SME Guide On Hiring An Offshore Python Development Team: How To Stay Ahead In 2024

Key takeaways

• The US continues outsourcing IT services offshore, showing a 57% growth. Know more about how Fortune 500 companies profit from offshore Python programmers.
• Wavering hiring remote developers offshore or not? Read the most frequent cases when your competitors do it already.
• An offshore development model matters. Let’s find a Python developer under the perfect one for cooperation.
• Are Python developers everywhere? Yes and no. 20 000 of them are in Ukraine. Learn more about how to find and hire those who fit your requirements.
• Why offshoring is more beneficial: cost overview on the real case.
• Bonus from Aimprosoft: learn how we select Python developers for your projects.

At the last Web Summit in 2021, one of the takeaways of our CTO Igor Zaporozhets was that companies without digital roots but striving to catch up with the lost and digitize are ripe for offshore development in order to expand their internal tech resources and save money.

The market is prioritizing the digital journey. In line with ITMS and BPO Contract Analysis, the US continues to helm the share of ITMS contracts with a 57% growth.

According to Statista, Python takes the fourth place among demand for programming languages, following JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and SQL. The analysis conducted based on thousands of job postings in the USA and European areas proves the exponential growth of offshore Python expert demand caused by the booming industries of data science, ML, and AI, which rely on technology. Python boasts more than 88 000 job listings on Indeed.com.

Google Trends shows an increase of up to 80% in search queries of some Python libraries and Python-related tools for the last year till March 2023. The market share of Python is 27.43%, in line with the PYPL index that considers the frequency of language tutorial searches as the leading indicator.

Last tear fixed over fixed over 15,7 million active Python developers worldwide. There seem to be a lot of them and should be enough for all projects, but the distribution of tech talents across innovation areas is uneven. Thus, more and more companies hire remote offshore Python developers.

Reasons why Python is so popular

Python was created in the early 1990s by Guido Van Rossum as a general-purpose language for application development. For many reasons, Python quickly became the solution for many tasks, such as data analytics and engineering, visualization, automation, and even game development. Here are some apparent reasons for Python’s meteoric rise in popularity. Before we dive into a Python developer hiring guide, let’s discover the phenomenon of Python’s popularity.

Smaller learning curve

Mastering a new programming language can be challenging because each language has its own syntax, rules, and structure. Object-oriented programming often makes it faster and easier to manipulate data, resulting in faster development times. As an object-oriented language, Python offers a general programming structure that is easy for beginners to master. Another attribute that helps novice programmers master Python is that it is written in a natural language format.

Community support and resources

Python has a fairly high level of usage and robust and significant community support. Its effectiveness is enhanced by its many libraries and modules, from data and scientific computing libraries (SciPy) to machine learning applications (scikit-learn) that offer additional functionality beyond the core language.

Python for automation

Python is becoming increasingly popular for automation, especially as organizations seek to integrate software-defined infrastructure with deployments through DevOps. With its abundance of libraries, Python is the natural choice for automating a wide range of processes, reducing errors, and improving overall development speed.

Best for Data Analytics

Business intelligence and data analysis projects have evolved rapidly in recent years, increasing the volume and complexity of data. Because of this development in data analytics, Python, which is more flexible than R, has become the primary language for organizing and analyzing data. Python is great for improving machine learning or artificial intelligence applications to accelerate learning curves. Data scientists can perform deep and meaningful big data analyses using NumPy, Pandas, or TensorFlow libraries. Python also offers data visualization libraries that allow you to represent data graphically in simple and efficient graphs.

Speed of application development

Application speed can be defined in different ways depending on the context. For example, consumers can measure the speed of an application by the speed at which it responds or the speed at which it provides the requested information. At the same time, developers can define speed by the speed at which an application is deployed, making it easier to make improvements. Although Python is slightly slower than other popular programming languages such as Java, C#, JavaScript, or C++, its main advantage is its faster development speed.

Offshore Python developers and their skills

When you are going to hire dedicated Python developers, it’s important to make sure they have the necessary skills to create high-quality code and meet project requirements. The key skills can be not only hard skills but also soft skills, and which ones, let’s consider.

Technical Python developer qualifications

Python knowledge and familiarity with frameworks

It goes about syntax, data types, control structures, object-oriented programming, and other basic concepts. Hire a Python programmer familiar with at least one of the web frameworks such as Flask, Django, and Pyramid for creating web applications. Experience with testing frameworks such as pytest, unittest or nose is necessary to ensure code quality.

