How to find and hire dedicated developers as a tech leader
If you want to hire dedicated developers to set up or extend your current in-house tech team, you need an action plan. Without a proper strategy, you risk facing delays, substandard work, and even increased costs.
But when done right, you’ll onboard professionals who not only complete tasks with the utmost commitment but also add significant value to your organisation.
For instance, collaborating with a small nearshore development team in Poland for a short-term project is quite different from building an offshore development centre in India with specialised engineers.
In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how to find and hire dedicated developers (the right way), the cost of it, and the best country where to source the talent you can’t get at home. We’ve drawn on our experience of building over 80 dedicated development teams for our partners over the past 10 years to help you make an informed decision.
To begin with, let’s define what dedicated developers really are and explore the benefits they can bring to your business.
What are dedicated developers?
A dedicated developer is a professional who works exclusively for a company. These specialists are fully committed and focused on their organisation’s tasks and don’t juggle between clients.
While they can be onshore, they are often nearshore or offshore, providing flexibility and cost advantages.
Increase innovation and deliver at speed in the Silicon Valley of Asia
LEARN MOREFor example, a FinTech that sets up a 15-person dedicated development team gets engineers who are invested in their business and not splitting their attention elsewhere.
See Preqin’s case, a UK firm that transitioned from traditional outsourcing to a dedicated development team.
Thanks to this shift, the company was able to hire developers who were 100% committed and aligned with the company’s goals. These professionals have been pivotal in creating Preqin Pro — a new flagship product — and establishing the organisation as a global leader in alternative asset insights.
What does the right dedicated developer bring to your team?
Businesses that hire dedicated engineers do it for a couple of reasons. Some — like the aforementioned Preqin — need professionals with the right expertise to support their growth.
And that’s precisely one of the motivations why you might want to build a dedicated development team: accessing niche programming skills.
Although JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and Python are the most used programming languages today, developers are now specialising in niche languages like Kotlin or Rust. Having dedicated programmers who dominate these technologies can be a competitive advantage and enable your company to design and deploy innovative products faster.
Regarding soft skills, dedicated developers are typically creative thinkers who aren’t afraid to propose new ideas and offer unique perspectives to solve common problems. Plus, they are known for being exceptional team players.
Top benefits of hiring dedicated developers
A dedicated development team can offer significant benefits to your business in comparison to other models for scaling your development, including the following:
- Accessing top talent (you can’t find at home): In many regions, such as Silicon Valley, London, or Berlin, talent shortages are a growing challenge. Dedicated developers are generally located in talent-rich tech hubs like Bangalore, India, or Warsaw, Poland. These cities are home to top engineers and other industry professionals with extensive experience working with Western companies.
- Enjoying cost-effective operations: Businesses that hire dedicated developers in countries with lower living costs can cut hiring, onboarding, salary, and operational expenses. And it’s not just about reducing costs but getting the right talent and accessing niche skills that might be unaffordable locally. The high specialisation of dedicated developers in specific technologies makes them a more cost-effective choice than hiring engineers onshore or in neighbouring countries.
- Getting more visibility/control: Hiring dedicated developers provides CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and other tech leaders with more visibility and control over the workflow. With direct communication within the team, they are in the driver’s seat, managing daily operations and maintaining complete product oversight.
- Improving engineering productivity: Dedicated engineers are fully focused on their company, so they tend to be more productive than professionals who work on multiple projects or clients. CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and other tech leaders can rest assured that their team will always deliver high-quality work on time following Agile or other methodologies.
- Mitigating risks and common challenges: When building a new tech team, organisations worry about high attrition and the loss of knowledge. However, with developers who stay with the team long-term — ensuring tech leaders work with the same engineers rather than new faces — issues with knowledge transfer and team rotations are minimised to almost zero. Dedicated specialists contribute to security and protect intellectual property by working within the organisation’s systems under strict confidentiality agreements like NDAs.
How to hire dedicated developers step by step
For the sake of this article, we’re going to assume you have a clear idea of the kind of team you need and have your job descriptions ready.
If not, check out our comprehensive guide on building a dedicated development team.
Now, let’s dive into the three main steps to hire dedicated developers:
1. Choose the right model
Before searching for engineers to build your new team, first find an engagement model that aligns with your goals.
These are the most popular models for hiring top tech talent:
- Hiring locally: Bringing on dedicated developers within the same country. This can include collaborating with freelancers or hiring professionals through a third-party provider.
- Nearshoring: Outsourcing work to another organisation in a neighbouring country instead of to a faraway region. It’s the right fit for businesses that prioritise being close to their external team over other factors.
- Offshoring: Relocating operations to another country to tap into specialised skills and cut costs while retaining full management and control. It’s ideal for companies seeking a long-term partnership.
From all of the above, offshoring is the most effective model to hire dedicated developers.
When done right, offshoring can help you establish a world-class team of professionals who become a key part of your organisation and provide valuable insights for sustained business growth.
