How to Hire a Remote Team of Software Developers

There are a few challenges you’ll need to consider before you hire software developers for your remote team. Understanding these ahead of time will put you in a much better and stronger position to find the best of the best ASAP.

The three biggest issues you’ll likely come across during the hiring process include:

1. Getting Inundated With Too Many Unqualified Candidates

Hiring for a remote team of developers means you’ll probably receive a huge influx of resumes as soon as your job ad goes live.

Due to the nature of a remote position, candidates from across the world will want to apply. Opening these floodgates can be both a good and bad thing. While it’s great for sourcing top talent, it’s a headache for your HR team to sift through hundreds (if not thousands!) of resumes.

As we’ll discuss in further detail at the end of this guide, there are a few ways you can proactively combat this, including:

• Adding knockout questions (or "weed out" components) to your job ad. Specific instructions, such as adding a required word or emoji in the subject line of an emailed resume or application, separate candidates who follow directions from those less detail-oriented. By weeding out those who fail to do as you ask, you whittle down the stack to only those applicants who followed your directions to a T.
• Using Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) to do most of the heavy lifting of whittling out the best candidates from the rest. ATS will scour resumes and applications for specific keywords you set, matching you to the right fits sooner.
• Writing an informative job ad that sells. When you lay out all the details of the position, applicants will know exactly what you’re looking for and quickly decide if they fit the bill before wasting either of your time.
• Posting your job ad on the right job board, which makes a giant impact on whether qualified candidates ever get to see your open position.

Again, we’ll show you how to tackle all these tasks later. Each will make it easier to find that virtual needle in the haystack, so they’re definitely worth your time.

2. Experiencing Language Barriers

What happens when you want to hire software developers from other countries, but you don’t speak the same language?

You can add a language preference to your job ad, which may deter those who are less proficient from applying. You could also invest in translation software or hire more bilingual employees to help out.

However, it’s probably best to hire remote software developers from countries that emphasize learning a second language (such as English). Applicants in these countries may have exceptional skills, affordable rates, and less of a language barrier.

We’ll share our top picks for countries that make it easy to find English-speaking candidates in the next section.

3. Time Zone Differences

Because you’ll be sourcing candidates from all over the world, you also must factor in both your time zone and theirs, which can be challenging.

What happens if neither of your time zones overlap? You could be waiting 12 hours or more before you hear back from them after reaching out. This will make scheduling interviews difficult at first and can also extend to your work life together in the future.

If new hires run into a snag or have an issue, it will take a minimum of 12 hours before you learn about and address it, then another 12 hours for them to implement changes or fix problems.

This back-and-forth delay may seem like another headache not worth dealing with, but it can be remedied like the other obstacles mentioned earlier. In this case, you can:

• Add specific time zone requirements to your job ad. If your business operates in a strict time zone, you can source candidates who live in time zones that overlap your business hours. Even though they may not be identical, you can at least work and communicate together part of the time. This should reduce delays and boost collaboration on your remote team simultaneously.
• Hire software developers from a mix of time zones. Your team in time zone A can start a project or update, while your team in time zones B and C can work on finishing and testing it, all before the start of business in your time zone. This prevents you from getting stuck waiting 12 hours for work to be completed and increases turnaround times.

So now that you know more about how to overcome the challenges you may be up against when you hire software developers from around the world, you’re better prepared to hire the right team. And those candidates may come from a handful of the awesome locales up next.

There are a few challenges you’ll need to consider before you hire software developers for your remote team. Understanding these ahead of time will put you in a much better and stronger position to find the best of the best ASAP.

What makes a country best for hiring software developers?

Their citizens typically speak multiple languages (including English), prioritize STEM education, and have lower average living costs, so you can offer competitive salaries without breaking your budget. The time zones in these countries may also overlap those in which your business operates.

We’ll explain what makes each country on our list unique, along with its average expected salaries for remote software developers. So make sure these countries are on your list:

1. Ukraine

Ukraine consistently ranks as one of the top countries to hire software developers.

Its government emphasizes and values tech education, resulting in one of the largest and most talented groups of candidates. According to current estimates, there are roughly 192,000 tech employees in Ukraine, and this number may reach 242,000 by 2025.

