6 Challenges when Hiring Local Tech Talents

6 Challenges when Hiring Local Tech Talents

Tech talent is a crucial component of any business operating in the modern world. No matter the industry, some kind of technology is involved in various operational processes of every company — and for good reasons. 

The competition among companies is tough today. If a business plans to get ahead and achieve the desired levels of success, acquiring and utilizing the modern pieces of tech is necessary. With technology and computers, comes the need to hire tech talent. 

Companies face various challenges while looking for ideal talent and getting them on board. In order to overcome these challenges, it’s essential to understand them first. Here are 5 of these challenges for you to learn about.

Geographical Barriers

Local talent that’s tailored to your needs is often very hard to find in your geographical area. In the majority of cases, an employer’s ideal candidate is living elsewhere in the world where they cannot be on-boarded for an in-office job. 

Not being able to find and hire local talent poses many short- and long-term efficiency issues. However, with the spread of COVID-19 last year, companies and employers have left their comfort zones to explore the possibilities of remote work. 

Remote work comes with its own set of challenges, including time zone issues & management and monitoring problems. However, for the most part, remote work environments have trimmed down the geographical barriers between employers and their ideal tech talent. 

Ever-changing Requirements

Today’s technology might become irrelevant tomorrow. That’s why employers need candidates that can adapt to the alterations in the tech world and constantly produce efficient results. However, finding and hiring such talent is a challenge, especially when confined to limited geographical space. 

Differentiating between the true talent, that can tailor their skills to the industry needs, and robotic puppets is a tough job in itself. Many employers find it challenging to perform it effectively, and when they fail, the company might need to reopen the position and go through the hiring process once again. 

A Large Number of Irrelevant Applications

Let’s face it: every employer has gone through the trouble of having to go through dozens and hundreds of applications, only to find out 80% of those were low-quality and irrelevant. Many candidates would desperately throw their resumes at every job opening they find, without considering their chances of actually getting hired for the position. 

While irrelevant candidates submit their resumes leisurely, employers have to waste a large chunk of their time finding and eliminating these applications. 

Competition from Rival Companies

Top talent, especially in the tech sector, is in high demand. Every competitive company wants to get the most talented candidates on board. This boosts the competition among employers and they have to propose better opportunities to these candidates to win them. 

Top talent knows their worth and won’t join a company solely based on the paycheck. Nowadays, long-term career opportunities and attractive promotion cycles are in high demand by employees. Employers have to find a sweet spot between providing the best possible opportunities to the candidates, and keeping the expenditures in check to not overflow the resources. 

Not Having a Top-Class HR Department

Some companies, mostly smaller ones, face the problem of working with a mediocre HR department. As job postings, interviews, and hires are conducted by the said department, the overall hiring results could suffer. 

Numerous tech companies with small/no HR departments delegate the HR functions (benefits, payroll, and unemployment administration for employees) to PEOs (Professional Employer Organization) such as NHGlobal Partners or software development companies like Daxx that provide both tech talent recruitment and HR services.

Final Word

Tech talent in the 21st century is well-aware of its worth and employers need to provide them with the best attractions to get them onboard. 

Throwing all your resources into competition for the local talents while managing a high-quality HR department is a tough feat for many tech companies.  In many cases, professional companies could provide the necessary services needed to overcome the problems: recruit talents you need remotely and provide high-class HR services. 

How Fintech Companies Hire Java Developers from Latin America?

How Fintech Companies Hire Java Developers from Latin America?

Wondering how to hire a Java developer? Kateryna Bilkovets, an experienced recruiter from Daxx who’s been helping fintech companies find and hire Java developers for more than three years in a row, to share insights about Java developers and practical tips that fintech companies can use to hire Java developers  quickly and easily. 

Kateryna describe the Java developer talent market:

There are about 8 million Java developers in the world and, according to 2020 research.

Where can we find the largest number of Java developers in 2021?

The tech talent market has a great supply of Java developers, but the demand for them is high as well. These days, Java developers are consolidated around the IT outsourcing sector.

The majority of Java developers  work on projects which are outsourced by tech businesses from the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and other countries.

So the first place I go to  when searching for Java developers  outsourcing and IT outstaffing companies is in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Dnipro — Ukraine’s top IT hubs.

What’s the usual background for a Java developer?

As a rule, Java developers begin their careers by learning Java. But there are also Java developers who switched to Java from C#. You can also find many Java developers moving to Kotlin and Scala, but they’re far less numerous than developers using Java only.

Do you have any tips you could share with fintech companies that want to hire Java developers?

