Long before the pandemic, tech businesses were among the first to incorporate remote work and hire remote developers on a permanent basis. So, by now, many of them have learned how to manage remote developers and have no doubts that remote work can be as productive, successful, and collaborative as office work. In fact, 73 percent of executives in the United States believe that changing to remote work as a result of the pandemic was a success.
Amazon, Adobe, and Facebook had planned to have their staff work remotely exclusively until COVID-19 passed. Meanwhile, Shopify and Slack have committed to permanent remote employment.
Given the circumstances, qualified remote developers have never been more in demand. What will be the most effective methods for hiring remote devs in 2021? How should remote developers be managed? What remote team technologies are required to ensure a smooth distant collaboration? Based on our 20+ years of experience developing remote development teams for our clients, we’ve detailed the answers.
In 2022, how will you hire remote developers?
Before you start looking for new employees, take a close look at your current team and discuss short- and long-term project goals with them. This is required in order to properly define or redefine the scope of work and determine how many remote developers you require, full-time or part-time, permanently or temporarily.
In 2022, there are four options to hire a remote development team:
- Employ independent contractors or freelancers.
- Use an outstaffing service provider to hire remote developers.
- Contract out the entire project to a vendor.
- Create your own remote R&D facility.
- Option 3 and 4 are best suited for major corporations with large projects and predictable requirements. We mentioned them in a previous article:
- How to Set Up a Ukrainian Offshore Development Center
- In this piece, we’ll look at the first two alternatives.
How Does an Outstaffing Service Provider Help You Hire a Remote Development Team?
In the most basic terms, an outstaffing service provider’s function is to recruit, hire, and place a remote development team for a client at the provider’s office. The team’s size can vary based on the needs of the client. The supplier handles all administrative and legal issues for the developers, such as recruitment, payroll, taxes, sick days, and benefits.
Remote developers employed by an outstaffing service, like your local software engineers, work only on your product and are an integral part of your in-house team. You may manage your remote developers using the ways and tools that work best for you, and you can visit them whenever you want, while your outstaffing service provider handles all organizational issues.
The Advantages of Using an Outstaffing Service Provider to Hire a Remote Development Team:
Collaboration that is dependable and long-term
The outstaffing methodology ensures that each remote developer is fully engaged. They regard the client as their sole employer and work solely for them.
High level of protection
The service provider takes all essential efforts to ensure the security of your data, network, and remote employees. Access control systems are installed in the provider’s offices, and your team is supported by system administrators and information security officers. Depending on your requirements, additional security measures can be implemented.
It is possible to hire a single developer or a full team.
You can usually increase or decrease the number of remote developers with simply one month’s notice. An outstaffing service provider will assist you in finding and hiring as many developers as you require, from one to a full cross-functional team.
Payment will be made only after you have hired a remote developer.
The biggest advantage of using an outstaffing service provider is that they hire developers specifically for your project and equip them with comfortable workstations. You, as the client, will not be required to pay anything until the IT professional who fully meets your needs begins working for you.
There are no administrative complications.
While you manage your staff using the tools and processes you’re used to, the provider will handle retention, payroll, and paperwork.
Hiring a Remote Development Team with the Help of an Outstaffing Provider:
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Describe your requirements
You discuss your company’s requirements, preferred team structure, and job descriptions. The outstaffing service provider will search their local database for remote developers who best meet your needs.
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Conduct remote developer interviews and recruit
You are given a list of hand-picked prospects, evaluate their CVs, and conduct direct interviews with them. The outstaffing service provider schedules as many interview rounds as necessary to ensure that you select the best remote developers.
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Begin working
Once you’ve made the decision to hire, the outstaffing service provider handles payroll, taxes, personnel records, vacations, sick days, and other administrative tasks so you can focus on your core strengths and manage your remote team without interruptions.
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Obtain continuing assistance
The outstaffing vendor provides a dedicated HR/Client Manager who is always in contact with both you and the team and ready to proactively solve any communication issues to assist you in hiring a remote development team and building an open and productive relationship with them.
How Do I Find Remote Developers to Work as Freelancers?
Freelancers are a type of contingent worker. Freelancers, unlike temporary employees, are not employed by any corporation or staffing service. These remote employees are self-employed professionals that work on a project-by-project basis.
It is crucial to understand that freelancers are self-employed individuals that operate as a one-person business. They usually pay self-employment taxes, set their own rates, work from anywhere they want, and choose which projects and clients they want to deal with.
Why do multinational corporations recruit freelancers?
By 2020, many organizations will have taken advantage of the new norm of remote working to attract top IT talent. Hiring remote developers as freelancers is a wonderful option for businesses that need a highly skilled tech professional to work for them on a temporary basis. In recent years, Google, for example, has employed so many freelancers that they already outnumber full-time workers.
The Advantages of Working with Remote Developers as Freelancers
Hiring freelancers saves US businesses roughly 30–40% on labor costs. Hiring remote developers as freelancers not only saves money but also gives you access to a worldwide pool of talent. In exchange, remote engineers have the option to work on exciting projects with the greatest firms in the world while earning at least 30% more than what is provided for similar tasks locally.
The following are the primary benefits and drawbacks of hiring remote developers as freelancers:
Pros
- Freelancers are especially good at adapting to new conditions, entering into projects without reluctance, and delivering results quickly due to years of expertise across numerous enterprises.
