How to Find and Hire Developers in LATAM

Take your first steps towards navigating LATAM’s talent hub; our GPS-like guide will support you in hiring and onboarding that hard-to-find developer in Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and any other country in Latin America. Enjoy!

Latin American talent is shaping economies, opening up new gateways for remote work and an optimistic view into the future of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Each country in LATAM offers uniqueness.

Whether it is hidden talent or valuable time zones, here's an overview of the advantages companies add to their teams when hiring talent from countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.

Almost 44% of LATAM developers work remotely for nearshore companies.

The region is currently at the top of talent growth rate, especially considering that STEM graduates in Latin America are narrowing the gap with the US.

LATAM developers getting hired by nearshore companies inspires other developers to improve their coding and soft skills, making LATAM's talent hub stronger, one job at a time.

Ecuador

Located in northwest Latin America, Ecuador is known for the geographical diversity of its regions. The demand for software developers has increased and simultaneously pushed the evolution of new tech skills. Ecuador sat #56 on Coursera’s global skills index of 2020

Awana's Placements from Ecuador

In 2022, we placed 11 brilliant developers at the following positions:

• Junior Back-End Developer (Node, Python, React)
• Mid Front-End Developer (React)
• Mid DevOps
• Mid Back-end Developer (NodeJS)
• Mid Full-Stack Developer (Node, React)
• Senior Support Engineer
• Senior Full-Stack Developer
• Senior Back-End Developer (Python)
• Senior UI/UX Designer

We've had great success hiring latam devs for global companies.

Colombia

Located northwest of Latin America, Colombia is one of the most promising countries in the region. Bogota has a well-established software community, and its future is looking bright. Colombia’s government is actively offering its citizen English programs in search of increasing employment rates. As of 2023, there are about 62,000 developers actively living in Colombia. Colombia currently sits #45 on Hackerranks worldwide developer ranking. The country also ranked high in cybersecurity coding skills.

Awana's Placements from Colombia

In 2022, a Fortune-500 streaming platform company shortlisted 2 Back-End Java developers from our talent network.

We've placed the following roles:

• IT AWS Consultant
• Senior Back-end Developer (Ruby on Rails)
• Mobile Developer

Mexico

Located in Central America, Mexico is well-active in the software development market leading the region's tech activities. Guadalajara alone has more than 600 technology-focused companies. Coursera’s global skills report showcased there is an increase of 42% added to their skill growth, ranking it as one of the fastest growing tech hub of the region. As of 2023, about 300,000 active developers are living in Mexico. Mexico currently ranks #36 on Hackerranks worldwide developer ranking.

Awana's Placements from Mexico

In 2022, we closed 8 positions with Mexican talent through in-demand recruiting

• Mid Executive Assistant
• Mid SRE
• Senior Full-Stack Developer (Python, React)
• Senior Back-End Developer (Ruby on Rails)
• Senior Front-End Developer (React)
• Senior Visual Designer
• Senior Front-End Engineer
• Senior UX Designer

Brazil

The largest country in the continent occupies most of the eastern part of Latin America and offers a unique culture. The country's technology skills proficiencies grew 48% during 2022, which just shows its bright future in tech. As of 2023, there are about 500,000 active developers in Brazil. Brazil is no stranger to companies looking for tech talent; its robust talent pool and tech-based companies are already well-known worldwide. Brazil currently ranks #38 on Hackerranks worldwide developer ranking.

Awana's Placements from Brazil

We’ve placed 20 amazing Brazilian developers in 2022 alone:

• Junior Front-End Developer (React)
• Junior Advanced Full-Stack Developer (React, Node)
• Junior Full-Stack Developer (.NET, Angular, Vue)
• Mid Front-End Developer (React)
• Mid Back-End Developer (Python)
• Mid Full-Stack Engineer
• Senior Back-End Developer (Elixir, .NET)
• Senior Front-End Developer (React)
• Senior Mobile Developer (iOS, Flutter)
• Senior Software Architect
• Senior Back-End Developer (Node)
• Application Manager (PM & Customer Support)
• Engineering Full-Stack Manager (PHP, React)

Chile

Due to its innovation in the tech sector, Chile is sometimes referred to as Chilecon Valley. The country ranked 6th as one of the countries with competitive technology skills, scoring high in statistical & computer programming, data analysis, and mobile development.

According to Coursera, Chileans are known worldwide for

• Statistical programming (98%)
• Computer programming (97%)
• Data analysis (96%)
• Mobile development (78%)

Awana's Placements from Chile

In 2022, Awana placed 3 Chileans in the following positions:

• Data Modeling Engineer
• Cloud Product Owner
• JR Advanced Marketing Operations
  

How to start looking?

A Community Approach

Despite the common practice among US developers to search for job openings on job posting sites, many Latin Americans are unaware of or do not utilize platforms like Indeed, Glassdoor, etc.

Instead, tech talent in LATAM is more inclined towards using LinkedIn to explore opportunities for remote positions. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can leverage it to showcase your job openings and connect with potential candidates in the region.

LATAM has multiple communities of freelance developers online and top-notch developers where they share valuable technical knowledge and limited job openings. A much more valuable approach is to contact key figures in these communities in order to narrow your options.