Understanding of databases

Database management systems (DBMSs) such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB are essential for creating data-driven applications because they provide a structured and efficient way to store, retrieve, and manage large amounts of data. Experience with DB systems is essential for creating data-driven applications.

Experience with frontend technologies

Hire remote Python developers with knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript because full-stack developers need to work with the frontend side of a web application by building interactive user interfaces, integrating with backend logic, debugging frontend issues, and understanding frontend developers while collaborating.

Version control

Experience with any version control system like Git is necessary to maintain and manage code changes in a project. Version control helps to revert to previous versions of the code if necessary, have a backup and recovery, and perform code review by team members before it is merged into the main branch of the project.

Experience with deployment tools

Familiarity with deployment tools such as Docker, Ansible, Jenkins, etc., can help automate the deployment process, ensure consistency across different environments, deploy applications at scale, provide a standardized way to application deployment, etc.

Experience with APIs and cloud services

Understanding APIs and experience building and using RESTful APIs can help integrate various applications, adjust communication with each other, build applications that can grow and evolve over time, customize and adapt to meet changing business requirements, etc. Knowledge of cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform can help deploy applications to the cloud.

Soft skills needed for offshore Python developers

As a Python developer, there are several “soft” skills that are important to develop in order to be successful. Here are some of the most important soft skills.

Communication skills

The ability to communicate effectively is crucial for Python developers, who need to be able to explain their ideas, problems, and solutions to both technical and non-technical colleagues. We foster the ability to clearly articulate your thoughts and ideas in both written and verbal form.

Problem-solving skills

Python developers should be able to identify problems and develop effective solutions. This involves the ability to analyze complex problems, break them down into smaller components, and then solve them in a logical and structured way.

Time management skills

Python developers often work on multiple tasks at once, so being able to prioritize tasks and manage your time effectively is important. We always emphasize the ability of professionals to set realistic deadlines for themselves and manage their time effectively to meet those deadlines.

Python developers often work in teams, so the skill of collaborating effectively with other team members is essential. This involves the ability to communicate effectively, share ideas, and work together toward a common goal. Technology is constantly evolving, and Python developers must be able to adapt to changes in their field. Willingness to learn new programming languages and technologies and the ability to quickly adapt to new tools and processes sets Aimprosoft developers apart from their peers.

Attention to detail and creativity

In programming, even a small mistake can lead to big problems: lost time or business profits. Python developers at Aimprosoft are meticulous and pay close attention to detail to avoid mistakes that can cause problems later. Python developers must be creative and innovative when it comes to solving problems. We always encourage out-of-the-box approaches and unique solutions to complex problems.

Patience

Programming can sometimes be tedious, so Python developers need to be patient to handle daily work tasks calmly and methodically without getting frustrated or discouraged.

Offshoring trends and how the Fortune 500 companies profit from it

North America is dominating the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market. KPMG reported that 84.2% of all outsourcing deals fall to the share of the United States. The proliferation of major tech companies and startups nationwide primarily defines growth.

First discovered as a business strategy in the late 1980s, outsourcing in the form of offshoring became a key component of business development for Fortune 500 firms in the 1990s.

For many reasons, Google, Facebook, and IBM contract out business processes to third-party service providers. The main are as follows:

• cost-cutting as a growth driver of the company;
• improving operational efficiency;
• enhancing their business activities;
• reducing operating costs;
• increased productivity and workload management.

Cutting-edge technologies such as big data, cloud computing, analytics, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the IoT are gaining traction and force companies literally fight for tech talents. As a result, demand for offshore Python specialists created a market upswing.

Offshoring software development trends correlate with tech evolution and business needs:

• shift to cloud-based technology;
• more integration of AI solutions;
• dependency on automation;
• greater preference for remote partnerships;
• utilization of the best talents.

Aimprosoft is one of the pioneers engaged in offering offshore Python development web services for businesses in need of enhancing operational efficiency to stay competitive.

When you should hire offshore Python developers for your project?

Leading companies have been practicing offshore development teams for a long time in an effort to take advantage of the best tech talent currently available in the market. Why should they deny themselves access to an unlimited resource of qualified technical talent and even a reasonable price?

If one looks at the most popular Python software use cases, they are data analysis, machine learning, web development, and DevOps. But the drivers to outsource Python development differs.

Large companies with a staff of +5,000 employees hire as much as one-fifth of Python developers proportionally to other developers, according to JetBrains. Opportunities emerge swiftly. Maintaining a stable market position and high competition demands leveraging them immediately. In terms of talent shortage and rapid development of new directions, it is almost impossible to cope with local human resources only. With offshoring, all doors are open to finding qualified, dedicated developers.

