Big agencies are like kingdoms, with rulers, serfs, merchants and vendors; overly-prescriptive policies, procedures and rules that look impressive on paper but are far away from the actual issues and needs. If on top of that, we add the fact that big agencies hire and sell engineers in a massive way without caring too much about the quality, talent, best practices and solutions that persist, we have the perfect storm with overly expensive contracts, solutions that “just work”, that are impossible to maintain or scale in the future and never-ending contracts making the relationship inefficient. We don’t like that, and that’s what we want to tackle.
We are a boutique software agency, and we will remain as such. Basically, because we believe in engineering practices, we understand the difference between things that just work and things that are done right.
We don’t want to be recognised as the biggest agency, nor do we want to have thousands of engineers in our benches. We want to be recognised as the agency that provides ONLY the best engineers.
We don’t offer nor sell Entry-Level talent; even though we have our internal processes to train and leverage our talent, we don’t charge our clients for that. We prefer to have our own path for talent growth, and once we determine they are ready, we add them to our available pool, with proper coaching and mentorship. This means sometimes we have to say “sorry, we don’t have people with that experience right now”, and that is fine because again, we want to remain as a Boutique Software Agency.
We want to be the best company to work for in the Engineering community. Simply because our bar is high, our filters are hard, and we want to be confident with the quality of what we are delivering. We want to leave our mark on the engineering community.
Our main pool of talent is in Argentina, mostly because we know the community very well, because its talent is widely recognised and because current market conditions and currency exchange rates provide the best conditions ever for exporting software professional services.
Outsourcing in Latin America
One of the main reasons to go for offshore developer companies’ services is cost efficiency. Undoubtedly, it needs to have the highest level of quality required, and of course, delivery must be consistent, reliable and with the least possible overheads.
There are though, other factors that are widely known, like time zone differences, connectivity, cultural gaps, language and other expectations about mannerisms or different habits that make a whole team or a single member truly efficient.
In addition to this, news about the latest developments in emerging countries, mainly in Latin America, are not so noted in Europe.
Stands out
Research by McKinsey suggests that globally more than 50% of the workforce is at risk of losing their jobs to automation, and a survey by the World Economic Forum suggests that 42% of the core job skills required today will change substantially by 2022. In this landscape of constant disruption, individuals, companies, and governments are fighting to ensure they have the skills to remain competitive.
And in Latin America, there is specifically one country that stands out in Technology: Argentina.
The Harvard Business Review published research conducted in 2019 evaluating countries by their technology, data, and business skills. The research uses data from the e-learning platform; Coursera, and their first edition of Global Skills Index (GSI) report. It is summarised as follows:
Core competences considered in Technology are Computing Networking, Databases, Human Computer Interaction, Operating Systems, Security Engineering and Software Engineering, and Argentina outshines all of its neighbours by a wide margin. This reflects the country’s strong technology community and tech-savvy government as well as its ambitious goal to be the centre of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. With an ageing population and 48% of jobs at risk of automation, Argentina risks being left behind otherwise.
Source: https://www.coursera.org/gsi
“Argentina has developed a successful model that includes having its universities focus on teaching practical technology skills, and also has a partnership with governments to spur entrepreneurship”, according to the report.
This is not the only report/research that recognises that fact. CGTN America has produced research and analysis on entrepreneurship in Argentina: with the right pro-market and pro-business policies, Argentina’s technology industry is experiencing huge growth opening up and modernising the country’s economy.
One of the sectors most benefiting from such policies is tech start-ups. Correspondent Joel Richards met with some entrepreneurs in Buenos Aires who are creating a regional hub for innovative technology in a variety of fields.
The New York Times also acknowledges the strength of Argentine technical talent, which in-line with the mentioned papers raises Argentina as a world-class level of talent for technology and technical expertise.
Argentina has been a solid and strong participant at the World Economic Forum recognised by Global Leaders.
As a model for start-ups, Argentina is way ahead of the curve in the region. A quote in the Buenos Aires Times says: “I think the entrepreneur law in which you can start a new company in 24 hours, setting up its tax structure and its registration, allows entrepreneurs to begin executing instead of being held back by bureaucracy”.
“Thanks to measures such as last year’s Ley de Emprendedores (Entrepreneurs’ Law) startups now have access to interest-free loans to help their companies grow, along with other funding opportunities”. – “Argentina also boasts government-funded accelerators such as IncuBAte, which provides mentorship assistance, funding and co-working spaces for the cities’ entrepreneurs”. – “Thanks to the additional abundance of capital-funded acceleration and incubator programmes, startups in the city need look no further than its borders for funding” from Argentina Reports.
“For the first time in history, Latin America is creating technology companies at scale” from The TecnoLatinas Radar.
This is the moment
Current market conditions, developed talent, entrepreneurship and Currency Exchange rates are creating the perfect moment for such a business model.
The North American market realized this years ago when they started to outsource in Argentina. Now, the market is mature enough to narrow the ocean and be known as one more Key Player in Europe.