Introducing yourself to these communities will give you access to a more select group of programmers. This will improve your chances of hiring remote workers by expanding your network reach.

Key Elements in Attracting and Retaining Talent

Writing a Job Description

A good job description is an essential component to find or attract top-notch developers. Make sure you encompass relevant information when writing it.

It’s important to be specific. These are some of the things you need to include in order to improve your chances of finding the right candidate:

• Give a detailed description of your company
• Describe responsibilities, must-haves and nice-to-haves
• Detail experience (years and seniority level) needed to apply
• Describe your commitment to the candidate and/or offerings
• Don’t forget to include salary ranges. Most senior candidates will appreciate companies that disclose information that could help them in their decision-making when switching jobs. 

If you're unsure on how much to pay a developer in Latin America, here's a guide to understand tech talent salaries.

Interviewing talent

Your job description did great online, now it’s time to get to know your candidates personally in order to hire a developer that will best suit your company.

When interviewing the talent make sure you don’t immediately make it about the technical aspects of the job.

Try to get to know what the candidate is like by asking behavioral questions. This will give you insights into the type of workflow the candidate has been a part of during his career as a developer.

Once you have broken the ice you may talk about the technical aspects of the position you are looking to fill. If you want to test the candidate we recommend using platforms such as Pluralsight, Devskiller or Testgorilla.

Latin American developers have great English skills, however due to possible nervousness you can try talking in a moderate pace during the interview.

Related: Not sure how to filter candidates? Take a look into How we vet technical talent.

Hiring talent

Once you are confident that the candidate meets all your requirements it’s time for you to officially seal the deal.

Companies have two options to hire a developer: As a contractor or as an employee. One has a bit more paperwork than the other. Regardless of the figure, you need to create a legally binding contract detailing the terms of your working arrangement in order to hire developers in Latin America.

A contract will detail working hours, pay, its timeframe and the perks you will provide for your new contractor. Depending on where the developer is from, perks can be negotiated.

An IP Contract will require more legally binding steps in order to arrange compensation deposits since taxing laws in some Latin American countries require the company to be registered in the country’s database.

Make sure to have legal aid during this part of the hiring process and don’t forget to be specific when writing your contract. Having a translated copy of the contract in Spanish is a very effective method to assure that the contractor will understand his duties and perks.

Related: Contractor or Employee: What to know before deciding

Onboarding talent

LATAM's talent hub candidates hold committed professionals looking for a long-term job. Always make sure miscommunication stays out of the picture. Do your best to make the developer trust the opportunity you've given them by being as transparent as possible.

CONTRACTS: Contracts should represent a commitment for employees and employers when closing a job opportunity. Make sure to specify working hours, pay, the contract's timeframe, and the perks you will provide the developer.

PERKS: In some cases, you are obliged to comply with certain perks, but employers negotiate them during the hiring process. These may include professional development, coworking space, team dinners, and working tools such as laptops or home internet connections.

COMPLIANCE: Seek legal aid to cover any details expected by local government authorities. Each country has their own legal framework. Our experience has shown us that having a version of your contract in Spanish guarantees clarity between parties.

Related: Dealing with payments when building remote teams 

Training

It's important to be patient and empathetic when introducing developers to your company's policies and workflow. Try going slowly and providing all the information your new developer needs to learn in order to adapt your business.

1. BRAND DATA. Start by providing information about the company's products and services.
2. RESPONSIBILITY. Avoid overwhelming the new team member with multiple tasks, instead increase them periodically.
3. OPENNESS. Encourage curiosity; there is no such thing as wrong questions. Make sure to answer any doubts they may have.
4. CULTURE. Share your organizational values with your candidates, making sure they understand what your company is all about.
5. VISION. Make sure they know what goals stand before the company’s team and what the end-goal of each project is.
6. COMMUNICATION. Include them in daily work conversations in chat groups so they can understand how communication between employees is.
7. SET EXPECTATIONS. Providing an in-depth understanding of what your candidate work to excite them and make completing their work much more satisfying.

If this is your first time assembling a team or working with Latin American talent, here's an outline on how to effectively manage remote teams.

Feedback

When giving feedback, review what method of communication will work best for the situation. Consider talking directly to the developer via video. When giving feedback, consider highlighting under a clear and simple format:

1. GREETINGS. Make sure to start by acknowledging the developer by saying hello in a formal but friendly manner.
2. WHAT THE DEVELOPER DID RIGHT. Discuss the success of the work done right to start positively.
3. WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE. Highlight what needs work or a new direction by giving a detailed description of what was not completed.
4. MANAGE WORK. Discuss deadlines and goals for completion.
5. END WITH APPRECIATION. Be thankful and supportive by thanking the developer for his job. Make sure to add that you will be available if the developer needs further help or direction.
   
   

Hire Developers in LATAM with Awana

Awana does all the heavy lifting for you, finding pre-vetted and ready-to-hire software talent from LATAM. Open communication with your company is one of the things that make our process a time-efficient way to find the talent you need.

Useful resources

• Learn about misclassification before hiring remotely
• When to hire a full-time developer