Technology continues to dominate today’s business scene. Leverage cutting-edge solutions in your business when you hire offshore front-end developers for your business.
Today’s tech trends don’t wait for any business. As a business owner, you have to be consistent in leveraging cutting-edge technology that works for you. Doing so gives you an upper hand against the competitive market.
As a result, the hunger for technology drives the demand for software developers of varied niches. One of the most sought-after roles in software development today is a front-end developer. As one who’s responsible for the product’s user-facing aspects, they have immense contribution to a software product’s success.
If you’re looking for a front-end developer, you’re in the right place.
In this entry, we’ll discuss everything about how to hire frontend developers. We will also cover hiring strategies, including offshoring, to expand your options. Here’s a list of topics we prepared for you.
- What is Frontend Development?
- Hire Frontend Developers: Onshore vs. Offshore
- Common Risks and Concerns with Offshore Software Development
- Offshore Frontend Developers Rates
- Offshore Success: 3 Key Tips
- Should you hire Offshore Frontend Developers from the Philippines?
- Hiring an Offshore Frontend Developer: A Checklist
- Hire Top Frontend Offshore Developers from Full Scale
Before diving into hiring frontend developers, let’s unravel the nature of frontend development.
What is Frontend Development?
Frontend development is the process of building user-facing components of a website or web application. It incorporates the use of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create an interactive user experience. The latter are foundational elements in development, so most software developers are familiar with them.
However, frontend development has its specific roles. It encompasses the processes in designing, developing, testing, and deploying user interfaces for websites.
That said, many businesses today are building up their own brands online. They create a website to establish their online presence. On the other hand, other companies may opt for web apps as their software products.
At Full Scale, our website is our portal where we introduce our brand and the services we offer. However, this website is not our product. We offer fast and affordable software development services for our growing clientele in the United States.
An example of a web app as a product would be e-commerce platforms. The revenue stream comes from transactions and activities within the website.
The growing advancements in digital technology also triggered a growing demand for web developers. In fact, companies are looking for frontend developers who can create beautiful and interactive websites.
But, there is a caveat. Right now the US is experiencing a developer shortage. Tech talent is scarce. You need to be creative in curating your organization to achieve your goals without burning cash fast.
Fortunately, you can now offshore software development services from promising countries abroad. Let’s delve further.
Hire Frontend Developers: Onshore vs. Offshore
One common dilemma for many small businesses today is hiring top frontend developers. The competition is tough even in local market pools. Furthermore, you’re not just vying against other small companies; big companies are looking for developers, too.
Most small businesses’ goal is to launch the next big thing in software. And that is achievable when you have top-tier tech professionals in your team. But with the competition at play, these businesses face scaling challenges due to a limited resource pool.
Unfortunately, the best frontend developers are not looking for jobs. They are highly likely employed, satisfied and paid generously by their current employers.
This limits the chances of smaller businesses to recruit top talent. Even when you tap IT recruiters, near you, it’s still the same market. So your luck in hiring frontend developers is only as slim as yours.
One great thing about small businesses is that they have more room to innovate and explore other available options.
Before the 21st century, many companies have offshore partners in manufacturing. Today, with the advent of telecommuting, tech-related industries are applying similar processes.
To highlight the benefits of offshoring, we will compare it against onshore hiring. Doing so will give you better insights on which option to choose.
Onshore Hiring
Onshore hiring is essentially the conventional way of hiring employees. It is the process of hiring through your local talent pool for prospective employees. You can do it by hiring directly if you have your own recruitment team. However, you can also outsource this process through IT recruitment agencies.
There are challenges, however, when it comes to dealing with IT recruiters. They don’t usually go in-depth with the job requirements for a developer. Read more about them here.
Onshore Pros and Cons
Benefits of Onshore
Onshore hiring has its perks, too. This is a conventional hiring process that most companies are familiar with. These are some benefits of hiring onshore talent:
- Physical interaction. Whether you have work-from-home or onsite arrangements, physical interactions are achievable due to proximity.
