Remote hiring for tech team augmentation is a steadily growing trend. According to Statista, the related IT segment will increase by 271.7 billion US dollars in the next five years.
However convincing the reasons for hiring a remote tech team may be, choosing an optimum location is challenging. You need to factor in multiple details to get an optimum price-quality ratio, and the choice will considerably affect your project’s success.
Read this overview of top team augmentation locations with pros and cons to decide where to outstaff.
What is Team Augmentation, and How Does It Work?
The team augmentation model is a recruitment approach when you hire professionals outside your company to cover the necessary positions in your software development team. They work as a part of your in-house staff on a temporary or permanent basis as an extension.
The main business goals of team augmentation include:
- Finding the missing talents
- Closing the skills gap
- Cutting expenses
- Easy and flexible team scaling
Since team augmentation is a well-established hiring model, recruitment and outstaffing companies have a pretty straightforward staffing process for it. At Sunvery, we will provide you with the first preselected candidates 2 days after the kick-off. The average hiring time is 25 days, even for senior positions, so you can grow your team much faster than hiring in-house.
Top Destinations Overview: Where to Hire Remote Tech Talent in 2024
Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America are the top choices for companies that hire IT talents remotely. These locations have thousands of IT outsourcing companies and large talent pools trained to work remotely as a tech team augmentation. Discover what is good and bad about these locations to make better-informed staffing decisions for your business.
Central and Eastern Europe
CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) is the best IT team augmentation location for companies from Western and Northern Europe. There is almost no time difference, and you can easily reach any destination in hours. US companies that outsource to CEE have fewer overlapping hours to work side-by-side, but the established team augmentation market in the region mitigates the problem. Local engineers are adapted to remote contracts and are often ready to work flexible hours.
An extensive talent pool in top CEE destinations, including Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and the Czech Republic, is another solid reason to hire in this region. Poland has the highest number of software engineers, totaling over 400 thousand specialists. Ukraine comes second with 200 thousand software developers, and Romania records 120 thousand engineers. According to the Future of IT Report, CEE’s combined tech talent pool exceeds 1.7 million software developers. The level of English proficiency is medium or high and keeps improving thanks to governmental and corporate educational programs.
Pros
- Qualified engineers with high English proficiency
- Perfect price-quality ratio
- Insignificant time difference
- Geographical proximity
Cons
- Higher rates compared to Asia
Asia
Asia is the most distant team augmentation destination for Western European countries out of the listed options. Still, its low rates and large labor pool make it an attractive choice for many. Over 1.5 million engineers graduate annually in India alone. The population has moderate English proficiency, with Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia boasting the region’s highest EF English Proficiency Index.
However, besides the listed benefits, hiring remote developers in the Asia Pacific region comes with challenges and limitations. The experience, seniority level, and corresponding coding skills are, on average, lower than the CEE region. The time zones, holiday seasons, and business culture also differ substantially, so you’ll need to adjust to some discrepancies, allow for more extended onboarding periods, etc. As a result, the combined work effectiveness and the development process might be impacted.
Pros
- Affordable rates
- Large talent pool
Cons
- More junior engineers
- Time zone and work culture differences
- Language barriers
Latin America
Latin America is a beloved destination for US and Canadian tech companies needing team augmentation services. It’s close enough, offers comparatively lower rates, and has many available software engineers. The overall talent pool reaches around 2 million engineers, most of whom reside in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina. As for English proficiency, Argentina, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Uruguay top the EF English Proficiency Index charts. The average English level per region is moderate.
Speaking of the negatives, hiring software development specialists in Latin America may be challenging due to poorly developed infrastructure. There is also considerable political instability in the region, with Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru leading the list of counties with the lowest Political stability index.
Pros
- Time proximity
- Rapidly growing market
- Affordable rates
Cons
- Underdeveloped infrastructure
- Instability
CEE vs. Asia vs. Latin America for Staff Augmentation
| CEE | Asia | Latin America | |
| Top places for hiring | PolandUkraineRomaniaCzech RepublicEstoniaSlovakia | IndiaChinaPhilippinesVietnamBangladesh | ArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaMexico |
| Average Rates | 35-60 USD/hour | 28-50 USD/hour | 40-65 USD/hour |
| Proximity | The perfect option for Western and Northern Europe with established US-CEE cooperation practices | Distant location both for US and Western Europe | The closest nearshore destination for the US and Canada |
| Time difference | -1 hours (London)-6 hours (NY) | -5 hours (London)-10 hours (NY) | +4 hours (London)-1 hour (NY) |
| Security | High security | Moderate security | Moderate security |
| EF English Proficiency Index | Moderate to high | Mainly moderate | Mainly low and moderate |
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Hiring Location
Team augmentation is key to quickly scaling your team and speeding up the digital transformation of your business. Yet, to make it effective, you must consider multiple factors when choosing a hiring destination.
Team management approach
The team augmentation model implies you are fully responsible for assigning tasks and managing the workload for the hired engineers. Therefore, you must consider the number of overlapping hours and engineers’ flexibility from the start. Ensure you have at least several hours daily for direct communication and that the tasks are planned and distributed in advance. In this respect, Asia might not be an option for many Western companies.
Team augmentation budget
If your budget is limited, you will have to look for developers with lower rates or develop your product slower with fewer but more experienced developers. Asia is a renowned destination for an affordable workforce, so consider this option for the most affordable rates. Eastern European engineers charge slightly higher rates, but the development speed is usually faster.
Software complexity
More complex systems require more experienced developers. While you can hire a less skilled engineer for basic website development, working with unqualified engineers for enterprise system development might be disastrous. That’s why you should estimate your tech needs when selecting where to hire staff augmentation.
If you need help choosing an optimum team augmentation destination for your project, Sunvery can help. Contact us for a consulting session and professional recruitment assistance.
Sunvery Recruitment Agency for Hiring Globally
Sunvery is a recruitment & staffing agency that hires engineering talents globally. We can help grow your in-house team with recruitment services or build a remote team for you with a buy-out option through staff augmentation. Within our staff augmentation service, we assemble an engineering team in weeks and take care of operational chores like payroll, equipment, and taxing while you manage the engineering process.
Contact us to learn more about our services and get advice on where to hire depending on the business needs.