A Guide to Hire Offshore Software Developers For Your Business

No ads, no posts! Just a plain messaging platform that has more than 2 billion users today! Can you guess the platform? 

If you guessed WhatsApp, then you are correct! However, did you WhatsApp started as a small company with 30 employees in 2012 and earned a revenue over $906 million in 2022. How did that happen? Through outsourcing its development operations. Working with an offshore company allowed them to focus on core business tasks and sell the company to Facebook for $19 billion in 2014. 

Not only WhatsApp today businesses like IBM, Google, Adobe along with small and medium enterprises are taking advantage of offshore developers. And if you are wondering what exactly offshore developer means and how your business can hire one you are at the right place.  

In this blog, you can learn everything from how to hire offshore developers to what mistakes to avoid while hiring them. Let us get started. 

A Quick Roadmap

• What Does Offshore Development Mean? 
• How Does Offshore Software Development Work? 
• Reason to Hire Offshore Software Developers as a Startup or Small Business 
• 5 Steps for Hiring Offshore Software Development Company 
• How to Manage Offshore Development Teams 
• Prioxis: Your Offshore Development Team with a 99% Project Success Rate 
• FAQs 

What Does Offshore Development Mean?

When you hire dedicated software development team from a foreign country to work on your specific project, it is termed as hiring offshore development team. For example, you are an American startup looking to save cost and want to develop product or application, and you hire a team of Indian developers.  

Startups, Small and medium enterprises, and even big companies are considering offshore development services today. This is because of the cost savings and access to talented pool of developers they get. 

Let us have look at some of the top benefits of offshore development team.

Reason to Hire Offshore Software Developers As a Startup or Small Business

Reasonable Development Costs

This is one of the major reasons why organizations hire offshore developers. Hourly rates in countries like India are much lesser than USA and UK. So, if you are running your business in any of these countries and hire developers from India, imagine the cost cutting you can do.  

Get Advantage of Newest Technology Skills

Imagine you need a certain technology for developing a project in your organization. Now, if you do not have it in house, you either must hire someone you have that expertise or train your employees. Both situations will be time consuming.  

However, if you are hiring offshore software development teams, you get pool of developers skilled in that technology stack. You can thus select the most appropriate software developers as per your niche and experience requirement. And start working on your software development project immediately. 

No Hassle of Long Recruitment Process

This point can be considered as subset of above point. As you do not have to hire someone in house, the recruitment process of offshore developers can be done in less time. Plus, you do not have to arrange all the resources as you must for a new employee. An offshore software development company can quickly adjust as per the latest market demand as they have vast experience in the same.  

Access to Global Expertise

With offshore developer, you do not have to stay limited within your geographic borders. You get access to 28.7 million experienced tech talent pool across the world. Also, the shortage of developers in your location, will not affect your business processes. 

Flexibility and Scalability

While working on a software development project, there may arise a situation where your existing resource will not be able to meet the requirements. Due to which, you will need to scale your resources.  

This is when hiring offshore developers will benefit you tensest. As you can get extra resources as right offshore development company are well equipped for such situations. Plus, you can also cut down resources in case there is no need which is not possible when you hire technical expertise in house. 

These were just few of the many benefits you get with hiring offshore developers. However, hiring the right team is important or else all your investment can go in vain.  

And to help you achieve the same here is 5 steps tested strategy to hire offshore developers.

5 Steps For Hiring Offshore Software Development Company

Decide What Kind of Tech Expertise You Need and Why

Directly jumping to the conclusion of recruiting offshore developers is like cooking your favorite meal without knowing the exact recipe. To experience the sweet flavor of success first you need define your business goals and end results. Here are few points that can help you hire offshore developers; 

• If you are a startup create a minimum viable product and find out the problems, you are facing with the same and accordingly decide your needs 
• Then find out the tech expertise you need. For instance, you may need developers for .NET technology for backend however, a multidisciplinary expert to build a cloud solution. 
• Also, decide the pricing model you will opt for. Fixed, dedicated, time and material are some types of pricing models you can choose. 

Check out our detailed guide to offshore software development pricing model to make a better decision.

Choose An Ideal Location for Availing Offshore Development Services

This is one of the main factors that will affect the cost of development of your project. If you are a startup or small enterprise looking for experienced offshore developers at a reasonable cost choosing a country like India can be the best choice. As discussed in the beginning of the blog many business giants are choosing to outsource offshoring services from India already. 

