ve already, will not continue to work there.
Wrapping it up
These are the most critical factors to pay special attention to when hiring a developer in 2024. Even though, there is a skill shortage worldwide and in the United States. If you are standing out from your competitors, you have the advantage of hiring professional developers.
As we said before, experienced developers are highly concerned about what an employer has to offer. Many may think it’s just about the salary, but above anything else is the company’s culture. So, step back and take a moment to do some introspection.
What is your organizational culture? Does your company promote employee growth and facilitates them in their work? Is it just stuck with the old traditional methods?
Well, that’s about it for this article. These are our tips that you can use for knowing the right skills to look for in offshore software developers. We recommend you pay great attention to each of our recommendations and apply them when hiring an offshore developer.
In most cases, remote software programmers are more able than local software developers you have in your area. Besides, they offer their services for a lower price. The number of developers worldwide is rising each year, so you must hire experienced ones.
Outsourcing is the ideal solution for ensuring software quality while keeping costs less. Efficiently use all of the resources you have, whether in-house or remote, by analyzing their skills. Put more attention to the quality of the hire rather than the amount you are paying.
Do you want to outsource your software products or products? Techliance provides you with expert-level teams of developers. Say hello to your technology-driven solution soon.
