With the evolution of the technologies, we have seen a massive transformation in the way of the working in the IT industry within the last few years. The software industry recruitment isn’t an exception. With the unlimited difficulties present in the traditional recruitment process such as lengthy hiring to higher recruitment costs, hiring remote developers feels like the best solution. 

The COVID-19 pandemic also acted as a catalyst for remote recruitment. It disrupted businesses across the globe and forced almost all organizations to find new ways of remote work. The world has observed massive changes in team collaboration, project management, and productivity. In this article, we will discuss the role of remote developers in IT and how they have transformed or disrupted the IT industry.

What is Remote Working and What do Remote Developers Do?

In remote working, the employees work from a different location instead of their company’s permanent office location or the employer's central office. There can be any location from which the employee can work like his home, a traditional corporate office building, or even on the go. It requires an appropriate mix of culture, processes, and technology to facilitate remote working, specifically around enabling virtual teams to work successfully from anywhere.

The remote developers are just like the employees of your company or your current project who are working from a different physical space and are present virtually at your end. They can be sitting in any corner of the world and completing your tasks. A project manager or a project coordinator assigns tasks to them and they work on those tasks according to the sprints, or the deliverables deadlines. The remote developers always ensure that they are always available for communication. They work with collaboration tools by which they can give updates, and share tasks regularly.

Effects of Remote Developers on the IT Industry

There have been a plethora of positive effects of remote developers for hire on the IT industry and thus the remote developers' practice has become a common norm in today’s time. Whether it is a startup or an established enterprise, a remote developer is not a rare sight to find. Here are some of the common effects of remote developers on the IT industry:

1.  Need for Better Collaboration and Management Tools

In the remote development practice, remote collaboration, and management tools are becoming game-changers that act to reduce location gaps and work seamlessly together. 

The collaboration tools facilitate real-time communication between the team members through messaging, video conferencing, and screen sharing. 

The management tools also help in tracking tasks, setting deadlines, and monitoring progress. These tools ensure that everyone is on the same track, even while working at different time zones.

With efficient communication and smooth project management, teams can give high productivity to the work, and deliver projects within deadlines. Also, the collaborative code reviews and real-time discussions foster a sense of teamwork, even when team members are on different continents.

2.  Implementing New Development Practices:

While remote development gives a lot of benefits, certain challenges can be overcome only by implementing new development practices. For example in traditional practices, the employees come to the office and work from 9 to 5, however, the same may not be possible for the people working from home. 

The people working from home always want a flexible structure of working and thus, they can work at any time and even on the go. They should be liable to attend meetings for status, or sprint delivery. 

Also, remote development may not give a feel of cohesiveness among the team members which is not the case while working from the office. Thus, it is your responsibility to create meetings that give opportunities for the employees to interact with each other and overcome geographical barriers.

Without an efficient communication plan, remote employees may struggle to recall that they are part of a larger team. Consider leveraging platforms such as Slack, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams to improve staff collaboration and communication.

3.  More focus on Cyber Security:

In the remote development, cyber security is more crucial than ever. For the smooth functioning of the virtual environment, it is essential to protect sensitive data, maintain privacy, and prevent cyber attacks. You must develop a consolidated cyber security architecture for remote work. There should be robust security network measures, high cloud security, and mobile devices security. The common threats faced by remote developers are phishing attacks, ransomware, and social engineering. Hackers find and exploit to obtain unauthorized access to sensitive data or disrupt operations remotely. Vigilance and proactive security measures are critical in preventing these threats.

4.  Adoption of Hybrid Work Models:

It is not always the case that every employee prefers a full WFH model and instead, many employees want a hybrid approach to work. It is a flexible approach in which the employees have the choice to work from the office or work from home. It supports a variety of work schedules and the employees can choose how and where they work. It also gives autonomy to employees to design their working week that suits them as well as the company. Organizations that implement a hybrid work model can provide greater work-life balance to their employees. As a result, productivity and employee engagement increase, allowing firms to function more efficiently.