Sure, I have plenty! The hiring process in the tech industry is quite simple, but there are some things you should know when hiring a Java developer. From my observations, you can easily find a Java developer and invite them to an interview, but you should remember the following aspects:

Pay attention to seasonality

Judging from statistics from previous years, there are two seasons a year when it’s easier to hire a Java developer. The first season is between February and April, when te foreign tech companies have their budgets settled and actively search for tech vendors. That’s when  recruiters actively seek Java developers and offer interesting projects. The second season is between August and October.

Optimize your recruitment process

Daxx is an IT company based in Ukraine. Our model allows our clients to conduct interviews by themselves. They can arrange as many phases of recruitment as they need to find suitable candidates. This, however, doesn’t mean that the more phases there are, the more effective the recruitment process is. In contrast, the more optimal the hiring process is, the more likely it is that a Java developer will choose your company. “But why?” you may ask. Because there’s a high demand for Java developers, which means that they can get through the hiring process at another company faster than at yours. For instance, at one company, a Java developer has to do a test task, go through an interview with an HR manager, then get interviewed by a technical expert, and then (optionally) get through a final interview. This 4-stage hiring process is tiring and time-consuming. You can simply lose a suitable candidate to another company with a more efficient hiring process. Do this instead: spare some time for an online coding session and look how a candidate resolves problems by yourself.

Discuss in detail the responsibilities of a candidate. Share as many details about the project as possible (tech stack and number of teammates). Feel free to talk about the candidate’s opportunities for growth within the company.

Are there many Java developers  working in Fintech projects?

Yes, and this makes it so easy for fintech companies to hire Java developers. 

Of course, there are large teams of Java developers who work for Deutsche Bank and other fintech giants, but the rest of Java developers create digital solutions for small and middle-sized fintech companies.

Vive is one of the Fintech companies that hired Java developers to build their product. The product’s aim is to help freelancers and other professionals to get control over their finances and become more financially aware. Vive is a perfect tool for those who want to plan their finances more efficiently and reach their life goals.

In an interview, Vive CTO Rogier Roukens said that he decided to hire Java developers  because of close cultural proximity, good English skills, reasonable salaries, great technical education, and high availability of Java developers.

The most impressive part of working with Java developers  is that engineers have top-notch technical skills, especially the senior Java developers offered by Daxx. The majority of Java developers  show initiative and share their ideas for product improvement.

“The personal qualities of developers deeply surprised me. I remember assigning a task to one of them. Later on, I realized that I had forgotten to mention some important details. So I thought that he would not be able to cope with the task in the way I had initially planned. The next day, I took a look at the solution and was surprised that he filled in the gaps exactly how I would have done it. That was remarkable” says Rogier in an interview with Daxx.

How Daxx Retains Developers in a Highly-Competitive Market

Check what retention tools are used at Daxx, how they are implemented, and why retention is the main driver of long-term cooperation.

How Daxx retains developers in Ukraine

The average monthly salary of a Java developer  varies depending on years of experience. 

For instance, the average salary of a junior Java developer in Ukraine is around $1,100 – $1,900  month. A middle Java developer earns about $1,900 – 3,200 a month, and a senior Java developer gets $3,200 – 4,800.

Junior    $1100–$1900

Middle    $1900–$3200

Senior    $3200–$4800

Considering the skills and level of expertise, on average, Java developer salaries in Ukraine, Latinoamerican salaries are lower than in countries like the US, Switzerland, Israel, and many others.

What are the things to remember about hiring Latinoamerican Java developers for a fintech company?

Here are a few things to keep in mind: there are plenty of Java developers in Latinoamerica for hire even if you need an engineer with experience in fintech projects.

Latinoamerican Java developers have sufficiently lower average salaries than their colleagues from the US, the UK, the Netherlands, and other tech-savvy countries, yet they possess big technical skills.

As a rule, Java developers in Latino America; they show interest in new job opportunities, and their role is to advertise your projects as well as they can.

How to Hire a Successful Remote Software Development Team?

How to Hire a Successful Remote Software Development Team?

A startup’s chances of building a successful product directly depend on its software development team. Early-stage startups usually have at least one tech-savvy founder but little money. Often, they can’t afford an office and build and fine-tune their product themselves, working remotely.

However, remote employees may be a startup’s oyster. Instead of relying only on the local workforce, startup founders can hire top specialists from more affordable foreign markets. 

Eventually, they can open a physical headquarters, but more and more startups opt for distributed workforce models. It’s even more reasonable during the COVID-19 crisis that makes teams shift to remote work anyway and puts budgets under increasing pressure.

Established companies are increasingly relying on offshore outsourcing too.

