A Comprehensive Guide On Hiring The Best Offshore Front-End Developers

In a world where your online image is literally everything,  you just cannot hope to succeed with a less-than-premium user experience. This is where the role of front-end developers comes in. They put on their magical gloves and code away to glory, giving your website the finesse it deserves and the business your model is capable of attracting. Confused between building an in-house front-end developer team, onboarding freelancers, or even hiring offshore talent. We’ve got you covered.

In the blog that follows, we will discuss various aspects of hiring offshore front-end developers, the costs involved, and of course, a detailed comparison with other existing models.

Decoding front-end development

Let’s begin with the basics; though we are aware you might be privy to the fundamentals; still a refresher never hurt anyone! 

In simple terms, much in tandem with the literal meaning of the word, it refers to the process of creating user-facing components of a web application or website. This involves the use of incorporating elements of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML in order to develop an amazingly interactive user experience. The whole process of front-end development involves designing, developing, testing, and ultimately deploying user interfaces for web applications and websites.

A good user experience can render immense credibility to your online business; therefore, hiring quality front-end developers is the need of the hour. According to the findings of a PWC CEO report, 79% of CEOs struggle with zeroing in on the right front-end developers onshore. Also, according to the State of Software Engineers report, the demand for software developers is expected to hit 28 million by 2024. 

While tech talent is facing a crunch, one needs to be smart about hiring the best talent at affordable prices. Let’s check out the details of hiring onshore, offshore, and freelance developers.

A detailed analysis of hiring offshore vs. onshore vs. freelance front-end developers

The main dilemma for software firms aiming to achieve the next big thing in the tech world is attracting and even retaining the best front-end developers. The catch here is that the talent pool is limited while the demand is ever-rising, so you end up vying for the select few with the rest of the IT firms who might have already reeled them in with a juicier package. Here’s how you can go about hiring the best-in-class front-end developers.

The skillset a good front-end developer should possess

Before we delve into the offshoots of the hiring process, it is important to be privy to the skillset and responsibilities of every front-end developer worth their salt. 

• A front-end developer employs the power of core technologies like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript (which is used to enrich the user experience with animations, video, audio, etc.) 
• As technology proceeds, “vanilla” JavaScript just doesn’t cut. Therefore developers deploy the power of frameworks like React.js, Node.js, Angular 2, and Backbone.js, etc., to craft rich end products replete with complex intricacies that are the need of the hour. 
• Proficiency with version control at GitHub, JSON, AJAX, and WebSocket is also highly sought after in a good front-end developer. 
• Their responsibilities range from creating safe and clean code to a good understanding of the workings of Agile project management. 

These, along with a conflation of awesome soft skills like ownership, dedicated time-management skills, and a love for working fruitfully in a team, make for the perfect hire.

Onshore Hiring

The conventional method of onboarding resources, and onshore hiring is the process of sieving through the local talent pool. This can be done either through your recruitment team or by outsourcing the process to IT recruitment firms.

You can choose to hire an in-house team of front-end developers, build a remote team or hire freelancers on a project basis. Let’s delve into the pros and cons of onshore hiring;

Pros

• The opportunity to interact in person or face-to-face: Whether you have a remote model for your hires or a full-time in-house team, you always have the option for connecting one-on-one either through a Zoom call or a quick face-to-face meeting. Seamless and effective communication is a major plus point.
• Same time zone: When working in a similar or same geographical region, the chances of falling in the time zone are pretty high. When you log in and log out at the same time as the rest of the team members, coordination with the team members becomes easier as everyone is usually on the same page. 
• Shared language and culture: When you work with a culturally homogenous group, you can be slightly more at ease as there are fewer chances of your words and actions being misinterpreted. 

Cons

• Talent shortage: There is a marked crunch in the developer economy post the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and when the demand goes up, and the supply is limited, prices witness a steep hike. Also, many developers might not prefer working full-time for a particular firm when they can lead meaty roles with multiple clients! 
• Hike in salary packages: While this may be good news for brilliant developers who finally get to charge their worth, small business owners might have to settle for less-than-exceptional developers. 
• Overhead costs: When you hire a full-time employee in the company payroll, whether remotely or in-house, you as an employer have to cover a whole range of employee benefits as per the law of the land and also cover equipment, training costs, etc., which can be a major deterrent for those with not such deep pockets.

Offshore Hiring

Technically speaking, offshoring means relocating or outsourcing all or segments of your business to another country that typically comes in or beyond a 5-hour time zone difference. Offshoring can be categorized into two subtypes; 

• Offshoring as a business offshoot or subsidiary wherein you expand operations to another country. For instance, you could consider building an R&D headquarters in India; however, this will require you to build everything from scratch in the new location.
• Hiring dedicated resources from an offshore service provider. This involves hiring talented front-end developers from firms like Mavlers that offer immense value for money and take away the major drawbacks of conventional hiring systems.

Pros

• Extremely cost-effective: There are differences in economies around the world, and you can take advantage of that by hiring top talent from countries where labor is comparatively cheaper. You also save money on dishing out employee perks and equipment benefits because these are taken care of by the offshore service provider firm.
• Super easy hiring: Offshore firms offer tailor-made premia resources that fit your company culture and project requirements.   
• Choose from a bigger talent pool: While there may be saturation in the local market, a plethora of talent thrives in other countries! Tap into untapped potential, and you might just get your dream UI or UX at a fraction of the cost!

Cons

• Trust building
• Company culture fit
• Employee retention and reliability

All these concerns can be managed when you choose to hire dedicated resources for your bespoke projects from pioneers like Mavlers, wherein you get to work with an assembled team of experienced front-end developers who know the ins and outs of the industry. 

Costs of hiring a front-end developer

As per the latest statistics, the figure for a front-end developer’s average salary in New York for 2023 would be $130K. In comparison, the cost of hiring an offshore front-end developer varies between $15–$30/hr. However, this does not reflect the standards across the globe, and the price per hire varies across regions. The following table showcases the in-house talent as well as the offshore costs of hiring a front-end developer in the US and UK.

Format of Employment	Cost of hiring in the USA	Cost of Hiring in the UK
Inhouse	$75,772-140,275 (annually)	$54,525-85,000 (annually)
Offshore	$41 to $71 per hour	$68-99 per hour

Summary

We hope we were able to satisfactorily answer a major section of your doubts regarding hiring offshore front-end developers. If you’d still like more assistance or choose to build your team with Mavlers, we are happy to be of assistance.