Middle-sized businesses set up development centers overseas to make great use of a fast staff augmentation of missing expertise that can strengthen current digital strategy and, in addition, save money. Since a software development process requires a lot of time and resources, it can take the focus temporarily away from the core objectives. An offshore development team can assume responsibilities to handle the task from the inception phase to the product launch with further support and maintenance.

Small businesses aim to scale quickly by launching their own offshore teams in partnership with software vendors. Monetary obligations of hiring specialists in-house to develop web applications can be a heavy burden in terms of expense for small-sized firms too. An offshore Python development team helps minimize liabilities and get the most out of using available resources. In addition, it gets rid of the recurrent recruiting cost for closing permanent software developer positions. Extreme flexibility is inherent to the offshore cooperation model, which small firms highly appreciate as an alternative to hiring a full-time professional for a short-term project.

Access to the top resources and technologies captivates businesses of all sizes to approach remote teams. Along with this, you can improve the quality of your product by engaging a development team from a technological hub if your internal expertise doesn’t meet the required standard.

There is one common similarity among all: successful offshoring lies in treating external teams as equal assets to your own organization.

Mentioned cases are pretty run-of-the-mill, so to speak. Nevertheless, there are two hiring models that can help you cope with the task.

Offshore development models: outstaffing vs outsourcing

Python projects, depending on the type of project and domain, usually start with one Pythonist and grow into teams for processing big data, creating ML models, programming mathematical and scientific calculations, building chatbots and smart assistants, developing computer vision models, developing GUIs, etc.

Outstaffing Python development model

An offshore Pythonist can be hired already at the idea stage. There is outsourcing for this. Outstaffing will suit you if you already have a team with in-house developers and well-established development processes with a project manager, and a team leader, and you only need extra hands to scale.

Outsourcing Python development model

If you’re just in an idea stage or have a specification and need to start the project from scratch, then outsourcing Python development abroad (offshoring) will help organize the process from first to last.

In this case, you hire a Python development team with expertise in the domain and the necessary technical skills and get the completed product with the least amount of time spent on management at commensurately affordable prices. At the same time, by choosing the team from the proven tech hubs, the quality of services will meet the quality standards that you are used to in your region.

Which model is more profitable?

If you opt for an outstaffing model, then costs will be lower because all management is on your shoulders. Less payment, more control – some see it as perfect. Is this involvement worth your time?

Outsourced offshore software development allows you also control the process avoiding lots of wasted time for micromanagement, thereby controlling key points of product development.

If you choose an outstaffing model, then you are actually renting an employee with the necessary expertise and experience from a third-party vendor. Your expenses are only the salary of the augmented employee according to the rates of the country where you hire remote offshore Python developers.

In the case of outsourcing, your costs will also be the costs of setting up processes, business analysis, probably UI/UX design, and project management, but it will free up a lot of your time for routine. No one says you will let everything take its course until its release. You remain the ideological inspirer and the main reaper of the fruits that your offshore Python development team will bring to you.

Cooperation models greatly reflect the IT development needs of an organization that can be actually met by delegating tasks to the outside vendor. Wherein you access the vendor’s tech resources by saving on benefits and overheads. The models are divided into two types: business and payment.

Business models at Aimprosoft for Python projects

Payment models at Aimprosoft for Python projects

Where to find suitable offshore developers to add value to your software product?

Outsourcing destination

Offshoring outsourcing destination is important. When you trust your project to external people, cultural compatibility, comprehension, speaking the common language (as usual, English) for clear communication, and similar mindsets are what you expect.

Asia, Latin America, and certain countries in Europe are the most popular destinations for offshore software development.

Asia is historically one of the most popular offshore locations. It features at lower rates than developers from other locations, but you probably have to compromise with quality.

Latin America emerged as an equally competitive location for offshoring software development with a more comfortable time zone due to the proximity to the USA while with a less rich talent pool.

The Eastern European region is famous for its huge tech pool of specialists, among which Pythonists. The most priority countries are Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Among them, Ukraine is a hot destination for offshore software development that has been catering to US SME businesses from various industries for over 25 years. There you can find a Ukrainian dedicated team for hire to build your Python-based project.

Ukrainian companies proved their resilience in front of hard difficulties turning even war into their strength. Despite the force majeure, Ukrainian IT companies continue working at full, being extremely united and adapting to the new circumstances. For example, Aimprosoft’s 100% of employees returned to work at full capacity in March yet, are located in safe areas within the country (Ivano-Frankivsk) and abroad. Due to our high responsibility, preventive measures, and trust earned by customers, we retained 100% of our clients. Moreover, in April 2022, we renewed hiring to meet the demand for new contracts.