CodeinWP reports that Ukraine has the largest number of C++ programmers in the world but they’re also well-versed in JavaScript. Software development and technology consulting firm Daxx reported that there are over 12,000 JavaScript developers in the Ukraine -- which is just behind the US in total number of developers -- ranging from junior levels all the way up to advanced skills. Many citizens in this country also have experience with mobile development and AI too.

Two more standout features of Ukrainian developers: up to 80% speak English and part of their time zones overlap with those in the US, Canada, and the UK. So communicating with Ukrainian developers shouldn’t be too challenging.

As for their average salaries, they range from $6 per hour for a junior developer all the way up to $20 per hour for a senior-level developer, making them an affordable option. Annual salaries hover between $11,936 and $46,787.

2. Poland

Poland offers a plethora of top developers, and their programmers are ranked third most-skilled in the world.

Their = developers rank first in Java assessments and many can tackle .NET, Ruby, Python, and Shell as well.

Polish developers also tend to speak English proficiently. CodeinWP reports that 30% of the population speaks English as a second language. Poland’s time zone has some overlap with North America and the rest of Europe, making it another seamless fit for outsourcing.

Polish programmers clock in similar salary rates to those working in Ukraine. Web developers earn roughly $8 an hour on the low end and up to $16.50 if they’re more experienced software developers. Average annual salaries come in around $22,273.

3. China

With close to 5 million tech graduates every year, China is another excellent place to find remote software developers. Many of those graduates are proficient in functional programming, algorithms, data structure, Python, and Shell languages.

However, there are three downsides to consider when working with Chinese developers:

First, a large portion may not speak English proficiently -- only 10 million citizens of their 1.3 billion population speak it.

Second, while their time zone may be a few hours ahead for companies in Europe, it could be 12 hours or more ahead of those in the US and Canada. With a time zone difference like this, you can get ahead of projects in some cases, but you may also find that you’re behind when waiting for a reply or fixes to take place in others.

Finally, the average salary for Chinese programmers is a bit higher than others on our list. Remote software developers often earn anywhere from $27,695 to $52,314 annually, making them more expensive than their Polish and Ukrainian counterparts.

4. The Philippines

The Philippines is known for having affordable developers who also speak English -- up to 92% of the population speaks it, which is a tremendous perk.

Though their government recently invested heavily in STEM education, programmers from the Philippines don’t rank quite as highly in skills as candidates from the first three countries mentioned. You’ll certainly find prime candidates for outsourcing simple programming projects here. But you may have better luck recruiting candidates for more complicated software development elsewhere, according to CodeinWP.

Another benefit to hiring developers in the Philippines is affordability. A coder’s average annual salary is just $10,563, likely well within your budget.

5. Taiwan

Taiwan may be another source of talented programmers, especially since they’re ranked seventh in the world. Developers who reside here are well-versed in programming and data structures.

Like other governments on this list, the Taiwanese have prioritized tech education, including STEM and IT. That’s why this hotspot is frequently referred to as Asia’s Silicon Valley.

The potential downside to hiring Taiwanese developers is a possible language barrier. Though many are not proficient in English, this is quickly changing and may not be the case when you hire software developers.

Average salaries for Taiwanese developers come in around $23,427 annually.

6. Argentina

If Europe and Asia seem too far for your outsourcing needs, Argentina serves as a fantastic and close option for North American companies.

With growing investment in tech education, many Argentinian developers are proficient in DevOps and mobile development, Relevant reports. Plus, many speak English, and their time zone may overlap much more than some of the other countries on our list.

These benefits may cost you a bit more to enjoy, however. The average annual salary for a remote developer in Argentina is $58,392.

7. India

India is one of the first countries that comes to mind when you hear the word "outsourcing." And that’s because it’s home to a wide range of affordable tech talent.

With close to 3 million STEM graduates each year, you’ll see a plethora of candidates. Just keep in mind that most programmers here work on mobile app development. Overall, the population isn’t as proficient in HTML and PHP yet, which is something to consider.

India’s time zone could also pose a challenge. Citizens are around 12 hours ahead for North American countries (less for those in Europe). On the other hand, India’s the second largest English-speaking country, so you shouldn’t experience any language barriers.

If budget is a significant concern, Indian developers rank on the low-end of the spectrum. Developers earn an average of $11,139 annually.

