5 Reasons to Hire Developers from Turkey for Your Remote Team

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work. Shifting to a remote working structure has presented challenges for many companies, but it also presents new opportunities – particularly in the tech industry. 
Facebook is allowing some of its employees to work remotely full time, Spotify is adopting a “work from anywhere” policy, and Google is shifting to a hybrid schedule with employees working remotely two days a week. Fintech startup Revolut is going even further and will permit its employees to work abroad for two months per year.

The shift to a remote workforce is also having an impact on hiring practices, with more managers starting to consider candidates from other countries. By taking a location-independent approach, businesses can tap into a global pool of talent and hire the best worker for the job – wherever they may be in the world.
If you are building a software development team for your company, have you considered the growing talent pool in Turkey? Here are five reasons why you should hire engineers from Turkey for your remote roles.

1. Turkish developers are at the heart of a startup boom

When looking for talented software engineers, you want to find people that have the skills and motivation to put your growing company on the path to success. A recent startup boom has placed Turkish developers at the forefront of the global tech talent search. During the first quarter of 2021, Turkey ranked 10th among the countries receiving the highest venture capital and angel investment in Europe.

Investments in Turkish startups sky-rocketed to $509m in 62 companies during the first quarter, far surpassing the $139m invested in 165 startups in the whole of 2020. Turkish-funded startups like the food delivery app Getir, mobile game developer Gram Games, and collaboration tool Zeplin are receiving increasing global recognition. Getir raised $550m in an investment round in March and June 2021 that valued the company at $5.3b. That makes it Turkey’s second unicorn (a startup valued at more than $1b).

Software engineers from Turkey have been behind numerous other successful tech companies, including the $3.3b online learning platform Udemy and fintech platform Iyzico, which was acquired by PayU for $165m in 2020.

2. High-quality tech talent is abundant in Turkey

Turkey is emerging as an important center for software engineering talent. There are more than 150,000 developers in Turkey with over 10,000 Turkish students graduating with technology-related degrees every year.

Turkey scores 6.9/10 for the availability of qualified engineers in an IMD World Competitiveness survey, placing it above countries such as Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania.

This activity is encouraging international companies to use Turkey as a global hub in the region. A growing number of incubators and accelerators are nurturing the country’s top talent. This is further contributing to the development of a strong IT community in the country.

3. Software engineering skills in Turkey align with global trends 

The most popular programming languages and frameworks among Turkish developers are in line with the languages that companies use around the world.  

C# and Java are the most used backend programming languages, with 41.2% of developers skilled in C# and 39.2% using Java according to the TR Software Technologies Report 2020. Newer technologies like C and Ruby are on the rise, especially among younger startups. More than 30% of developers are trained in the Node.JS and .NET Core frameworks. React is the most common frontend framework, used by 81.7% of developers, and React Native dominates among mobile technologies at 74.6%.

4. Similar time zones and proximity facilitate communication 

Even with companies becoming more open to a remote workforce, the location of employees is still an important consideration. Teams must be able to communicate effectively, which can be difficult when there is little overlap between employees’ working hours. Turkey is in close proximity to the European time zones. Local time is CET+1 and GMT+2, which facilitates the strong communication that is crucial to success in a remote work environment.  

5. Remote developers enhance cultural diversity

In the global marketplace, tech companies are realizing the value of assembling culturally diverse teams. Team members bring their unique insights to the development process, offering insights that help products and services appeal to a wider range of customers. Different cultural backgrounds enhance a team’s problem-solving abilities and make them adaptable in the rapidly changing global e-commerce environment.

Incorporating developers from Turkey into your team not only brings the advantages of their programming skills but adds a fresh perspective that can help your company compete on the global stage.

As the world moves to a remote way of working, Turkey presents an opportunity for wider access to high-quality software developers that might be right for your team.

Don’t have time to hire yourself? TalentGrid can help you build a talented remote team  

TalentGrid is a platform that matches developers from Turkey with companies globally. Contact TalentGrid to find the right match for your software development team. To hire them as contract workers, learn all you need to know about hiring independent contractors in Turkey.