April 18, 2017 How to Get More Done and Collaborate with Remote Developers

Today, more and more businesses choose to work with remote resources, in part because remote work offers benefits like increased flexibility and productivity, better time zone coverage, and even greater clarity around both individual and company-wide goals. Though face-to-face team collaboration builds empathy, businesses that champion remote work see reduced attrition, greater employee satisfaction at work, and more frequent, detailed contact between teams. However, there is still some fear when it comes to hiring remote developers. Here are a few reasons why it’s important to take the leap with remote developers (the right way) and tips on finding diamonds in the technological rough.

In-office developers vs. remote developers

For starters, there are some common misconceptions about working with remote developers:

• They have too much flexibility when it comes to their schedule (and thusly, their workload).
• They’re difficult to manage from a distance.
• They’re left out of key conversations and are difficult to track down when it comes time to collaborate.

In truth, avoiding these hazards depends on the way in which you find and utilize remote developers. With crowdsourcing, you gain:

• A much larger and more competitive pool of developers.
• Minimal or no commute time, plus less overhead. That means more time and energy spent working toward solutions for your business.
• Cost-effective results.

Of course, navigating multiple freelancer marketplaces, entrusting your intellectual property to third parties, and risking paying for subpar work are all valid concerns. Today, the need has evolved from finding remote developers to finding the right solutions for your business. That’s where crowdsourcing can come in especially handy — by accelerating delivery of high-quality results and complementing your existing in-house resources.

Pay only for results with crowdsourcing

Done in a vacuum, cultivating one-off relationships with freelance developers is every bit as time-consuming as hiring for full-time, in-house developers. On the other hand, limiting yourself to local developers also limits your ability to find the most talented people for your project. That said, remote developers need to be extremely skilled and able to manage their own time effectively. Enter Topcoder’s global crowd of 1M+ talented technical experts — hundreds of thousands of whom are world-class developers.
The Topcoder community is the only place businesses of any size can get dozens of ideas designed and developed simultaneously, and within a matter of weeks. When you leverage a global community of proven experts, success no longer depends on the way the work gets done; it’s about the quality of the work you receive. When you bring your ideas to Topcoder, you:

• Receive help every step of the way from a seasoned copilot — a trusted member of the Topcoder platform who’s responsible for orchestrating everything within your project. Your designated copilot takes your requirements and writes the spec for all phases of your project, oversees all day-to-day operations, and keeps the community on time and on task.
• Receive quality assurance from an expert reviewer. Like copilots, reviewers are trusted members of the Topcoder community. They’re responsible for ensuring you receive the highest quality results.
• Last but not least… pay only for results.

Innovate at scale

Finding and engaging remote developers doesn’t have to be a haunted house experience. But choosing a particular developer based on ratings and rates alone is a waste of time and money. Topcoder takes the guesswork out with technical experts and the guarantee of quality work from the get-go.