Hire offshore Python developers in Ukraine means:

• Access to +20 000 Python specialists;
• Benefits from STEM degrees of IT specialists;
• Communication with people who share your values;
• Ukrainians have similarities in lifestyle and mindsets to North Americans;
• You can count on a customer-oriented approach;
• Innovativeness is in their blood;
• Cost-effective and familiar quality standards of deliverables;
• They speak English and like to have small talks.

Online B2B websites with listings of software vendors

Clutch, DesignRush, TopDevelopers, TheManifest, TechReviewer, G2, and GoodFirms, to name a few, are the B2B online directories reflecting vendors’ services, feedback from clients, and national and world ratings among similar ones, case studies, portfolios, and contacts. You can turn to them to hire an offshore Python development company to complete your project.

For example, Aimprosoft is recognized:

1. by TheManifest Top 100 Application Modernization Companies in Ukraine;
2. by Clutch as Top Development & IT Company in Ukraine;
3. by TechBehemoths as
• Custom Software Development company in Ukraine
• Web Development company in Ukraine
• Mobile App Development companies in Ukraine
• IoT Development companies in Ukraine
4. by DesignRush as Top Custom Software Development Companies.

Costs of hiring offshore Python specialists

Assume InnovaMatch, LLC is looking for a full-time Senior level Python Developer with a promised compensation of $130,000/yr – $170,000/yr. A company refers to a small business according to its profile on LinkedIn. Usually, with high competition, closing tech roles take 49 days with three or more rounds of interviews, as the LinkedIn survey stated. Probably, large companies have enough time and resources to wait. However, for small businesses, when recruiting and managing is tied to one person, it may be disastrous both in terms of time and money waste.

Are you ready to wait 49 days?

In Ukraine, a given position can be closed in 4 weeks by hiring a candidate with the same skills but faster due to a rich tech pool and for less money. In the best of circumstances, your perfect match is at the finish of their previous project and ready to tackle the new challenge. The annual salary in Ukraine is in the range of $70 000-90 000.

In addition to the closing Python role, a customer can augment their project team with Front-end Developers, Business Analytics, Project Managers, QA Engineers, and UI/UX Designers and get everybody from one partner. As surveyed, 72% of respondents say they are part of a 5-7 team. It is pretty comfortable when you’re scaling. It saves time: you can ask your partner about specialists, and 9 in 10 get a necessary expert.

For senior positions, hourly rates for Ukrainian Python developers range from $40-50.

As shown in the picture, in the US, an employer has to pay $96K yearly for a Junior Python Developer; while hiring an offshore Python expert from Ukraine, it may take $90K for a Senior one.

As shown in the picture, in the US, an employer has to pay $96K yearly for a Junior Python Developer; while hiring an offshore Python expert from Ukraine, it may take $90K for a Senior one.

How to hire offshore Python experts and avoid mistakes

Leaders’ chats and closed communities in messengers are teeming with constraints from engineering leaders about their experiences working with offshore development companies. Coming to us on a discussion call, our prospects ask almost the same, but the offshoring goes on and profits. Let’s elaborate on the most painful points and ways to avoid them and answer how to hire a Python developer.

Expectations don’t match deliverables.

Before starting, it is better to estimate your resources (money and time), clear goals, and document expectations so that it can be a ground for you and your team in your cooperation.

Moonlighting instead of 100% dedication

This option is more likely with a freelancer. Software providers like Aimprosoft that value their reputation fulfill their commitments following documented agreements.

Low productivity without proper management

Nobody likes micromanagement, and we also. Thus, the development process at Aimprosoft is structured under the Project Manager’s governance in such a way as to eliminate customer concerns and extra involvement.

They don’t speak my language

Poor English language skills, even of the most skillful engineer, can drive you crazy so that you run away at a breakneck pace. Try your candidates during the online interview. Speaking would be a great indicator.

A gap in the culture loop

The culture here refers to the same sharing values (discipline, obligations, work-life balance, etc.). Over the long years of working with the US, Ukrainians have gained a better understanding of doing business the American way. For example, world-known Ukraine-backed Grammarly, PetCube, GitLab, and Ajax confirm this.

Lack of transparency in payments

Security standards and data privacy are out

It can happen with freelancers or another flash in the pan. The proven partnership is measured by years in the market and honest client feedback.

Burnout and staff turnover

We at Aimprosoft pay thorough attention to employee retention, understanding that you need not only an ignited talent at the start but, first of all, a deeply involved one who can get the job done.