5.  Change in Organization Structure:

The organizational structure plays an important role in virtual workplaces. It helps each remote employee understand how they are connected. As there is no traditional workplace environment, the developers working at different locations may feel isolated and disconnected. That’s why it is essential to create a framework for communication pathways, interdepartmental collaboration, and understanding stakeholders, and point persons through an organization structure.

The organization structure also maps out how each employee is connected to the whole. The right organizational structure can unify even a distributed team even though the departments don’t interact or have much overlap.

Pros and Cons of Remote Work Environment

Advantages of Remote Work Environment

1.  Better Productivity

One may think that employees working from a very comfy environment will be less productive, however, the opposite is true. Remote workers are working more while enjoying a healthier work-life balance. As per a study, 40% of employees tend to work more at home than office with an average of 48.5 minutes longer. The remote working employees also experience fewer employees and thus they are always ready to put more effort into work. They can take breaks to reduce stress and boost productivity. A remote working employee can create his schedule as per his/her priorities.

2.  Improved work-life Balance

As we stated earlier, the remote work environment fosters a better work-life balance. The employees get ultimate control over their time and energy which they can shape the way they want. E.g. a remote employee can save commute time by investing in physical well-being. Some employees always want to design their workplace and make it highly comfortable or pleasant. With remote work, they can decide the location, furniture, lighting, temperature, and noise level. It can also boost self-motivation and resilience as employees can set their own goals with challenges and changes. They can also seek feedback, learn from mistakes, and improve performance.

3.  Cost-effectiveness

A remote work environment is cost-effective for both employees and companies. The companies don’t need to invest money in on-premises infrastructure, lowering hardware and maintenance costs. If the resources are cloud-based or hourly-based, then they have to only pay for the work that they want. The employees on the other side can save a lot of money on transportation, rent if they are based out of another city/country, and many other overhead costs.

4.  Higher Flexibility

The employees have an ultimate goal of delivering the required work on time in remote development. If an employee is highly efficient can do work faster and delivers results in less time then the employee has the flexibility to choose his/her working hours. They can also decide on which module they want to work first and set their priorities accordingly.

5.  Faster Development

To build any specific mobile app you can hire mobile app developers or Remote developers who work on remote servers by which they can quickly write, test, and debug code without the delays associated with uploading changes to a remote server. It facilitates rapid iterations and accelerates the development process. Immediate feedback from the code enables developers to quickly rectify issues and introduce new features, increasing productivity and code quality.

6.  Access to a Wider Pool of Talent

When you are hiring remote development, you have no restriction of geographical barriers and you can find anyone from anywhere who meets your desired skills and capabilities. You can hire from different geographical regions by which you can broaden the talent pool of your team. By retaining remote talent for important roles, you can gain access to an Olympic talent pool.

7.  Boost in Local Economies

Remote development helps boost regional or local economies by employing the people belonging to these locations. It claims to revitalize faltering rural towns and preserve their social fabric by keeping a younger population.

Challenges in Remote Work Environment

1.  Communication Challenges

Although hiring resources from anywhere across the world gives access to a wider pool of talent, it may raise issues of communication as the team members are in different time zones. There may be difficulty in communication if the stable internet connection is not present at someone’s end. However, this roadblock is not a permanent one and can be overcome as there is huge internet or technological development in every corner of the world.

2.  Time Zone Differences

The time zone differences will not only create issues in communication but also the whole development process if not managed properly. At Octal IT Solution, we ensure that our project coordinators/managers create a methodology that facilitates proper communication and that the development process doesn’t get affected by time zone differences.

3.  Technical Issues

The technical issue is a very trivial problem that rarely arises while working remotely. If there are technical issues at someone’s end, the IT team of the employer is always available to resolve any technical or IT issue.

4.  Cultural Dissimilarity

People belonging to different cultures may initially find it odd to interact with each other. But in companies like ours, there are always ice-breaking meetings and sessions that foster diversity and inclusion among the team members.

Last Words:

Remote development in the IT industry is the trend and is also the future as it gives access to a wider pool of talent at lower costs. There are plenty of benefits of remote development with minimal challenges that can be easily overcome. At Octal, we have the right set of talent with expertise in a wide range of technologies. Our developers, designers, QA experts, and other resources have huge experience in working remotely. Let us know your requirements.