Software development around the globe is a massive industry that is only getting larger. The enterprise market is nearly $450 billion, and will only continue to grow from there. One of the most important things to a software company is the developers they hire.
When many software companies look for developers, most will look in their local area. However, with how connected the world is, this is no longer the only way to build a good development team. Outsourcing and hiring offshore is more popular than ever, and it allows you to hire people from across the world and even have them work together.
However, while there are several benefits that come along with outsourcing, you still need to be careful as it is completely possible to do it wrong. Without any further ado, this blog post is going to look at a few tips when it comes to hiring offshore software developers.
Do Your Homework
The first thing you need to do is do your homework. With hiring offshore developers, you can essentially choose any developer from any country. As you can imagine, it can take a lot of research and due diligence to find the right person or team. First and foremost, you should choose a country where you’d like the team to come from. Popular places for American companies to outsource to include Ukraine, India and many parts of Asia.
Once you have chosen a country, you need to narrow your search to find the right individual, group or team. A big part of this is being sure to look at their resumes, as meeting them in person isn’t always possible. A person’s resume can tell you a lot about their skills, their exact experience, any certifications they have and more. Whether they have used a tool like ResumeBuild or constructed their resume by hand, their resume is an extension of their professional experience. It is important to take your time here, as this offshore development team will essentially be representing your company.
Don’t Exclude Anyone and Communicate Well
In the modern-day, it is quite common for a single development team to be made up of both local physical workers and remote offshore workers. If this is going to be the case at your company, you need to make sure everyone is kept on the same page. If you explain something to your local team or provide them with a certain type of software, be sure to do the same for your offshore team.
Communicating with your local team is often as easy as going to the next office over, but that isn’t the case with your offshore team. Most communication will take place via Skype or a project management app like Slack, Asana or Trello. While this will take extra effort on your end, still keep the remote team updated and just as involved as your local team members.
If there is a language barrier, make sure to do all you can to make people on both sides still be able to find ways to effectively communicate. Everyone needs to be patient with one another, especially in the early going. There are differences in culture and expectations around the world, so be as respectful and inclusive as possible. The more equal things are between everyone, the more smoothly the entire project will go.
Remember the Legal Aspects
One of the most important things to keep in mind when hiring offshore developers is to remember the legal aspects. When you outsource, you are giving away some control of how your business operates. The hired offshore developers will have your code, access to your data and a variety of other things. In some cases, this can be a privacy nightmare. Be sure everyone involved practices good data security and have legal contracts set out to protect your company.
Also, different countries and areas might have different rules and regulations. Be sure that everyone on board is compliant with the laws in the USA, as well as wherever they are located and working from. This can be a headache at times but will save you from any hefty penalties or fines.
In conclusion, we hope that this article has been able to help you learn how to successfully hire offshore developers.
Hey Wendy, That’s a great post. But I belive that outsourcing in India can give you the required boost to move ahead.
No, doubt India is one of the favorite destinations to hire software developers. When you hire developers from India, you get access to the largest pool of top certified developers in the world.