This article outlines the benefits of remote software development and procedures to hire the right workers. The management of such teams differs from managing software development teams in-house, so we’ll offer some tips as well.

Distributed Workforce Models and Examples

In the software industry, two team compositions are typically distinguished: on-site (co-located) and virtual teams. These latter are subdivided into distributed and remote teams. These terms are often used interchangeably, but there is an inherent difference between the types.

A distributed team is a hybrid model combining co-located and remote workers and practices. Any business managing remote teams in different locations can be called a distributed company. It may have a physical office or offices located in different cities or even countries, but the team members can work from anywhere, e.g., their homes, co-working spaces, cafes, or while traveling, using digital collaboration tools. 

It’s suitable for startups looking to augment their teams with remote talent while downsizing their office, transitioning from a physical office to the all-remote model, or just exploring the pros and cons of virtual teams for their business.

A totally remote team doesn’t need any physical headquarters, only a virtual office built with digital tools. Colleagues that may live all over the world and work from home or other places, nevertheless, collaborate using videoconferencing and other technology.

Many tech companies began remote-first and are still driven by a distributed workforce. Here are several examples: 

1. Automattic

The people behind WordPress, WooCommerce, and many others have been managing remote teams for over 15 years. Without any physical headquarters, around 1,300 Automatticians collaborate across 77 countries. 

2. Basecamp

Where Ruby on Rails was born, is another original remote-first company. Starting with four people, now they have about fifty located in 32 cities around the world. They love working remotely so much they wrote a book on it.

3. Buffer

Is a fully distributed team of 85 people living in 15 countries. Grown from humble beginnings, they are now serving over 73,000 customers.

4. GitLab

Is arguably the largest all-remote company. Convinced that all digital product companies will operate similarly eventually, they also have published a handbook about managing software development teams remotely.

5. InVision

Has 700 employees distributed across the world. When a fully remote team was building InVision Studio and spotting gaps in their workflow, they applied their solutions to ensure the platform’s intuitiveness, accessibility, and efficiency for other remote workers.

6. Zapier

Is based in Sunnyvale, California, but employs 300 people across 17 time zones. Deeply concerned about remote team management, they created their own applicant tracking system and The Ultimate Guide to Remote Work.

Naturally, remote software development is not a magical cure for all startups’ problems. Like any practice, the model has its pros and cons.

Software Developers Working Remotely: Pros and Cons

Many startups are afraid of hiring remote workers for two reasons. First, most people are used to going to the office to work. The second reason concerns building a remote and co-located team together, which would require the optimization of all processes for both teams.

Along with the fear of changes, the following disadvantages are usually cited:

  • The remote team’s inadequate knowledge of your product.
  • Remote employees may not know much about your product at the very beginning.
  • However, proper onboarding, communication, and project management can solve this problem quickly.
  • Lack of personal contact with and among remote developers.
  • Candidates usually can’t come in for an interview, and some companies have difficulty trusting someone they haven’t met face-to-face. 
  • Others believe that when developers work miles away from them, it’s impossible to manage, control, and motivate them. 
  • This myth is refuted by numerous successful companies outsourcing their software development. 

Moreover, at some point, you will be happy that your project manager (PM) relieves you of the burden of daily interaction with every team member. As for the perceived lack of interaction between remote workers, modern technology can make them feel more connected than employees who work in the same office.

Different time zones, languages, and cultures significant time differences may cause delays, inconveniences, and distractions to the startup leadership and the distributed team. 

However, the right communication strategy and tools will mitigate the inconveniences and risks. As long as remote developers are willing to communicate during your business hours, a time difference poses little problem. 

The right attitude and vast international experience also eliminate the problem of language and cultural barriers. Major outsourcing software companies guarantee their developers’ English language competence. Moreover, their cultural diversity can benefit a project or product.

It may take a while to find a suitable team.

Hiring the right remote software development team takes more effort and time than hiring a single freelancer, to say nothing of a local specialist. However, once contracted, a reliable partner will boost a company’s productivity and growth significantly. 

Thus, each problem either has a well-known solution or a “silver lining.” Moreover, they are fully offset by the following benefits:

1. Access to the best talent

Instead of hiring professionals available nearby, entrepreneurs can select from the global pool of talent. They can hire the best experts to suit their unique project goals and needs at reasonable compensation.

When you work with outsourcing agencies, they typically offer pre-screened candidates that have met a prior quality standard. These professionals have rich expertise and experience in implementing various features, employing multiple technologies, and solving issues for international clients. They are interested in positive feedback and references from clients, keenly aware of corporate policies, and quickly adapt to dynamic work culture. Remote work environments, with more freedom and less pressure, increase their creativity and productivity.

