A guide to hiring Offshore Frontend Developers

For any online business, it’s important to get your frontend (UI and UX) right. Otherwise, there will be lots of frustrating users leading to a large number of drop-offs and switching to your competitors.

This is why many companies are hiring offshore frontend developers to provide the best experience for their customers. Additionally, the huge competition in the current job market makes it so difficult to hire the right in-house candidate with the right budget.

In this article, you will learn everything that you need to know before hiring offshore frontend developers. Let’s get started.

What is an offshore frontend developer?

As you’re probably aware, frontend developers build the user-facing aspects of a website or web application. They require coding skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Frontend developers create different components of web interfaces through which people interact. Hence, everyone who wants to create a website or web application will need frontend developers.

But, there’s an increasing shortage of available frontend developers in regions such as Western Europe and US. The scarcity of talent has led to increasing costs in employing frontend developers. That’s why companies have started to look offshore.

Offshore frontend developers are located offshore – in another country or on another continent –  and fill open roles in frontend development.

The benefits of hiring frontend offshore developers

To win the war for talent, software companies are expanding their available talent pool by hiring offshore developers. Here are the main benefits of hiring frontend developers from outside.

1. More talent: With offshore hiring, companies open doors to a broader and deeper talent pool of frontend developers. They can now hire individuals from all around the world. 

2. Cost-cutting: Offshore hiring also removes the overheads associated with accommodating office space. And, pay will be lower for frontend developers compared to many western countries. 

3. Convenience: The presence of offshore software development companies, or rather partners like Proshore, makes recruitment easy. Sourcing, hiring, onboarding, and training are taken care of for you.  

4. Increased productivity: Hiring people from different time zones can give you a competitive advantage. They can provide customers with 24/7 support and enable around-the-clock frontend development for quicker completion of tasks and faster time-to-market.

5. Expertise: With a wider pool of talent, you can get frontend developers with specific/niche skills or expertise that may not be readily available in a single location. 

6. Flexibility: Markets change. Customers change. And your business needs change as well. Using offshore frontend developers gives you the ability to pivot and scale fast.

A checklist for hiring offshore frontend developers

Hiring an offshore frontend developer would be first based upon your requirements.

However, if you’re hiring offshore frontend developers for the first time, or want to ensure you’re getting the right people, here’s a handy checklist of essential skills and experience to get you started: 

• Proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Knowledge of frontend development frameworks.
• Familiarity with key UI/UX principles and practices.
• Understanding of SEO best practices.
• Previous experience in creating frontend applications.
• The ability to build responsive web pages.
• Experience in graphic design applications.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills.
• A growth mindset, taking on feedback from teammates and clients.

The cost of hiring frontend developers

Due to the talent shortage in the West, top tech talent is in high demand and can be expensive to hire and retain, particularly for startups. For example, in the United States, the annual cost for a full-time in-house frontend developer was $70,000 in 2022.

However, the cost of hiring frontend developers in other regions like Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be much lower. And it will be cost-effective to look for talent in countries in these regions. 

The following table compares the typical hourly rates for outsourced frontend developers in different regions:

It’s worth noting that the cost of hiring a frontend developer also depends on their levels of experience and skills. On average, Junior Frontend Developers cost around a third less than Full Stack Developers.

Recommended Reading: Offshore Software Development Rates

The challenges of hiring offshore frontend developers

If you’re unprepared, hiring offshore frontend developers can be a challenge, which carries its own risks. However, choosing a reputable offshore development company can alleviate concerns and help you avoid common pitfalls.

Many entrepreneurs and software company founders feel reluctant to hand over responsibility for frontend development to developers located in another part of the world. Trust is an important factor in their decision-making. 

Business leaders can also have concerns about employee reliability and retention, which directly impact production speed and timelines. Ensuring a cultural fit in terms of company values, expectations, and code quality are other perceived challenges.

Proshore is an offshore software development company with highly skilled employees located in both Nepal and Netherlands and Nepal. We hand-pick the right talent for your needs – whether that’s frontend developers or any other role. How? 

Our talent pool extends to over 1500 trained professionals. Plus, we handle everything to do with hiring, including onboarding and training. The bottom line is that we build offshore development teams that you can trust for the long term.

Frontend developers: Offshore vs. Onshore

With fierce competition for the best frontend developers from both small and large companies, acquiring the best talent in your home city or country can be difficult.  

Many of the best developers are ‘passive candidates’ – already happily employed and not actively seeking a new role. Even if you can attract these talents, retaining them long-term can become a further challenge. 

Ultimately, you are left with two options when hiring frontend developers: hiring offshore or onshore developers. Both options have their pros and cons, and it’s important to compare them before making a decision;

Onshore hiring

Offshore hiring

Still not sure what’s right for you? We can help you make an informed decision regarding offshore versus onshore software development. 

Tools used by frontend developers

As web technology evolves, so do the tools used by frontend developers Here’s a summary of the basic tools used by frontend developers:

1. Code editors are where frontend developers write and edit code.
2. Web development tools enable developers to test and debug their code.
3. JavaScript libraries provide pre-written code snippets to speed up development. 
4. Version control systems help developers track and manage frontend code.
5. Social development environments enable developers to showcase snippets of code.
6. Web development frameworks are sets of resources and tools developers use.
7. A CSS preprocessor enables developers to generate CSS from its own syntax.

Watch this video to learn about 7 commonly used tools frontend developers use:

Offshore development teams from Proshore

If you’re searching for frontend developers, Proshore provides cost-effective, ready-to-code development teams as a service. Why consider hiring offshore frontend developers from Proshore? Here are three reasons:

1. Hand-pick the frontend talent you can use as your in-house team.
2. Our team focuses more on cultural fit and communication.
3. We handle everything when hiring developers as per need.

Looking for frontend developers? Find them offshore with Proshore.