Remote development does not need to be the last resort solution for when a crisis happens — in many cases, involving remote workers is actually more beneficial for a business than squeezing everyone in an office. It’s also getting increasingly popular — among both small and big businesses — to leave a stationary office behind and operate fully remotely.The list of remote success stories includes Bandcamp, Help Scout, Product Hunt, and Gitlab. According to our predictions, going fully remote will soon become an industry standard!
In our guide below, we’ll fully review the advantages of hiring remote professionals and provide tips from industry experts on how to find remote developers for hire and onboard them smoothly.
Why should you decide to hire remote software developers?
Hiring remote developers can improve your company’s results in several areas. And you don’t need to go fully remote from day one — supplementing your in-house team with remote experts is effective too! See below for the most important advantages of hiring remote developers.
- Several ways of cost optimization
Probably the first reason most people think about when considering whether to hire remote developers. This is because of two things. First, remote developers’ salaries are often lower than those working in-house — the differences are even bigger if you decide to hire offshore devs from regions like Central Eastern Europe. Secondly, you don’t need to find them a space in your office, cutting costs of hardware and rent.
- Easier access to developers
Depending on your location, the number of developers on your local market might be scarce. But when you decide to hire remote developers, you will get virtually unlimited access to experts from all around the world. Thanks to the modern internet infrastructure and tools, online communication is easier than ever before, and working with talents from other continents can feel nearly identical as being with them in the same office.
- Ability to work with the world’s top developers
According to our industry insiders, some of the most reliable and qualified developers come from countries like Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine. The dominance of Central Eastern Europe is clear and making a decision to hire remote developers from this region gives you assurance of having on your team experienced, well-educated talents. You could be really missing out by looking only for locals around your HQ.
- Opportunity to improve processes
Not only your dev team but your whole company can gain a lot from moving into (partly) remote mode. That is because the push for remote pressures everyone to improve documentation and cut meetings to the true minimum — meaning less time is wasted on unproductive chit-chat.
What you don’t have to worry about when you hire remote developers
There are many myths around the potential problems hiring a remote developer can cause. We reviewed them carefully, discussed them with our industry insiders, and busted them to make sure you are informed well on the topic.
- “Remote workers are less productive”
All recent reports seem to suggest the exact opposite — remote workers actually work more efficiently than the in-house ones. There are multiple reasons for that, from the fact that they are not disturbed by talkative colleagues stopping by for a chat to the sudden drop in sick leaves taken (as remote coworkers can’t pass diseases to each other).
- “There will be communication issues because of language differences if we hire offshore devs”
A good grasp of English is a must if someone seriously thinks of becoming a professional developer — it’s something that every person with even a mild interest in IT is aware of. There are many reasons for that: English is the base for most programming languages, most successful IT businesses are English-speaking, a huge chunk of guides and documentation are English only. You shouldn’t be, therefore, afraid to hire remote developers from other countries. They will most likely pass the language check without an issue.
- “Technology gap can slow down the development”
Developers are one of the groups that invest the most in their PCs and other hardware — so you should not worry that their workstations won’t be able to handle the tasks you have ready for them. And when it comes to software, it’s all up to you what tech stack you require them to have. You don’t have to find a perfect match — just look for the best one possible and then provide additional training, if needed.
- “Timezone difference will cause troubles”
Flexible working hours are now a common thing in the world of developers — it’s because lots of their work can be done single-handedly, especially if tasks are well and clearly divided. But even if you want to have your in-house and remote team working at the same hours, you can easily find developers who don’t mind working during the time considered unusual in their location, such as in the middle of the night. When you decide to hire remote developers from other countries, it’s also easier to provide 24/7 technical maintenance for your service.
Before you hire remote software developers — the ultimate checklist
Onboarding remote developers doesn’t need to be much of a hassle. Preparing your company for such transition requires, of course, a few changes, but they are by no means drastic ones. In fact, implementing them may improve the performance of your whole company, including the non-remote workers.
Below we listed the most important things to remember about before you hire remote software developers. Follow them closely and you’ll end up with an incredibly productive and efficient remote team!
- Check your remote candidate’s hard skills — make a clear list of programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and tools your ideal remote developer should have.
- Check their soft skills — make sure your candidates are eager to work in a bigger, diverse team.
- Achieve industry fit — find developers who worked for similar companies to yours so they already have the knowledge of your target audience and solutions that proved to work on your market.
- Find a product match — hire remote software developers with previous experience of working on products like yours for improved efficiency and faster results.
- Don’t underestimate company culture fit — find a match between the values of your business and the values of your candidate.
- Get all the guidelines ready — make sure you have clear product documentation so your new remote developers can review it and start actual work faster.
- Assign roles — before you hire remote developers, make sure you have a clear leader and point of contact chosen for them.
- Get your in-house team ready — make sure you have communication tools and guidelines set up so your remote hires will truly feel a part of the company’s family.
- Check your infrastructure — run test remote meetings to make sure everyone can communicate with each other issue-free.
- Clarify tasks — decide what is the exact role of your new remote developers and how closely they have to work with other teams.
Of course, some businesses might require adding a few more things to the above checklist, depending on their unique needs. We recommend discussing such requirements with experts like software consultants and IT project managers.
How to hire remote developers and other remote experts fast?
Finding remote developers who can truly deliver might be troublesome — especially if you want to review offshore candidates as well. With Ideamotive, however, the process is easier than ever before.
We run a unique network of top remote IT talents looking for new job opportunities. All of the professionals are carefully reviewed by us to make sure they can truly deliver should you hire them. After you get in touch with us, we also check your unique requirements and connect you only with candidates that truly match them.
Get in touch today and start hiring for your remote team. Besides remote developers for hire, we can also supply you with expert designers, AI experts, data scientists, and any other specialist you need for your project.
