Nearshore vs offshore developers: what changes in your workday

Time zones decide how you work

Latin America sits close to the US clock. Mexico and Central America line up with US Central time, give or take an hour depending on the season, and Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay are within a couple of hours of the US east coast. A developer in Mexico City or Buenos Aires is at their desk while your team is at theirs. Teams in South and Southeast Asia are roughly nine to thirteen hours away from the east coast, so the overlap with your day is a sliver of early morning or late evening.

What you notice day to day

With a nearshore developer, stand-ups happen live, code reviews get answered while the context is still fresh, and a production issue at 2pm gets a response at 2pm. With a twelve-hour gap, a question asked at the end of your day gets answered after you have gone to sleep, and a small misunderstanding can cost a full day. Over a sprint those days add up, and they tend to land on the work that needs the biggest share of back and forth, like new features and tricky bugs.

Engineering leaders who have made the switch describe the difference in terms of how the developers behave on the team. Jordan Krey, VP of Engineering at SingleOps, put it this way after hiring in Mexico and Brazil:

“…engaged in our company our culture, asking questions and giving their opinions. That’s when good work is done.” Jordan Krey, VP of Engineering at SingleOps, on the engineers he hired through Plugg

Asking questions and giving opinions only works when people can talk in real time. That is the part a shared working day protects.

Culture and communication

Working norms matter as much as hours. Regular overlap with a US team makes it easier to pick up how your company talks about priorities, gives feedback and ships. Plugg also screens candidates for advanced-level English communication, so that gets checked before you interview anyone.

The admin difference

A nearshore developer works from their home country, so there is no visa or sponsorship to sort out. Plugg handles payroll, tax compliance and hardware, which is the part that usually slows teams down when they try to hire across borders on their own.

When offshore still makes sense

Offshore can work well for a clearly specified project that does not need much back and forth, for work that is meant to run overnight, or when a large team arrives with its own managers. If your engineers need to plan with product, pair with each other and respond to customers on the same day, the overlap is worth more than a lower rate. Plugg has published detailed comparisons of LATAM versus India and LATAM versus Southeast Asia if you want to go deeper on either region.

A simple way to decide

Ask how many hours a week your new developer will spend working live with someone on your team. If the answer is more than a few, nearshore usually pays for itself in saved days. If the work is closer to a handoff than a collaboration, the time zone matters less and cost can lead.

Quick answers

Is nearshore more expensive than offshore?

It depends on the role and the region, so compare quotes for your exact role. Rates are only part of the picture, because lost days to handoffs and the management time spent bridging a long time zone gap are costs too. Plugg reports that clients save 40% to 70% compared with hiring locally in the US.

Which Latin American countries count as nearshore for US companies?

Plugg places developers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Bolivia and El Salvador.

Do nearshore developers need a US visa?

No. They work from their home country, so there is no visa or sponsorship to arrange. Plugg handles payroll, tax compliance and hardware.