Now, keep in mind that the information we just shared should not be taken as absolute.

You can certainly find amazing developers in other countries not on this list. You may also find candidates proficient in specific programming skills or English, despite the overall consensus of our research.

Use our stats for a general idea of places to consider when building your remote team of developers. And be open to the possibility that your top candidate may come from elsewhere or tout a different range of skills and abilities.

So how will you find these marvelous programmers? By posting your job ads where they’re most likely to encounter them.

As hinted at earlier, if you don’t want to be inundated with a stack of resumes that aren’t a good fit for your remote team, consider where you post your job ad (along with everything else mentioned so far).

While adding your job listing to popular sites like Indeed or LinkedIn may seem like a good idea at first, it won’t yield the best results. You’re likely to find a significant number of applicants who send over their resume just for the sake of doing so, even if they know they’re not right for the position.

Since you’re looking for someone to work remotely, you’re better off going straight to a remote-specific job board.

This gives you a much smaller and more concentrated talent pool from across the globe to tap into. Plus, applicants checking a remote job board are already well-versed in working remotely, so you’ll need less training to get new hires up to speed.

To learn more about working with a remote-first job board, visit that link when you’re done here.

If you thought it was hard to find good people these days, you might be going about this process all wrong. Don’t worry; you’re not the only one.

In this section, we’ll share 10 key steps to update your hiring process and build a remote team of software developers who fit your company culture, produce extraordinary work, and stick around for the long haul.

Step 1: Determine Exactly What You’re Looking For

There’s more to hiring software developers than finding people proficient in Ruby, Python, Java, or your company’s programming language of choice.

That’s why it’s crucial to nail down the specifics of what you’re looking for before you create your job ad. This is essential for a few reasons and helps you:

• Narrow down the exact qualifications of the position. When you know precisely what you’re looking for, you can create a checklist for writing your job ad and identifying the perfect candidate when he or she comes along.
• Set parameters to weed out candidates who aren’t the best fit. This not only whittles down the giant stack of applicants for HR, but also makes sure the best fits land in the interview pile (instead of slipping through the cracks).
• Visualize what makes a stellar candidate. Do you need someone to work cohesively with your existing developers, or will you be building out an entirely new remote team? Are new hires going to have to sit through multiple brainstorming sessions per week before they can start working on a task, or will they be expected to work independently?
• Assess whether they’ll align with your company culture. Adding a few lines about your company culture to your job ads will help you recruit candidates who agree with your mission and values, making it easier to work on your shared vision.

For more information on what to look for when hiring a remote developer, visit that link when you’re done here.

You must consider all these factors when determining what separates the best candidates from those that fall short. Jot all these down on paper, and you’ll have a much easier time crafting the perfect job ad, and hopefully, landing the right person.

Step 2: Decide The Level Of Experience Necessary To Get The Job Done

Since experience varies widely between software developers, you need to give thought to how much experience each candidate should bring to the table.

So do you think you can get the job done with a few junior-level developers? Or do you need people with more advanced skills and years of experience?

Make sure to mention this in your job ad specifically, so inexperienced or overqualified candidates don’t mistakenly apply and waste your time or theirs.

A few ways to gauge a candidate’s qualifications include:

• Skipping the required years of experience. Though most job ads list a required number of years for experience, you could accidentally weed out candidates who don’t have as much time under their belt yet are highly skilled. So have them describe why they’re qualified for the role.
• Asking about education instead of showing preference for one. While a college degree may signal a more well-rounded candidate, self-taught coders are often quick self-starters with loads of discipline.
• Sharing specifics about the position’s responsibilities. Adding information about daily duties and a project scope can show candidates whether they’re up to snuff for the job. Do you need them to update old code? Start from scratch and build a newer website? Or are you looking to add key features you don’t currently have?
• Requesting portfolio samples. When candidates send over samples of their code or a link to their live work, you can see whether their skills jive with what you’re looking for immediately. Most developers will have this handy and be eager to share.

All these actions will save your hiring team time and weed out candidates who don’t fit the bill. You’ll have more qualified candidates and a better chance of finding the best person to get the job done.

Step 3: Think About Time Zones and Work Habits that Align with Your Team

We’ve discussed time zones quite a bit in this guide, and that’s because they have the potential to be a major roadblock to hiring and managing remote software developers if you’re not strategic.

