How to Find a Nearshore Development Team: Preparing for Your First Call with a Potential Partner

At this point in your search for a nearshore development company, you've contacted your shortlist of potential partners and scheduled a call with them to hash out some of the details and help you make a final decision. This call is an opportunity to further vet your options and get a better feel for the way they work. We recommend coming prepared with questions so you can make sure you cover important topics. Depending on the type of service you're looking for, the questions you may need ask will vary, so we've included our recommendations for different scenarios.

Staff Augmentation

Maybe you're simply looking for more developers to join your team to help build and grow your product. In that case, you'll want to make sure you ask about the developers' experience in the technologies you work with and request a copy of their resumes. It's a great idea to hold technical interviews with the individual developers to get a real sense of their skill level.

Some other questions you may want to ask include:

• What are the developers' hourly rates?
• What is their level of English?
• How will daily communication be handled?
• Will someone on the software partner's end be supervising the developers? And will I need to pay for this management, or is it a complimentary service?
• What is the turnover rate of developers at your company?
• If a developer working on our product decides to leave your company during the duration of the project, how will this situation be handled?
• How quickly can I increase the capacity of developers working on my project?
• What is your recruitment process like? How do you evaluate a developer's skill level?
• If a developer's level of expertise with one of the technologies we work with is less than ideal, will they receive the appropriate training to be brought up to speed, and how will that work?

Product Outsourcing

If you're looking for a team to develop a new product, you may have additional needs and concerns. You will of course want to know the company's quote for the work you're outsourcing , as well as an estimation of how long the work will take. But there are other factors you want to be sure you're well-informed about. Here are some questions we recommend getting answers for:

• What techniques do you use to estimate how long the work will take?
• What is the margin of error of your estimation?
• How do you ensure product quality?
• What is your approach to software development? What frameworks or methodologies do you use?
• How do you measure the team's productivity?
• How will I be kept informed of progress?
• How can I keep track of what areas of development are taking up more time and resources?
• What support and maintenance services do you offer?

Going into the call, you need to have a clear idea of what information you need from your potential software partner in order to make a final decision. Make sure you communicate your priorities clearly so that the software company can also assess whether they're a good fit for you. Keep in mind that it's a mutual selection process, and the nearshore agency will likely have questions for you. We hope our guide has helped you feel ready for calls with service vendors so you can acquire the knowledge you need to make the best choice for you. Check out this blog post if you're interested in how we take on a new project at sophilabs.