In contrast, outsourcing and nearshoring involve hiring engineers for specific tasks, offering less commitment and integration compared to offshore developers.
2. Find a reliable and experienced partner
Once you’ve chosen an engagement model, it’s time to pick a reliable partner to source, hire, and onboard your dedicated developers.
If you opt for offshoring to build your team, you’re in luck. Some of the best offshore development companies are known for handling the following processes for you:
- Recruitment
- Payroll and taxation
- Local registration and legalities
- Employing HR and administrative staff
- Acquiring and setting up an office space for your team
- Onboarding and daily engagement with your new developers
Hire niche tech talent and set up a team abroad that feels in-house
DOWNLOAD EBOOKPut simply, your partner does all the heavy lifting while you focus on your product and core business activities.
Besides verifying that your potential partner manages these tasks, evaluate their management capabilities, as these are crucial to a successful long-term partnership. Investigate who’s leading the business, the organisation’s structure and overall industry experience.
You might also consider evaluating the way they communicate. Just think about it: your team will be thousands of miles away from your headquarters. Constant and fluent communication is a must when setting up a dedicated team offshore.
Lastly, evaluate their past performance and success stories. Ask for case studies and see if they’ve built dedicated development teams for companies similar to yours.
3. Receive and accept a customised proposal
After meeting with potential partners, you’ll start receiving proposals that outline a tailored approach to your needs. These may include a roadmap for setting up your team and other key details, such as the initial team size and the technologies involved.
Now, which offer to choose?
Although your decision may rely on your organisation’s budget or business strategy, consider proposals from partners who go beyond just addressing your requirements.
Look for those who provide informed opinions about local talent pools and offer extra expertise to hire the best dedicated developers in the region.
How much does it cost to hire a dedicated developer?
The cost of hiring a dedicated developer can vary depending on three factors: the location of the talent, the developer’s specialisation, and the quality of the development partner.
Location
The cost of living in countries like India is significantly lower than in Western regions. This often translates to more affordable salaries for developers.
But it’s not only about the price; it’s also about quality. Hiring dedicated developers in tech hubs such as Bangalore is more cost-effective than building a team with local engineers in San Francisco or London.
For example, the median yearly salary for a software engineer in the US is $180,000, while in India, it’s $31,000. Indian professionals offer the same level of expertise and skill as their Western counterparts, meaning companies can get high-quality talent at a fraction of what they’d normally pay at home.
The infographic below shows dedicated offshore development rates in some of the world’s most popular tech hubs.
Tech specialisation
Developers who possess niche skills or have excellent proficiency in sought-after programming languages command a higher salary than those without such expertise.
Let’s say you want to build a dedicated team with engineers specialised in AI and machine learning. Given the high demand for these technologies in the market, you can expect to spend more on these professionals than you’d do if you hire regular developers with Python experience.
Keep in mind that you’re paying for both the advanced skills and the long-term competitive edge these specialists bring to your organisation.
Development partner quality
Don’t be surprised if there’s a slight price difference between two companies offering dedicated development services in the same country. It’s somewhat common, as reputable development partners charge more for high-end services.
For instance, a partner with decades of experience who hires employees with the right cultural fit and manages other business processes for you may be pricier than a newly established vendor with high-turnover who focuses only on sourcing dedicated developers.
It’s up to you to decide if the higher cost is worth the added benefits of experience and extra services.
Why you should consider hiring a dedicated team in India
India is a renowned leader in the IT industry and one of the countries with the largest software development communities in the world. The country produces a whopping 1.5 million new engineers every year!
These professionals are known for their niche programming skills, collaborative spirit, and ability to adapt to Western organisations, thanks to their high English proficiency. Tech giants like Meta, Google and Microsoft have R&D Centres all over the country in cities like Bangalore.
Indeed, Bangalore — known as ‘The Silicon Valley of Asia’ due to its high concentration of startups and large engineering talent pool — is where we build offshore dedicated development teams.
At The Scalers, we specialise in assembling resilient, high-performing teams for tech leaders looking for the right talent. With our unique (and proven) model we’ve helped organisations in multiple industries hire elite dedicated developers — the top 1% of Indian tech talent.
Apart from searching, hiring, onboarding, and engaging engineers (daily), we offer fully managed operations services to our partners. This includes handling HR and administrative tasks, logistics, equipment, and even office spaces.
Intrigued to know more about our offshore software development model? Or perhaps you’re ready to build, extend and scale your new dedicated dev team?
Fill out this form, and one of our senior executives will contact you shortly.
Final thoughts on hiring dedicated developers
This guide has provided you with all the details to find and hire the dedicated developers your business needs to support its long-term growth.
The ball is now in your court. Your new dedicated development team awaits you.
If you enjoyed this article, we recommend you have a look at our other blog posts on building development teams and other topics relevant to tech leaders like yourself. You can find them below!
