How to break the vicious cycle of fighting for local talents if you’re a startup looking to hire developers?
You came up with an innovative idea and gathered a bunch of like-minded people around to work on its implementation together, yet, here comes the hardest part – hiring developers for your startup. Huge corporations in large software development hubs such as the U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, Israel, Germany lure local tech talent with high salaries and luxury benefits, and startups are often left with nothing. However, with several rising tech destinations such as Eastern Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia, choosing remote cooperation quickly becomes one of the most feasible solutions when it comes to hiring developers for a startup.
What are the key motivation drivers for startups when looking to hire developers?
If you have a product idea, you are interested in releasing MVP without delays and bringing it to the market shortly. This will help you see the feedback from your target audience quickly and present your ready-to-go product to the investors.
Oftentimes, startup owners are non-technical and mostly deal with management/public relations/business development/communication with the clients/marketing their product/attracting investments. That’s why it’s crucial to find high level programmers for a startup that have experience with the technologies you choose for the development of your product.
Startup owners aspire to structure self-organized teams that can invent innovative solutions to complex problems and tasks. You don’t want to spend your time on micromanagement and thorough descriptions of how your programmers need to resolve their tasks. Ideally, you provide a task and your developers think of the most efficient ways to reach the goal on their own.
As a startup, you may strive for the speedy growth of your company and team, but without software development resources, you won’t be able to implement all the necessary features of the product. Consequently, you won’t be able to bring it to market in order to get timely feedback from your target users and investors.
Most startups have limited budgets, so one of their requirements is to cut expenses. If you have a limited budget, it’s crucial to invest the available money carefully – find and start cooperation with a developer or a tech partner who is reliable and professional. As a result, your investments will bring about the desired results.
Top 3 challenges of hiring developers for a startup
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Local tech talent shortage
Among other risks that organizations face, staff shortage comes as the most widespread concern – 63% of businesses worldwide struggle to hire new employees according to Gartner. As there aren’t enough software developers on the market, the prices keep increasing, making hiring a developer for a startup an unaffordable luxury. Recruiting a core team of 5 software engineers locally can take up to 2 years, so you need to be prepared for a long-term and costly hiring process.
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Competition with large companies
Having no reputable brand yet, most startups have a hard time hiring developers, especially on mature software development markets, where talented programmers receive up to 10 offers from large corporations daily. Moreover, even a company with 80+ employees isn’t appealing for potential employees, as far as market giants such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. can provide programmers with a wide range of bonuses and perks that small and medium companies simply can’t afford.
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Keeping retention benefits on level with corporations
Hiring developers for a startup isn’t enough, next, you’ll need to thing through the ongoing retention strategy. Successful retention is composed of several factors such as good work/personal life balance, opportunity for growth, ability to influence the processes, self-actualization, and a decent salary. Sticking to these is complicated further by the absence of a well-shaped HR department, a company unit that is meant to set up a good rapport within a team, organize corporate parties and other outdoor activities. In general, HR professionals are responsible for keeping track of the development and successful actualization of each individual employee in your company.
4 reasons why hire remote developers for a startup
There are several rising software development regions that boast wide tech talent pools – Eastern Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. However, remote cooperation isn’t only about gaining access to a greater number of developers, but also about the diversity – going offshore, will allow you to find programmers with rare technology skills that are unavailable locally. According to our self-conducted study, startups and small-sized companies prefer hiring developers in Eastern European countries, while large companies go for Asia more often. Eastern European countries take pride in having a strong tech education basis, which may be the reason for such a tendency, as startups are eager to hire top experts to ensure the successful development of their products.
If you’re a young startup, your headcount most likely ranges between 1-10 or 11-50 employees, so your paramount aspirations are to: structure a core development team to release your product without delays and grow your team quickly to increase your company’s competitiveness on the market. Both of these aspirations can be reached more efficiently if you opt to hire remote developers for your startup. Building a core development team of at least 5 employees will take less time if you choose a market with a large number of available programmers operating the tech stack that you’ve selected.
The flexibility of remote cooperation starts with the wide range of tech professionals you can recruit be it a Front-End developer, a UI/UX Designer, a Product Owner, a Scrum Master, an HR specialist, or a technical writer. You are also free to choose how to cooperate with the developers you hire for your startup – select a cooperation model that fits you: freelance collaboration or staff augmentation with a tech vendor. With both remote cooperation models, you are free to start or stop cooperation with the developers you choose whenever it’s comfortable for you.
Though good developers are costly everywhere, hiring remote developers for your startup can facilitate the practical use of the budget. For example, you can find a programmer for your startup in the Netherlands and in Ukraine for the same price, but this scenario could only be possible if the Dutch developer is junior, while the Ukrainian developer is either middle or a senior software engineer. Concerning the US, the situation will be a bit different, as the country is currently experiencing a critical tech talent shortage and the price for software developers keeps rising. Thus, if you’re a US-based startup hiring remote programmers will be financially profitable for your business regardless. Though the price shouldn’t be the most important factor when it comes to choosing your remote cooperation destination, you can review the hourly rates in top offshore development regions: Eastern Europe – $25-50, Asia –$18-40, South America – $30-50, Africa – $20-40.
About Grid Dynamics
Grid Dynamics is a digital-native technology services provider with 15+ years of experience driving complex digital transformation initiatives through advanced software engineering and emerging technologies. Our company has offices across the Americas, Europe, and India, providing access to highly-skilled technology teams across multiple regions. This global reach allows us to rapidly build customized solutions for organizations across all geographies and industries. Our expertise spans cloud, data, and AI solutions that accelerate business outcomes for Fortune 1000 enterprises and fast-growing startups alike.
