Latin America: Leader in Tech Talent

Latin America, referred to as LatAm in business jargon, is a region consisting of every country on the continental landmass south of the United States. Although over 30 countries form the region, they share a common culture due to their history as former European colonies. The developing economies of Latin America share many cultural commonalities with the US, as well as a time zone, due to geographic proximity. In recent years, LatAm has become one of the most promising regions in the world to find top-quality tech talent at low cost—and its North American neighbors have just started to take note, reaching out to a region that had previously lay under the radar. What happened?

Written by Mario Agüero|Posted on July 21, 2022

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In the last few years, Latin America’s economies shifted from agriculture and manufacturing to the tech industry, with North American venture capitalists (VCs) pouring funding into promising startups. These VC investments made software development very attractive to the young, educated, and talented. Many of the over 1 million software engineers in Latin America have experience working remotely for US companies with the rise of nearshore outsourcing.

The region’s talent pool covers the full range of skills and programming languages that are sought after by multinationals, but due to lower costs of living, developers will often work for around 50% less than those with equivalent experience in the US. Such rates are still around double the average wage in their own countries and allow them and their families a high standard of living.

While firms looking for LatAm talent can headhunt developers individually, most find it more effective to contact software development agencies in countries such as Brazil and Argentina. These agencies field teams of experienced developers with a proven track record, manage the talent sourcing and administration, and provide good value on a range of projects.

Mario Agüero

Mario Agüero

General Manager

Co-Founder

Buenos Aires, Argentina

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