However, there are other countries as well you can consider as per your need. Below is a country wise analysis related to cost for hiring offshore developers. 

Regions Overview: Cost of Hiring Offshore Developers 

Top Locations to Find Offshore Development Teams

• India: Known for its vast pool of skilled developers and competitive rates. 
• China: Boasts a strong tech talent base and is a popular offshore destination. 
• Ukraine: Prior to the recent conflict, Ukraine was a top choice for offshore development, with a thriving IT sector. 
• Poland: Suitable for both small and large teams, Poland is known for its skilled developers and competitive rates. 
• Romania: With over 100,000 skilled developers, Romania is a sought-after nearshore option for Western Europe. 
• Argentina: While currently facing challenges, Argentina has been a strong offshore destination for software development in the past. 
• South Africa: Provides skilled offshore developer at low rates compared to Western countries. 
• After deciding the country as per your budget and comfortable time zone, you can start shortlisting offshore software development services. 

Do Your Homework and Shortlist Offshore Outsourcing Companies

After defining goals and location, next thing is finding the right offshore outsourcing company. There are different platforms where you can find offshore software development team. Here are some of them.

Websites for Hiring Offshore Developers

1. Upwork A popular freelance marketplace with millions of registered users, Upwork connects clients with remote freelancers, including offshore software developers. You can post your requirements and choose the ideal offshore development team based on cover letter they send. 
2. LinkedIn As one of the largest professional networking platforms, LinkedIn has not only become a go-to recruiting platform for employers looking to hire skilled developers but also to find right offshore developers.  
3. Clutch This is a useful resource for verifying the credibility of offshore development companies. You get all the information and rating of the company you have shortlisted. 
4. Good Firms Similar to Clutch, Good Firms is a review and rating platform that helps you find reliable software development companies, including offshore software development company. 
5. Glassdoor While not exclusively for hiring, Glassdoor provides valuable insights into company reviews, salaries, and interview experiences, which can help evaluate potential offshore development partners. 
6. Design Rush A B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies, Design Rush has a directory of top web design and development companies, including offshore providers. 

Create a Remote Recruitment Process

After finding the list of ideal offshore development companies as per your requirements, next stepping is finding the ideal software engineer. For this you must have a detailed job description. Even though you are not hiring an in-house app development team, you will still have a remote team working for your project.  

Create questions that can help you evaluate technical skills, communication abilities, and cultural fit of the offshore development team members. You can also study thoroughly their existing clients and portfolio before finalizing. 

Final Formalities

After selecting the right offshore development team, you need to understand their approach, communication style, and project management processes. You should also take care of all legal requirements as per your selected country. 

You also need to Finalize the terms of engagement, including contracts, payment terms, and project milestones. Ensure alignment on project goals, timelines, and deliverables before commencing the project to set the foundation for a successful partnership. 

Hiring offshore software development company is just the beginning of the process. However, to ensure the success of your project you need to take care there are no hurdles during the entire development process. 

Here are few points to help you manage your project effectively 

How to Manage Offshore Development Teams

1. Clearly communicate the project's goals milestones, priorities, and expected outcomes to the offshore developers. 
2. Set Clear Product Roadmap by dividing the project into manageable sprints with specific priorities, tasks, and timelines.  
3. Have a complete knowledge about skills and capabilities of the offshore developers This way you can utilize the team's skills judiciously and plan their availability based on the project scope. 
4. Clearly communicate work schedules, roles, and responsibilities, regular check-ins, sprint reviews, and retrospectives help in ensuring development timelines stay on track. 
5. Ensure both onshore and offshore outsourcing teams with the necessary tools such as collaborative tools, headsets, webcams, and video conferencing software to facilitate effective communication and project management. 
6. Make Security a Priority by signing strict NDAs, implementing data protection policies, and ensuring authorized access to systems and project data. Security measures are crucial for safeguarding project integrity and confidentiality. 
7. Utilize project management tools like Jira, Asana, and Trello to document issues, allocate tasks, track progress, and monitor deadlines.  

Prioxis: Your Offshore Development Team with a 99% Project Success Rate

Hiring offshore developers comes with its own set of benefits. However, the entire process of finding the right offshore developers may feel overwhelming. So, if you need an offshore team of developers that has proven record of accomplishment of delivering over 100 successful project Prioxis is the answer. 

With one of the top-rated offshore development companies on clutch, we offer offshore development services ranging in .NET, MEAN, MERN, Azure, Cloud Architecture and DevOps.