How to Build Your own Nearshore Development Team in Ukraine

Even before remote work ascended to new heights, nearshoring has been a road often traveled by many organizations located in Western Europe.

Given the many benefits, ranging from multiple overlapping hours to an abundance of specialists with varied skills and backgrounds, Ukraine is the promised land for skilled nearshore software developers. As a company that specializes in nearshoring, we can say undoubtedly that Ukraine, as a rich tapestry of technology talent, lives up to the expectations when it comes to variety of talent and availability.

You probably wound up here in the hope of finding the right partner to build your nearshore development team. If so, you came to the right place, as in this guide, we will walk you through the steps of hiring nearshore developers in Ukraine.

A nearshore development model allows companies to delegate software development to neighboring countries. As opposed to outsourcing, a nearshore development team is built from the ground up and tailored specifically to the client’s project. Nearshore developers are solely dedicated to the client’s project, working under the client’s leadership.

Step 1. Outline the scope of work

The nearshoring approach starts with outlining your goals and drafting your Project Scope, a document where you dissect your project into deliverables and assign a time-frame for each deliverable. The document will further be used by your nearshore development team as a guide to what needs to be done and when, allowing your nearshore developers to move at the right pace to meet your goals.

One more important point to include in your Project Scope is the budget. Knowing the range of developer salaries you count on, can help your nearshoring partner source the right candidates in terms of their salary expectations.

In addition, each step should include the key measures for success so you can see if your nearshore development team is moving in the right direction.

Step 2. Define the technology stack

Technology stack is a set of technologies that will be used to execute your project. Knowing what technologies need to be applied for your project gives your nearshoring vendor an understanding of the type of talent you need to add to your team. Thus, based on your technology stack, your nearshoring partner will form your nearshore development team and provide the skills you may lack access to locally.

We at nCube specialize in sourcing nearshore software developers, including specialists with common backgrounds (JavaScript, PHP, Python) as well as other type of specialists capable of handling a project on a turn-key model, such as project/product manager, DevOps, Quality Assurance engineers, and UX/UI designers. No matter the skills you require, we will build the right kind of nearshore development team, meeting both your technology stack requirements and candidate preferences.

Step 3. The vendor screens candidates

At this step, you can put your feet up and relax as your vendor’s HR team is sourcing candidates from the country’s pool of local talent. The process includes identifying strong candidates that match your candidate profile and putting them through a series of tests, including technical interviews and English comprehension. Only the candidates who’ve made the cut will be recommended for your further review.

Vendors tend to maintain a personal approach to team formation, which means that the client is always in charge of whom to add to their nearshore development team. With this in mind, you’ll interview our pre-selected candidates yourself because most vendors (nCube included) want you to know who you’re going to work with. Your nearshoring partner will also help you coordinate interviews and address any challenges that may appear down the road.

After you approve a candidate, we’ll send them a job offer with your agreed start date. That’s all! Your nearshore developer is on board.

Going further, in the nearshoring model, you’ll have direct access to every developer on the team, managing the development process as you see fit. It will be your own team in every sense of the word.

Step 4. Launch your nearshore development team

The screening stage is over and all team members are defined. It’s time to finalize the paperwork and sign a Service Level Agreement that should include IP rights protection clauses. After signing all papers, your team members will start on their agreed start dates, and your nearshore squad will be officially launched.

The process of team launch and integration will be coordinated by an account manager on our side who will make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Your nearshore development team with nCube

Now that we’ve gone over the main steps of sourcing nearshore software developers, let us give you an idea of how your nearshore squad will work. Below is a run down of our nearshore development model’s features:

We provide you with access to each team member, so you can communicate with them directly. This way, your nearshore developers will work under your management, which allows to you to have full control over the development process;
Your nearshore software developers will be solely allocated to your project, working for you full time, 5 days/40 hours per week. Given that nearshoring assumes only a small time difference (1-3 hours), it’ll feel as if your nearshore team is always within a reach;
The team will be fully integrated into your workflow and engineering processes, becoming a valuable asset to your organization;
While you retain engineering process control, we take care of your employee retention. Our employee benefit package includes all the perks of a modern IT company, from health insurance and HR support to a cozy downtown office with modern IT infrastructure and regular team building events. All of this creates a comfortable environment for your nearshore software developers, which lends itself to a high retention rate.

Our goal is to let you work with a sustainable nearshore development team for as long as you need. We are sure that a nearshore team like this will help you meet your goals and add value to your company in the long run.

If you’re interested to hear more about sourcing nearshore software developers in Ukraine, let’s connect.

MARYNA DEMCHENKO