For example, if you know your assigned tasks require fast turnarounds, or you frequently deal with unexpected issues that need to be fixed quickly, it’s probably not the best idea to hire developers in the furthest time zone from yours. If you can’t get a hold of them for a full business day or more, how will that affect your daily operations?

On the other hand, if your work assignments are planned out well in advance and don’t usually veer off to last-minute scrambles, a 12-hour time difference may actually be beneficial. Your team-in-the-future will get jobs done ahead of schedule and leave room for minor tweaks before HQ needs them to go live.

To complicate matters, just because a remote software developer lives in a certain time zone doesn’t mean they won’t be willing to work hours that overlap yours. You may find night owls who prefer to work when their kids or roommates are sleeping. In that case, their time zone won’t matter as long as they meet their deadlines.

See why you need to be strategic here?

So before you post your job ad, try to jot down a list of ideal time zones. However, keep an open mind if you have stellar candidates in other time zones too. Consider asking your top choices if they’d be willing to work in your time zone at least part of the time before ruling them out completely.

Step 4: Determine How You’ll Assess a Candidate’s Skills

After you review the basics of a candidate’s resume and portfolio, you should come up with a few ways to assess their skills and see whether they’re the right fit.

It’s a common practice to give your top choices a skills test to gauge how they’d complete a typical job in their potential role. Don’t give candidates actual work you need done; give them tasks similar to what they’d be working on in their potential role.

This works both ways: it shows a candidate what may be expected of them (and if they’re up for the job duties), while giving you a preview of how they work, follow directions, and manage their time.

If you decide to take this route (good choice!), consider giving your candidates a small payment for their time and effort. While you could technically give out unpaid tests, it’s not recommended.

Skilled developers don’t have the time to tackle an unpaid test, especially if they’ve proven to be worthy, capable candidates. Many may even be put off by the idea of working for free, which means you could lose out on the best candidates.

Paid tests also incentivize people to perform better. Busy developers may race through a free job just to get it over with and move on to paying work. If they sacrifice quality, you won’t get an accurate representation of what they actually bring to the table.

Step 5: Consider the Interpersonal Skills You’re Looking For

To hire software developers who stick around, think about how you’ll determine whether a candidate will fit in well with your team on a personal level.

Some candidates will prefer to work on their own and communicate with just one point of contact on the dev side. Others prefer collaborating or spearheading projects as team leaders. These are excellent talking points to mention in your job ad and bring up again during your interview process.

So on top of the right dev skills, think about whether you need:

• New team members to work closely with your current employees
• Independent employees and self-starters
• Employees who can collaborate with other departments, such as marketing or sales
• Team leaders to run development meetings
• Employees who feel comfortable providing status updates to management daily/weekly/monthly
• Figuring these out ahead of time will help you determine the type of interpersonal skills a person in this role should have.

• And expressing these early on means there won’t be any surprises after they’ve been hired. You’ll decrease the odds of accidentally hiring someone who dreads these other important aspects of the job and leaves for a role they’re more comfortable in.

Step 6: Create a Detailed, Ultra-Specific Job Ad

With all the essential groundwork covered, you’re ready to craft a job ad that helps you find the right person.

If you follow our remote job posting template, you’ll have the easiest and most efficient way to do this. It includes a step-by-step guide of all the best practices for creating a successful job ad (i.e., one that helps you attract and land the perfect candidate).

In short, you’ll want to abide by these tips:

1. Use a searchable job title. While it may be fun to create an ad looking for a "Wizard Developer," your ideal candidates probably won’t be searching those exact keywords. That’s why it’s best to use the specific job title and commonly searched keywords related to it. Save the personality for later in the job ad.

2. Use an emotive introduction. This is essentially your "hook" for catching the attention of potential candidates and getting them excited to learn more about your role. Include 3 to 5 key details sharing why this role is one worth going after.>

Spend some extra time here to give your intro some serious thought. It may mean all the difference between attracting the attention of highly skilled developers and having them bounce off your post as soon as they click on it.

3. Describe your ideal candidate. This is where you’ll put all the pieces from the first five steps together to form a super-specific job ad. The more specific you can get with your description, the more likely you’ll find someone who checks all those boxes (and more!).

