Your Own Offshore DevOps

• Coordination & integration issues

When DevOps developers are dispersed over a variety of offshoring locations, project coordination and goal alignment can be challenging—especially in Agile environments. 

Some companies prefer working with outsourcing and oustaffing teams, but these approaches come with their own hurdles. Team integration challenges, communication via a middleman, and limited project supervision are just a few issues that can complicate the development process and slow down delivery and progress.

Offshore DeVops development works best when you have your own team of engineers that you can manage directly, ensuring seamless communication, alignment on project changes, and faster troubleshooting. This makes the entire engineering process smoother and more efficient.

• Product quality concerns

Opting for low-cost offshoring destinations can be a way to significantly cut expenses. However, choosing the cheapest option might leave you with a buggy software product that demands costly fixes or even a complete rebuild. 

To avoid this, hire offshore DevOps talent in locations that balance affordability with top-tier tech expertise. In LATAM, your best bets could be Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay, while in Eastern Europe—Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. All of these offshoring destinations are in the top 30 globally for technology and data science skills (according to Coursera) and offer 2-3 times lower developer salaries than in the US.

• Cybersecurity matters

Sharing your sensitive data with external DevOps developers and third-party vendors is, in general, not the most excellent idea for tech companies whose main asset is their software product. Measures like NDAs or IP rights clauses in contracts can help, but they don’t offer 100% protection. Not to mention possible cyberattacks which pose a significant threat, often targeting companies with weak cybersecurity.

The risk of possible data leakage is much lower when keeping your sensitive data in-house. By setting up your own offshore DevOps team, you maintain complete control over your data, ensuring it’s handled exclusively by your trusted developers. It’s a more thoughtful, safer approach to protecting your company’s most valuable asset.

• Language barrier

Cooperation with offshore DevOps developers is not devoid of cultural dissimilarities, especially if such talents come from regions like Asia, where business practices may differ significantly. Misaligned business ethics could lead to misunderstandings and disrupt productivity.

Clear communication is a key to successful product development. But some offshoring locations may fall short in high English command. According to the EF English Proficiency Index, countries like China, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan rank low, which may result in communication challenges, possibly requiring extra costs for translation tools.

Still, it doesn’t mean that all offshoring locations are like this. Tech markets such as Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, and Argentina rank among the top 30 in the English Proficiency Index, ensuring smooth and effective collaboration. 

• Time zone difference 

If having instant communication with DevOps engineers is your top priority, offshoring to distant tech hubs might not be the best fit. For instance, San Francisco has a 13.5-hour difference with a popular offshoring destination, Delhi, 15 hours with Jakarta, and a whopping 16 hours with Beijing. 

While some companies manage to reap the benefit of round-the-clock collaboration, coordinating project changes across such time zones can be time-consuming and challenging.

However, building a loyal DevOps team changes the game. You can easily count on their commitment to walking the extra mile when working on your software products. With trust, time zone challenges become far less daunting. Besides, you can always set up a DevOps team in geographically closer locations like Mexico or Colombia that have just 2-3 hour differences with San Francisco.

1. Establish communication channels

You can use tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom for real-time communication. For project management, you can rely on Jira, Trello, Monday.com, or Kanban boards. Platforms like Notion or Google Workspace help streamline document workflows and updates.

2. Hold regular meetings

Schedule daily calls for quick updates on DevOps lifecycle orchestration, development progress, and possible blockers, and weekly meetings to review workflows and identify areas for improvement. In this way, you’ll be able to stay on the same page with your offshore team and quickly react to any challenges and obstacles.

Another tip is to establish overlapping working hours for real-time collaboration. You can consider splitting teams into shifts to cover critical hours.

3. Define roles & responsibilities

When building a DevOps team, you need to have a clear idea of the team composition. For instance, a typical team consists of DevOps Engineers, Developers, Operations Experts, QA Engineers, and Security Specialists. Assign responsibilities and tasks to each team member and adopt RACI metrics to track the workflow. You can also profit from Prometheus or Datadog, which are helpful for task monitoring.

4. Monitor performance 

The most effective way to track performance is via KPIs. They can be related to code deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR).

You can also track the overall DevOps team and individual performance to boost the expertise of your developers and the overall teamwork. Some of the ways to foster collaboration and maintain a high-performing team are using GitHub or GitLab for smooth teamwork, rewarding team achievements to keep morale high, and actively engaging in the informal life of the company to build a more cohesive team.

5. Focus on security and compliance

Maintaining robust security is pivotal in cooperation with the offshore DevOps teams. Thus, it’s essential to implement strict access controls, encryption, multi-factor authentication, and regular security audits. You can also train your developers on data security best practices.

…then your ideal choice is building a software R&D center. Designed by Alcor, a leading tech R&D accelerator, this turnkey solution is perfect for tech product companies expanding their development teams offshore and nearshore. An R&D center eliminates common risks of traditional outsourcing models like data breaching, hefty buy-out fees, and loss of control over development. 

How does it work? It all starts with you sharing with us your staffing needs. That’s where our full-cycle tech recruitment service comes into play. With a team of 40 experienced tech recruiters, we handle everything from EVP creation and applicant sourcing to prescreening, job interviews, and offer preparation. Here is how we ensure perfect fits:

• 2-6 weeks to close a tech vacancy
• 8 CVs to get to 1 accepted offer
• 80% of candidates are approved by clients
• 98.6% of our hires pass probation 
• 2.5 years—the average tenure of our hires

When the development team is assembled, Alcor takes care of Employer of Record operations, managing everything from developer onboarding/offboarding and legal navigation to monthly payroll and benefits management. And the cherry on top? Alcor’s got you covered with legal entities in key LATAM and EE locations—no need to set up your own!

Looking for operational support? We’re glad to help you with that! Alcor’s team can lease a perfect office for your DevOps engineers, buy necessary equipment, set up IT infrastructure, and carry out an employer branding campaign. Our account managers are here to help you every step of the way to make your tech expansion a hassle-free experience.