The overall shift from desctop applications to web is fueling the demand for qualified front-end specialists. Looking at the Google trends stats, we notice a steady rise in global “front-end developers” searches during the last decade. At the same time, the global IT market lacks a skilled workforce to meet staffing requests. As of September 2022, LinkedIn lists around 23K unfilled front-end positions in the US and UK.
The heated competition for tech experts makes businesses look for alternative locations to hire front-end developers. Many of them choose IT outsourcing as a way to bridge the gap between their tech needs and global front-end expertise. But what are the most effective ways to search for and retain talent? And how to select the front-end development company that has enough engineering capabilities for your project? In our article, we will guide you through three key phases of successful front-end services outsourcing.
1. Choose the location to outsource front-end development services
Your first step is to select the destination with a large talent pool of front-end specialists. In terms of outsourcing software development, Europe and Asia are among the most popular staffing locations due to high talent accessibility and proven tech competency.
Where to look for front-end developers: Europe
Europe has earned an excellent outsourcing reputation for top-notch quality of engineering services, favorable business environment, and large tech talent pools. According to LinkedIn, in 2022 the total number of front-end specialists in Eastern Europe has reached 82K experts. Ukraine takes the lead in the region with around 26,000 ICT specialists engaged in front-end development services. The country is followed by Poland and Romania, which are home to 22,000 and 10,000 web developers, respectively.
Front-end development companies in Europe
Clutch lists around 10K European tech enterprises that provide front-end services to clients from distant locations. Most of these vendors are small and medium companies, staffing from 10 to 250 specialists. Among the most popular industries that seek assistance with front-end development services are e-commerce, fintech, healthcare, and retail.
Where to hire front-end developers: Asia
Asia is another remarkable spot on the outsourcing map. The region’s experts are well-known for their substantial tech expertise across many domains and solid educational backgrounds. However, Asian countries are behind Europe in the international skill evaluation rankings such as TopCoder or SkillValue. The total talent pool of India, China, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia comprises 258K qualified engineers specializing in front-end. The majority of them come from India—the country is home to 211,000 front-end developers.
Front-end development services providers in Asia
According to Clutch, there are approximately 8,000 engineering vendors in Asia that have web development on their service list. As for the demand for front-end development services, Asian tech companies most often cooperate with providers from e-commerce, education, and healthcare domains.
2. Select a reliable front-end development company
Choosing a credible engineering enterprise that will provide you with excellent front-end development services might become a challenging task. For your convenience, we listed the main checkpoints for your initial research of tech companies and their comparison. So, here are the key criteria to consider:
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Decide on the vendor’s size
When deciding between several tech vendors, prioritize mid-size and large front-end development companies with 250+ tech specialists on board. Such enterprises usually have optimized processes and access to a larger number of skilled workforce. As a result, you will be able to staff the required specialists and launch your project more quickly. One more aspect in favor of the larger vendors is their attention to quality control and implementation of the best engineering practices in the industry.
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Look for vast industry expertise
Check out whether your potential partner has a history of outsourcing front-end services to clients from various industries. A portfolio of successfully delivered projects in the same or related domain is a huge plus. For instance, a track record of successful cooperations with automotive enterprises will come in handy if you need to implement a mapping solution, and vice versa.
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Ask about compliance with security standards and regulations
If we speak about the vendor’s reliability, information security is what matters the most. Your front-end development company should take responsibility for protecting your sensitive data and preventing security breaches. Therefore, when you outsource front-end development services, it is essential that your potential tech partner adheres to the recognized security standards and regulations. Some of them are ISO 27001:2013, ISO 9001:2015, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. Also, look through the company’s Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan—the guide should mention all the possible threats, from natural disasters to cyber-attacks.
More on the topic: How to ensure secure software development in the time of remote
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Search for portfolio of successfully delivered front-end projects
Before shaking hands, explore the track records of the selected front-end development companies on their websites. Look through their success stories to find information about the technologies they used in similar cases. For instance, the utilities provider might look up the company’s energy-related projects to find out about the developers’ approaches and delivered business value. Let’s look at the following example: as a part of cooperation with the UK’s top energy supplier, N-iX had to redesign the legacy flow and add a payment functionality to it. The dedicated team implemented the front-end part of the solution and refactored the back-end, using Java, React, React.js, Angular, PostgreSQL, and other technologies. As a result, the N-iX team modernized the client’s website by boosting the user experience.
3. Reach for front-end developers with strong tech expertise
Technical competency is of utmost importance if we speak about staffing programmers for your project. Once you decide to hire front-end developers, you might face challenges selecting experts among a myriad of qualified specialists. Here are the essential characteristics to look for in your potential front-end team members.
- Solid command of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript programming languages and SCSS preprocessors (SASS and LESS);
- Practical experience with JavaScript libraries, including jQuery and Bootstrap;
- Deep knowledge of JavaScript frameworks, in particular, React, Foundation, Angular, Ember.js, Vue.js, and more;
- Version control systems proficiency (Git);
- Command of front-end testing tools such as Rainforest QA and Selenium;
- Hands-on experience with the most popular databases for web applications, namely, MySQL and MongoDB.
Why choose N-iX as your front-end services provider?
- N-iX is a reliable European engineering vendor with over 21 years of experience in delivering front-end development services for manufacturing, fintech, telecom, e-commerce, and energy domains;
- Our tech team consists of 2,200+ qualified experts skilled in Big Data, Data Analytics, DevOps, Embedded software development, Business Intelligence, UI/UX design, and more services;
- The vendor’s list of long-term partnerships includes top enterprises such as Lebara, Fluke, Ringier, Gogo, AVL, Currencycloud, as well as the Fortune 500 companies;
- N-iX adheres to the security standards and regulations, such as ISO 27001:2013, PCI DSS, ISO 9001:2015, GDPR, and HIPAA;
- The tech enterprise is well-recognized in the industry: N-iX appeared on the IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 list six years in a row, was mentioned among the CRN’s Top 500 Solution Providers, was named a Rising Star in Data Engineering by ISG, and more.