If your hook is strong enough, they’ll be shouting, "I have all the skills they’re looking for, and this is exactly the kind of place I want to work," as they send over their application.

4. Share your company’s story and mission. It’s a good idea to discuss your company to find candidates who resonate with your mission and values. Again, you want candidates to feel drawn to your job ad and want to work with you. Including 3 to 4 short yet powerful sentences about your brand should be enough to get the job done.

5. Describe your remote situation. Remote candidates will be looking for details about how your company actually operates. After all, the term "remote" is vague and still includes a number of different virtual work styles and hybrid models.

So always include the answers to these questions in your job ad:

1. Are you remote-first or remote-friendly?
2. Are you looking for candidates in a specific region or time zone?
3. Why are you a remote company?
4. What are your logistical requirements?
   Ex. "We meet on a quarterly basis for in-person team meetings (all flights and accommodations covered) and have status meetings once a week."

Some of these tie back to the expectations mentioned in step five. If you want people to attend weekly meetings on Monday mornings, for example, make sure to mention this and be transparent. You want a candidate who is comfortable with what you’re looking for.

You should also include details about your company or department’s communication style. Is it asynchronous, or do you require employees to check in often?

6. Outline all the responsibilities of the role. Again, transparency is key. You should be upfront with exactly what you’re looking for to avoid issues later on. Because you nailed down these important pieces earlier in the process, this should be easy to tackle now.

7. Discuss your education requirements, qualifications, and ideal experience. These details should have also been uncovered in step two, making this step a breeze too.

8. Explain your company benefits. Don’t forget to include a section on what’s in it for the job candidates if they choose to work for your company. Employee benefits can sway someone towards taking your role over another, so it’s crucial to explain all the job perks, vacation policies, and other benefits that come with the position.

9. Give people an inside look at your hiring process so they know what to expect. Providing candidates with a timeline for your hiring process reduces stress and eliminates "just checking in" emails to your HR department. For example, explain that your top choices will be asked to complete one or a series of virtual interviews, then take a paid test to assess their skills before the company makes their final decision by [date].

10. Include something that shows candidates have read the entire job ad and can follow directions. At the very end of your job posting, try to include something along the lines of, "To prove you’re not a robot or highly sentient hologram, include the words Red Panda in your subject line or at the beginning of your cover letter."

This is a quick and easy way to weed out people who don’t follow instructions or were too busy to bother reading your entire job ad.

Yes, these 10 steps require a bit more legwork from your team. But taking the time to explain all these details on the front-end means you’ll have an easier, faster time sifting through the stack of applicants that aren’t the right fit later.

The next step can also speed up and laser-focus the process.

Step 7: Use Applicant Tracking Software To Narrow Down Your Selection

Before your job ad goes live, you should invest in applicant tracking software (ATS). These tools help you collect and sort through all the resumes you receive quickly and efficiently.

All you have to do is plug in the right keywords, titles, years of experience, etc. you require for the position, and the software will read the resumes looking for exact matches. Once it does, it will pull out a smaller stack of applicants to consider while routing those that don’t match to a separate folder.

ATS also lets you set knockout questions. These must be answered in order for an application to even be considered, which again helps whittle down a giant stack.

Visit this link to find the best applicant tracking systems for remote companies and learn more about these incredibly helpful tools.

Using ATS saves a ton of time and increases your chances of finding the right candidates, so it definitely pays to use one and have it set up long before the resumes start rolling in.

Step 8: Select a Small Handful of Applicants to Move Onto Your Next Step and Interview Them As Soon As Possible

You can begin the interview phase of your hiring process once you collect all the applications your ATS selects as the best. After reading their resume and checking out their portfolio, schedule a phone call or video call with each candidate ASAP.

Here’s your chance to learn more about your candidates on a personal level and put a face or voice to their impressive work. You can ask questions about their work process, hours they’re most productive, how they handle issues or conflict, communication preferences, etc.

You should also run through all the specifics of what will be expected in their potential role. Describe the tasks and systems new hires will be working on, who they’ll report to, and other daily duties. See how comfortable they feel in each area.

Try not to space your follow-up interviews too far apart, or you may risk losing a good candidate. Skilled developers don’t job hunt for long.