- Their diverse expertise can also bring insights and new views that can help to improve overall project outcomes.
- You will not be required to provide them with any job-related benefits such as insurance, equipment, gym memberships, and so on.
- Typically, you may easily terminate collaboration when you no longer require it.
Cons
- Freelancers can work with numerous clients at the same time, and this multi-tasking environment can lead to poor task performance.
- Freelancers are more difficult to control and less loyal.
- They have their own set of rules (which most likely include more freedom in terms of when and where they work).
- Because it’s unusual that a freelancer will want to stay for the long haul, you may find yourself hunting for someone fresh more frequently than you’d want.
Why isn’t freelancing more popular among remote development job seekers?
Hiring remote developers as freelancers appears to be a simple task for many businesses. What’s the harm? It’s quick and generally less expensive. All you have to do is set up recurring payments, and you’re done!
With this mindset, some businesses end up just sending money to their freelancing team members and expecting them to figure out local rules and regulations on their own. As a result, remote contractors are frequently dissatisfied because they do not receive the local perks that come with employment (healthcare, retirement, unemployment benefits, equity, etc.).
What factors should you consider while looking for remote developers to work as freelancers?
Another factor to consider when employing remote developers as freelancers is the recruitment process.
To find talent, you or your HR managers will most likely use LinkedIn, remote developer recruiting sites, or development groups.
Before beginning your search in any particular country, do your homework on the local market in terms of:
- The size of the tech talent pool and the availability of the needed abilities
- typical developer pay
- time difference between your nation and mine
- cultural compatibility
Being well-equipped with this type of country knowledge will allow you to alter your search strategies properly. The remote development business in Ukraine, for example, is extremely vibrant. Experienced developers are in high demand, and they usually have several employment offers to select from. As a result, if you postpone your hiring choice, for example, due to a time-consuming internal approval chain, you risk losing the chosen candidate to a competitor.
Platforms for Hiring Developers Where Can You Find Developers on the Internet?
Developer recruiting platforms are the most effective approach to employ developers online. Here’s a rundown the most well web markets for hiring developers:
- FlexJobs
- We work from home.
- Nomadic Workers
- Landing.Jobs
- Jobspresso
- OK with the remote
- NoDesk
- Remotive
- Remote.co
- The Muse’s Symbol
- SkipTheDrive
- Remote
- VirtualVocations
- Letsworkremotely
- Hub for Remote Work
- Remotely Awesome Positions
- Jobs in Remote Locations
- GoRemote
- EuropeRemotely
Working for Startups
Job boards are available on developer forums such as Github, Hacker News, and StackOverflow. This means you can place your job posting right where potential prospects will notice it, even if they aren’t actively hunting for work.
TopTal and Upwork are two famous freelance markets for recruiting developers. There is, however, a significant distinction between a freelancer and a full-time remote team member. Hiring freelance developers carries a number of hazards, including complicated and time-consuming selection processes, questionable work quality, a lack of involvement and dedication to the project, language/cultural difficulties, missed deadlines, security threats, and more.
5 Things to Consider When Hiring Remote Developers in 2022
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Project Complications
Is the project hard and time-consuming?
The more complex your software development project, the more remote developers you’ll likely require, either all at once as a team or progressively scaling up.
When the number of developers required grows, a well-established partnership may provide higher quality results. As a result, you might consider employing an entire remote development team with the assistance of an outstaffing service provider that provides retention services and can act as a mediator between you and your remote developers in the event of a problem or misunderstanding.
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Technical Knowledge
Do you have an in-house expert with a technical experience who can monitor and manage the development process?
If you already have technical competence and only need to engage a few remote engineers for a restricted and well-defined scope of work under your control, hiring freelancers is likely to meet your demands.
If you don’t have enough technical skills in-house, you can engage a remote development team through an outstaffing service provider. The provider can put together a cross-functional development team that includes a tech lead with the necessary technical knowledge.
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Requirements for Information Security
Is there any sensitive information in your project that needs to be kept secure?
Hiring a remote developer through freelancer marketplaces does not guarantee that the freelancer will handle your data securely. When it comes to firewall administration, network security, vulnerability scanning, anti-malware, or endpoint protection, you never know for sure how your contractors safeguard their devices.
Meanwhile, hiring remote developers through an outstaffing service provider guarantees that all relevant information security precautions are done.
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Leadership Style
Do you wish to be in charge of administrative tasks?
You must determine whether you want to manage your remote developers directly, monitor their workload, prioritize their assignments, and handle remuneration, sick leave, and other administrative issues. If you’re willing to take on all of these responsibilities, you can hire remote developers as freelancers.
However, if you still want to be in charge of how remote developers are managed but don’t want to deal with administrative concerns, you should consider employing remote developers through an outstaffing service provider. The latter will handle employee retention, administration, and pretty much everything else, allowing you to concentrate only on software development.
5. Sincerity
Do you want your remote engineers to become an extension of your team?
Many firms that hire remote developers, especially for long-term collaboration, seek to incorporate them as thoroughly as possible into their in-house team. This promotes greater participation and dedication from remote workers, as well as a deeper grasp of your project and business requirements.
If this is something you’re interested in, you should absolutely think about using an outstaffing vendor. This way, you’re significantly more likely to locate remote engineers that are genuinely interested in working with you rather than jumping from one customer to the next (which is often the case with freelancers).