- Same time zone. You won’t have issues with time-related expectations. You’re off the clock at the same time as they are. So, it’s easy to keep tabs on everyone else’s schedules.
- Similar language and culture. Communication-related barriers are most likely not there. Sharing the same language avoids misunderstandings.
Cons of Onshore Hiring
Most benefits of onshore hiring heavily rely on closeness with employees. But in a global pandemic, these benefits may not be valuable enough.
Also, most employees nowadays are looking for flexible or remote work arrangements. They’re likely to refuse job offers that force them to work onsite. Here are the other cons of onshore hiring:
- Talent shortage. Software developers, in general, are scarce. There are not enough IT graduates in the US to supply the demand for software developer seats.
- Higher salaries. When the supply is low, but the demand is high, the price soars. So, this drives most developers to negotiate for a higher salary rate. When this happens, it forces smaller businesses with limited resources to settle for less-than-exceptional developers.
- Overhead costs. Regardless of the setup, remote work and onsite arrangements entail overhead costs for equipment and devices. You also have to ensure to cover your employees’ benefits according to your local regulations.
With these setbacks, businesses go for offshore software development services. It’s a cost-effective way to scale up your business. Let’s discuss further.
Offshore Hiring
In essence, offshoring means relocating all or parts of your business operations to another country. It often comes in or beyond a 5-hour time zone margin. Learn more about the timezone implications in this entry: Offshore vs. Nearshore: 5 Key Comparisons.
Offshoring has two types:
- Offshoring as a subsidiary
- Hiring an offshore service provider
Offshoring as a subsidiary means expanding operations to another country. For example, you build a research and development headquarters in the Philippines. In this method, you still take care of building the offshore arm from the ground up.
The more popular type for small to medium companies would be partnering with an offshore service provider. Our clients at Full Scale, enjoy our software development services while we take care of employee management and company processes.
With offshoring, you’re simply augmenting your team to scale up. You still have control and leadership over the development process. An example would be hiring a software developer to add more resources to your on-site development team.
Benefits of Offshoring
Here are the benefits of offshoring software services with a partner company:
1. Cost-effective
Due to different economies, offshoring to developing countries cuts a significant fraction of your budget. For example, in the Philippines, the wages are lower compared to Western countries. The good thing about it is it does not diminish the quality. You’re paying top developers according to their local market rate.
Moreover, you won’t incur overhead fees for employee privileges and equipment. The offshore partner company ensures to provide the needs of employees.
2. Convenience in hiring
Offshore software development partners, like Full Scale, take care of the recruitment and hiring process. You can reach out to these companies for their available developers. Then, they’ll match the ones that fit your requirements. This way, you can bypass doing the recruitment part yourself. It’s that easy!
3. Access to a bigger talent pool
When the competition in your local market gets saturated, you’d want to turn to a wider talent pool. Offshoring offers that. It expands your likelihood of hiring top developers from a broader selection.
4. Time advantage
When offshoring, you can turn the time zone difference into an advantage. You can operate 24/7 for software support and maintenance. Another example would be hastening the development process. When your local team is done with development, the offshore team can continue working and testing the product.
These advantages give small businesses opportunities to stand side to side with big companies in terms of cost-efficient development. For new entrepreneurs, there are concerns associated with offshore development. Let’s evaluate and debunk the most common concerns with offshore hiring.
Common Risks and Concerns with Offshore Software Development
Working with people from different countries might be intimidating for some entrepreneurs. Because of the unconventional setup, common issues regarding risks will arise.
Offshoring may raise apprehension on the following factors:
- Team trust monitoring
- Employee reliability
- Company culture fit
- Employee retention
At Full Scale, we negate the common misconceptions and concerns when it comes to offshoring. We create customized workflows to ensure our clients can sleep well at night.