Once someone passes your first round of interviews, send them to the next step:

Step 9: Administer a Skills Test

If you believe you have a solid candidate on your hands, don’t waste too much time between interviews. It’s better to test and assess their skills early on before they’re tempted to take a role with another company.

Keep your project small, so candidates can quickly turn it around for assessment. The goal is to make this test a smaller version of what they’d actually perform day-to-day. Give candidates all the details you would give an employee, and they’ll have a better idea of how much/little direction they will receive for each project on the job.

When candidates hand in their test, grab your team to get multiple perspectives on their work. Have everyone involved weigh in on whether they have the skills and fit the job requires.

Step 10: Select the Right Candidates and Onboard Immediately

The results from your skills assessment should provide a few clear winners. So let them know you wish to hire them as soon as possible. This allows them to give their current employer adequate notice and begin the transition to your remote team sooner.

The onboarding experience at your company should make your new remote software developers feel comfortable and excited for what’s ahead. Companies with strong onboarding experiences have 82% better retention rates, so it’s worth spending the time and effort to get this right.

After all, you don’t want to waste all this time finding the right candidates only to lose them in the first few weeks.

An exceptional onboarding experience also sets the tone for what’s expected. It can reassure your new hires that they made the right choice. And, if they realize they didn’t, they can bow out early on before wasting any more of your time or theirs.

Because we believe onboarding is so important, we’ve included an entire section on it:

We wrote an entire guide on remote onboarding, so we’re only including a brief summary here. To provide the best onboarding experience to your new hires:

1. Adequately prepare for the onboarding of your remote software developers. You want your new hires to be confident in your company’s operations. So have your HR paperwork ready to be signed electronically even before your new hires start the process.

You should also add them to your communication, project management, file management, password management, and video chat tools beforehand. New hires should be up and ready to go before they show up on day one.

2. Prepare a "Welcome" package that details all the important need-to-know information and gets them excited to join your company.

1. Some things to include here are:
2. Your remote work policy
3. Intro to tools and software
4. Sign-ins, passwords, and security protocols
5. Training schedule and topics
6. Work expectations
7. List of employees and contact information
8. A contract for them to sign and date

Sending over a “Welcome to the team” email, including links to paperwork for them to fill out and a schedule of their first week, helps to get things started on the right foot.

You can also take a page out of Gitlab’s book, which is the largest remote-first software company.

They’ve created an entire developer onboarding handbook that features a general overview of what to expect along with links that lead to more information on a given topic.

Spending the time to create a helpful resource like this one will ensure a smooth onboarding experience and it makes for a great first impression.

And if you don’t have the time to go all out creating such a big resource like Gitlab did, you can use a simple but effective checklist style onboarding page like this startup does:

3. Set up face-to-face time. Here’s where you can share details about your company’s history, values, mission, and any other details a new hire should know.

You should also describe your communication styles and methods, working hours, meeting expectations, high-level business goals, and projects the team is currently working on.

4. Introduce your new employees to the team. Whether you send out a welcome email, introduce them in your company’s chat room via Slack, or share a video, just make sure to welcome your new remote software developers to the team.

This is a great way to create a meaningful relationship, show that you’re invested from day one, and make them feel valued right from the start.

While you want to onboard your new employees right away, you shouldn’t bombard them all at once with everything we just mentioned. Instead, roll out this process over one to three weeks. This will help them get adjusted rather than overwhelmed. It also prevents crucial intel from slipping through the cracks.

Consider creating onboarding milestones too. These can serve as a helpful checklist to get things done at their own pace.

Check out this link on creating an exceptional onboarding experience for more information and expert-level tips!

Now It’s Time to Roll Up Your Sleeves and Hire Software Developers for Your Remote Company The Right Way

If you’ve made it to this point in our guide (nice work!), you now have a successful game plan to attract and hire the right remote software developers for your company.

Simply follow the steps outlined in this guide, and you’ll be on your way to creating a remote team that outperforms, fits well with your team, and stays for the long haul.

We encourage you to visit our remote job board and get a feel for what makes us different. We’re pretty confident you’ll see all the ways we can help you source top remote developers in less time.

So go on and get to work! You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how many outstanding candidates head your way, thanks to the help of this guide. You got this!