Hiring remote software developers is becoming an increasingly popular staffing strategy for companies worldwide. The rise of remote work, advancements in collaboration tools, and access to global talent pools have made building remote dev teams extremely feasible.
Here are 8 compelling reasons why you should consider going remote for your software development needs:
1. Access the Best Talent Globally
Hiring remotely enables you to select the very best developers for your projects regardless of geographical limitations. The software engineering talent market has become highly globalized.
With remote work, you have your pick from promising up-and-coming tech communities in Eastern Europe, the burgeoning developer populations of India and Latin America, or highly-skilled professionals from any corner of the world.
Widening your talent search dramatically increases your chances of finding the perfect expert developers to match your specific technology stack and project needs.
2. Significant Cost Savings
Average software developer salaries in lower cost markets can be 50-70% less than what US and Western European developers earn. Of course, you still need to pay competitively for the local market to attract top notch programmers.
But the cost savings from staffing an entire remote dev team in a lower cost country can be substantial, often $20,000 – 50,000+ per engineer per year. Those savings really add up, especially for larger development teams.
Combined with not having to pay for physical office space and infrastructure for your team, having a remote staff is a compelling way to reduce costs and drive profitability. Just be sure to invest a portion of those savings into management tools and processes to ensure team effectiveness.
3. Faster Time to Hire
Hiring developers locally often involves lengthy recruitment processes of sourcing candidates, multiple rounds of interviews, skills assessments, salary negotiations, and finally onboarding.
With pre-vetted talent pools available from reputable remote staffing partners, you can fill open positions in days and weeks rather than months. Pre-screening based on your tech stack and project needs accelerates the hiring process.
Getting your team up and running quickly is extremely valuable for time-sensitive projects and meeting aggressive development roadmaps. With lean, nimble remote teams you can speed up development cycles to achieve faster time to market.
4. Flexibility to Scale Up or Down
Having an in-house development team means you’re locked into certain headcount costs. Remote teams provide much more flexibility to cost-effectively scale capacity up or down as needed.
For example, you can easily ramp up for a major software release by temporarily expanding your team with additional contract developers. Once the project completes, those resources can be released as needed.
For businesses with fluctuating software workloads throughout the year, the elasticity of remote teams is a major advantage compared to carrying full-time permanent headcount.
5. Reduced Office Space Needs
Employing local developers means having to lease, build out, and manage an office space designed for software teams. Providing workstations, meeting rooms, infrastructure, amenities and other facilities is a major overhead cost.
With a remote team, your core staff doesn’t require dedicated office space at all. Team members handle their own work environments. You just need a minimal central hub or shared coworking space for occasional meetings and collaboration.
The real estate and facilities cost savings from downsizing offices amplify the appeal of running a distributed team of remote professionals.
6. Less Administrative Overhead
Maintaining infrastructure, handling HR functions, managing equipment and supplies, and other administrative tasks add up for in-house teams.
Remote team members handle their own day-to-day administrative needs. They use their own hardware and work environments tailored to personal preferences. You avoid many time-consuming support tasks.
Administrative responsibilities become focused more on higher-value strategic people management like goal setting, mentoring, and career development for your remote staff. The reduced overhead makes your org leaner and more productive.
7. Improved Access to Corporate Systems
Modern tools make it easier than ever to securely grant remote team members access to company systems and data needed to do their jobs effectively. Virtual private networks (VPNs), single sign-on systems, cloud-based workflows, and collaboration software enable seamless integration.
With the right controls and policies, remote developers can access source code repositories, ticketing systems, QA environments, automation servers, and other infrastructure required for the full software lifecycle.
Beyond just doing work, they can stay connected with the broader organization and participate in meetings and discussions. This facilitates true collaboration.
8. Business Continuity and Risk Mitigation
Remote and distributed teams provide greater business continuity if disruptions strike a single geographical location. With staff distributed anywhere, your company can keep operating if an office location is shut down.
Spreading software engineers across multiple regions and countries reduces risks from events like natural disasters, political instability, or pandemics. A distributed workforce provides resilience.
There are always tradeoffs to weigh when considering a remote team. But the benefits clearly outweigh the downsides for most modern software firms.
If you’re looking to scale your development capacity quickly while keeping costs under control, few arrangements provide more leverage than staffing dedicated remote engineering squads. With the right partners and management structure, you can assemble productive teams delivering serious value.
The rise of remote work opens doors to tap into the incredibly rich diversity of talent that exists worldwide. Take advantage of this massive global pool of developers to drive innovation and gain a competitive edge through your software.