With employee management, our human resources team ensures each employee undergoes background checks. We also assign floor managers to check with developers from time to time. You can also hire a dedicated project manager to monitor progress and delivery.
During our recruitment process, our criteria include a positive attitude and willingness to learn. These characteristics allow them to fit various company dynamics and work arrangements.
When partnering with a reliable offshore software development company, you can expect long-term growth for your business. It’s because they provide top-quality talent that add value to your business. So, you minimize the cost of employee turnover and retain skilled individuals.
Offshore Frontend Developers Rates
In the United States, frontend developer hourly rates range from $50-$100. But when you hire offshore frontend developers, you may only pay $25-$45 per hour. That means you pay 50-75% less than the offshore developers’ American counterparts.
So why is hiring offshore frontend developers more affordable?
It’s not because they are not as talented or as skilled. It’s because their cost of living and the local economy is different from the US.
In the Philippines, one of the most popular offshore destinations, the minimum wage is at least $1 an hour. But, software development is a top-paying job in the country. Your offshore software development partners assure that these talent is reasonably compensated.
Offshore Success: 3 Key Tips
If you have never worked with an offshore development partner before, we’re here to help. To stay on top of the game, take note of these best practices when offshoring frontend developers.
1. Avoid “cheapshoring”
The goal of offshoring is to cut costs. A $10 hourly rate sure is attractive. But remember that you will always get what you pay for. A developer with a lower rate is usually not the best team player. Consequently, you’ll get mediocre results and poor delivery.
2. Choose a great location
There are popular countries in Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe for offshore development. Make sure to choose one with a reputable IT presence.
The Philippines is one of the best places for offshore development. Filipino developers have excellent English communication skills. The country also has a rich IT-BPM industry that’s been a hub for multinational companies.
3. Partner with strong offshore software companies
Relieve yourself from doing the recruitment process when you find a strong offshore development partner. At Full Scale, we set up our clients to succeed. By providing skilled developers and client-centered services, we aim to accomplish growth.
Read more about offshore development tips in this entry: Offshore Development: 8 Keys to Success.
Should you hire Offshore Frontend Developers from the Philippines?
As a top offshore destination worldwide, the Philippines soars against other developing countries. Its IT industry is a hodgepodge of offshore business processes such as software development, call centers, and knowledge process outsourcing.
Here are more reasons why you should offshore your software development team to the Philippines:
- Communication skills. The country is the second most English-proficient country in Asia. Avoid miscommunications when you offshore to this country.
- Western-style culture. The modern-day Philippines has remnants of the American culture as it used to be one of the United State’s former colonies for almost five decades. Chances are you’ll have similar interests with people you’ll be working with.
- A large pool of tech talent. The country produces thousands of IT graduates annually. This boosts the talent pool of software developers.
Hiring an Offshore Frontend Developer: A Checklist
We’ve covered all things offshoring. Now, we’ll explain how to evaluate the best frontend developers to have onboard.
A frontend developer is both a creative and technical role. It needs the perfect balance of hard and soft skills. Here are the top technical requirements that make a great frontend developer:
- A degree or any proper training in computer science or engineering
- High proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Experience and knowledge in frontend development frameworks such as React.js, Vue.js, etc.
- Knowledge and application of SEO best practices
- Experience with graphic design applications
- Familiarity with key design principles concerning UI/UX
- Ability to build responsive web designs
- Problem-solving skills
- Communication and interpersonal skills
- Ability to handle and apply feedback from teammates and clients
Hire Top Offshore Frontend Developers from Full Scale
At Full Scale, we are among the fastest-growing software companies in the Philippines. We have access to a wider talent pool as we expand our recruitment across the country.
So, if you’re looking for offshore frontend developers, we can hire them for your team. We also provide our clients with software developers, QA testers, and other IT professionals. It’s our job to recruit and assess software talent, so you don’t have to.
Hire offshore frontend developers from us with ease. Let’s get in touch today!