2. Faster start and continuous development 

It’s common to hire for projects a whole outsourced software development team rather than recruit professionals one-by-one. Clients get all the amassed software development expertise they need for a complex project. The team, which is already fully staffed and has gone through a vetting process, is accustomed to working together and can set off on the project immediately.

As distributed team members are located in different time zones, it’s fair to say that remote developers work for you around the clock. According to several industry surveys, remote workers tend to be more engaged than their peers working in offices. A developer who works from home experiences fewer distractions. Outsourced teams that have an immediate need to remain on the cutting edge of the industry also have greater development capabilities. All of these factors accelerate a product’s time-to-market.

3. Minimizing administrative tasks

Offshore team members are essentially your employees that are managed and housed by your outsourcing partner. You don’t have to find space for them, make payroll, etc. Remote team leads and PMs take away most of your headaches associated with the product development process. This frees up your resources and enables you to focus on acquiring and retaining customers, increasing sales, and more.

Once the work is done and the team is paid, there are no more obligations. It’s up to you to continue the cooperation, order support, or part ways.

4. Saving money

An offshore team has a lower burn rate. For example, in Eastern Europe, it’s possible to secure high quality at much lower prices than in Western Europe or North America. Startups typically pay for the hours spent working on their project or a fixed service fee. They don’t need to pay health benefits, taxes, equipment, or insurance. All-remote teams don’t have to pay for office rent and maintenance either.

Outsourcing agencies help startups avoid expenses associated with recruitment, personnel management, payroll, infrastructure, accounting, and financial management. They also help estimate the development budget so the startups can plan ahead.

5. Expanded market reach

Closely connected with your product, the remote employees will become unpaid brand ambassadors in their respective areas. Thus, by collaborating with outsourcing companies and web or mobile app developers located across the globe, companies are indirectly expanding their market reach. 

If you opt for working remotely, pros and cons, risks, and side effects should be considered. The following bits of advice may help you mitigate those risks when you build your distributed software development team.

Conclusion

The benefits of remote software development teams for businesses include access to the best talent out there, work around the clock, quick project completion, and exemption from the bulk of administrative and project management tasks. Startups that outsource software development offshore can achieve more significant economies.

Whether you decide to run as a distributed team or entirely remotely, you will need proper tools and work processes in place. Remote and distributed companies also need to know the nuances of managing remote employees located in different time zones.

Top 5 Reasons Why Quality Assurance is Important

Top 5 Reasons Why Quality Assurance is Important:

1. Quality Assurance Saves Your Money

While there are many factors that can influence software quality in a negative way, quite often it is the client’s attempts to save money on hiring an offshore software tester that harm the product in the long run.

 If you are trying to save on testing, you are overlooking a vital aspect of software development and can undermine your product’s future success.

The more you postpone software testing, the more technical debt you will accumulate, and the longer it will take your team to fix all the issues. 

And fixing all the bugs after the product is developed might cause significant cost overruns and missed deadlines. 

This is why it is crucial to set up a thorough QA process that will run in parallel to development from day one.

For every dollar you spend on a dedicated QA team, you will be able to save $100 in the long run. The cost of change grows exponentially with time, so the earlier you start testing your software, the better.

2. Quality Assurance Ensures Productivity and Overall Efficiency

One of the main benefits of having QA engineers work under the same roof as the rest of your software developers will result in better team productivity and overall efficiency. All of your team members will speak the same language and will be able to communicate directly in real-time. As a result, any issues will be solved much faster.

A QA team can help the product owner keep an eye on whether the client’s requirements are met by the developers. As soon as an issue arises, you will know about it from QA reports.

3. Quality Assurance Boosts Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Hiring an offshore software tester will help you make sure that the final product fully meets both functional and non-functional requirements. This is especially important if you are not the end client, but an agency outsourcing product development to a subcontractor. In the long run, your customers will have a smooth product experience and will stay loyal to your brand.

4. Quality Assurance Makes You Ready for Changes

Quality Assurance software development is a highly dynamic process, and the requirements, as well as functionality, may change at any stage. A dedicated QA team can help you make sure every new feature works well with the rest of the product’s functions, and that the product still meets your requirements.

5. Quality Assurance Is a Valuable Long-Term Asset 

A QA engineer is in fact a product owner’s right hand and not the kind of employee you can easily do without. A QA engineer’s responsibilities may vary depending on the type of testing used. Anyway, they analyze and clarify requirements (together with the product owner or a business analyst), identify and report bottlenecks and oversee the process of bug fixing with developers.