Well, if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. But you’re not from the timid ten. Hence, let’s see how Aimprosoft can bring value to your Python-related project.

How can Aimprosoft contribute as your Python offshore partner?

We know how it is to be in your shoes when hiring software engineers. We noticed that the most successful Python software developers:

• have a mathematical mind;
• follow the Agile development cycle;
• are good communicators;
• are methodical in their dev approach;
• easily admit work difficulties;
• quickly navigate how to get out of the challenge;
• sure are strong at their competencies.

Against all odds, we signed a contract on the 24th of February, 2022. It means something.

These are the people we hire to make your projects perfect. With over 17 years of experience in directions that use Python, such as the IoT (Healthcare, Automotive, Education, Smart Home, Telecom), Data Science, Big Data, Finance, Marketing, Streaming solutions, DevOps cloudification, and others.

Check out three cases where our Python developers brought value to customers from various domains.

#1 Case: Management platform for hotels and apartments

A client from the hospitality industry addressed Aimprosoft for developing a communication platform to be in touch with guests and cross-personnel messaging to provide better service for guests. It is expected to deliver a website and mobile app as a solution for notifying users about hotel news and getting about emerging issues.

The website was written in Node.js. The technology was pretty good, but the quality of the code was poor. The client supported our suggestion to rewrite a server-side in Python that is ideal for data processing compared to JS with a wide variety of libraries. We coped with low speed and development expense by means of an event-driven microservices architecture, which improved system performance.

As expected, a client got a complex system with web and mobile applications. A role-based access control and permission access helped in the coordination of hotel management staff.

#2 Case: HomeLike – online booking service for long rentals

An exciting and challenging task as our seniors like. We had to create integrations and data science tasks performance for an online booking platform. Our strong software architect immediately cheered up, having heard about the upcoming work.

Under his leadership, a team of Python developers connected a backend with third-party business real estate integration services. Moreover, our client got invisible at first sight, but an additional value: effectiveness evaluation models through which the performance of integrated advertising services became possible to be assessed.

#3 Case: An IoT-powered smart home solution

The English-backed case related to energy consumption, which is an esteemed concern of the nation. Our client is an energy service provider eager to do it rationally for UK customers. Aimprosoft was asked to create a quality integration and management system for IoT devices with smart meters.

Together we reached an energy consumption optimization in households through a single manageable ecosystem of integrated IoT devices. A Python-based architecture and backend helped arrange control of energy consumption by users via their smartphones and web interfaces remotely. Also, users are able to schedule a smart appliance activation automatically. We created ML models for smart utility consumption and device control. Resource consumption analytics helped the client gain valuable insights.

Why hire offshore Python developers from Aimprosoft?

Resilient vendor

• 18 years in the market;
• Located in Ivano-Frankivsk (Western Ukraine) close to the Polish border;
• 600+ completed projects for startups and companies;
• 200+ clients from the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Asia;
• Signed contract on the 24th of February 2022;
• 100% client and staff retention in 2022;
• Contribution to the total Ukrainian IT exports volume estimated at $7.34bln in 2022;
• Choice of U.S. customers who appreciate the quality despite the temporary difficulties.

Energy independence

At Aimprosoft, we recognize the critical importance of providing uninterrupted services to our clients. To achieve this, we prioritize the autonomy of our employees and ensure that our workplace is equipped with all the necessary resources and technologies to facilitate seamless office operations.

Thus, we ensured a 24-hour power supply at our workplace, keeping in view its utmost importance. To facilitate continuous delivery, we have installed cutting-edge technology, including Starlink internet sets and generators, that guarantee seamless office operations even in the face of power outages or unexpected disruptions.

Recognized software development partner

Aimprosoft is a trusted backend and frontend development services provider offering to hire a dedicated software development team from a recognized partner.

Security of our clients’ Python projects

Choosing a software partner focusing on cybersecurity can reduce risk, increase brand credibility, ensure compliance, increase productivity, and drive business innovation. At Aimprosoft, our cloud-based IT infrastructure and headquarters in Germany ensure that all our customers’ projects are secure and reliable.

We recognize the importance of cybersecurity in today’s world and take proactive measures to ensure that our customers’ data is reliably protected from online threats. Our commitment is evidenced by our endorsement of Cyber Essentials, a UK government-backed minimum standards scheme designed to protect businesses from the most common cyber attacks.

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Conclusion

It is hard to keep up with the pace of this tech world in the race for perfection. And both of us know that there are no mistakes, only experiences. It’s time to stop hesitating and take the plunge. Offshoring software development is worth trying. Contust us to hire offshore Python developers for your project.

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