Is It Worth to Hire Developers in Brazil? Overview and Pitfalls
Latin America is one of the huge outsourcing hubs when it comes to IT services. Many companies hire developers in Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. Brazil is actually a leading destination in this region with a big talent pool and many tech parks. So what are the main characteristics of this IT market and why people hire developers in Brazil?
The Brazilian IT market is under constant development. It has grown 9.8% in 2018 and reached $47 billion. It slowed down a bit in 2019 due to COVID but the same goes for almost any industry in the world.
Brazil dedicated developers are highly involved in both hardware and software production. The device market is going to reach 38% of all IT-related investment in the country.
The main trends of the industry and Brazil developers for hire are:
- Information security with the use of machine learning;
- AI;
- Big Data and Analytics;
- Cloud Solutions;
- Internet of Things programming.
Businesses choose to hire developers Brazil not only because it is convenient for them in terms of distance and finances. The country has great IT infrastructure, about 70 tech parks, and Brazilian Silicon Valley in Campinas. Nowadays, Brazil is the largest economy of Latin America with highly developed ICT infrastructure and more than 150 million internet users.
The most popular programming languages among developers in Brazil for hire include:
- Java;
- JavaScript;
- SQL;
- Python;
- C#;
- CSS;
- HTML;
- Angular, etc.
For US companies it is often comfortable to work with a dedicated software development team in Brazil as there is little to no time difference.
Do you want to enhance your business with an outstanding programming team?
Country Profile
Time zone: GMT-3 (although there are 4 time zones in Brazil)
Average Monthly Rate of middle-level developer: $1642
Biggest Tech Hubs: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Recife, Belo Horizonte, and Campinas (Florianópolis city)
Size of Talent Pool: 475,272
Popular Technologies: SQL, C#, CSS, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Python
Hire Dedicated Software Development Team in Brazil: Pros and Cons
Brazil dedicated software development team can be a valid choice for a company, but like any other outsourcing destination, it has its pros and cons. Before a business decides to hire developers in Brazil, it is important to know all of them to make an educated choice.
Here are the advantages of Brazil developer for hire:
- Cost reduction. Generally, it is cheaper to hire Brazilian developers than professionals in the USA or the EU. Lower salary rates can be quite attractive.
- The time zone is convenient for North American clients. This ease of communication goes to all Latin America and endorses many to hire developers in Mexico, Brazil, or Chile.
- The education in Brazil is top-notch, including computer science.
- There is quite an impressive talent pool to choose from. It makes a Brasilia dedicated software development team easier to find than in other regions of Latin America.
Check out the disadvantages of this destination before you hire offshore developers Brazil:
- There is a significantly low English proficiency among the population, which makes it harder to do business;
- The cost reduction only seems attractive when you see salary rates. In reality, Brazil has very complex taxation laws, including 14-months salary for employees, transportation, meal subsidies, recruitment, retention cost, and even cost of consumed energy. These laws are so complex that companies often need to hire third-party local providers to take care of them. As the result all the lower salaries are covered with related costs;
- Restrictive financial laws make the repatriation of money and establishment of local operations incredibly complex;
- The quality to price ratio is far from perfect. It might be easy to hire developers in Brazil, but there is a high risk of low-quality work. According to international rankings such as SkillValue, TopCoder and HackerRank Brazil’s coders are not skilled enough to compete with the ones from China or Ukraine.
- Of course, the economical, political, and business climates are often changing and might result in more financial losses, delays, and other complications.
Of course, the choice of whether to hire developers in Brasilia or not depends on the company’s goals, finances, and priorities. But it is important to consider alternatives.
Alternatives to Brazil Dedicated Developers
Latin America and a dedicated software development team in Brazil might be the first destination that comes to mind for American clients. But it is not the only outsourcing hub worldwide. Nowadays, Eastern Europe and Ukraine especially are gaining momentum when it comes to high-quality IT services. Here are the main reasons why you may want to consider a Ukrainian SW developer before you hire an outsourced software developer from Brazil:
- It is conveniently located in Europe, which is a great benefit for the EU clients. There is little to no time difference and many direct flights. And it is still manageable to have same-day online meetings for some locations in North America.
- The taxation is much simpler and cheaper. The IT professionals in Ukraine work as private entrepreneurs and they are subjected only to 5% income tax under simplified rules. All the related to outsourcing costs are lower than in Brazil;
- Ukrainian developers have an excellent reputation worldwide for the quality of services. They are in the 6th place in the world according to TopCoder (Brazil is 13), and they also scored 11th place in HackerRank rating (Brazil is 38th)
- Ukraine also has a high education level and excellent computer science programs. It is GDPR compliant, which is a necessity for those companies that work with EU clients.
- Ukrainian developers share the same business and ethical values as Europe. They have a similar working style and overall have a great command of English.
Country Profile
Time zone: GMT+2
Average Monthly Rate of middle-level developer: $2000 (according to Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research)
Biggest Tech Hubs: Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro
Size of Talent Pool: 200,000 professionals
Popular Technologies: Java, JavaScript, C, C#, Python, PHP
Hire Developers in Brazil or Ukraine? Comparison of Salary Rates
The cost of hiring is one of the main factors in choosing an outsourcing destination. The average monthly rate for a Brazilian developer is $1642 and for Ukrainian, it is $2000. Here is also a comparison table of salary rates according to programming language and experience of a professional.
| Ukraine – monthly salary | Brazil – monthly salary | |
| PHP junior | $1000 | $785 |
| PHP middle | $2000 | $1052 |
| Java junior | $1000 | $964 |
| Java middle | $2000 | $1295 |
| .NET junior | $1000 | $846 |
| .NET middle | $2000 | $1130 |
| Python junior | $1000 | $510 |
| Python middle | $1800 | $1007 |
| C# junior | $500 | $977 |
| C# middle | $2000 | $1312 |
| JavaScript junior | $500 | $1190 |
| JavaScript middle | $2000 | $1660 |
| Android junior | $1000 | $411 |
| Android middle | $2500 | $1217 |
* Ukrainian salaries are provided based on Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets. All salaries are net and do not include the service fee (in case of hiring on a dedicated team model). The salaries are provided for comparison purposes and could be not entirely accurate. Contact us to know the exact cost of hiring a developer corresponding to the required parameters.
Of course, these are only average salary rates that do not represent the cost of development, as they do not cover taxes, cost of recruitment, transportation, rent, etc.
Comparison Table of Both Outsourcing Destinations
To sum up all that has been stated before and make an educated conclusion, take a look at the complete comparison table of Brazil and Ukraine as IT outsourcing locations.
| Brazil | Ukraine | |
| Time zone | GMT-3 | GMT+2 |
| Size of a tech talent pool | 475,272 experienced professionals | 200,000 experienced professionals |
| English proficiency | Low | High |
| Education level | Higher education, usually BA | Higher education, BA or MA |
| Outsourcing taxes | There are a lot of taxes, including 14th months pay per year and many recruitment-related ones, such as paying for consumed energy. The system is very difficult and often requires a third-party provider to take care of. | Employees are only subject to 5% income tax. The taxation is very simple and doesn’t require any additional third-party services. |
| Average monthly rate for middle dev | $1642 | $2,000 |
| Talent availability | High as there is a wide talent pool | High as there is a wide talent pool |
| Data safety and insurance | Not GDPR compliant | GDPR compliant |
| Quality to price correspondence | Decent, but lower than Ukraine or China, there is quite a risk of low-quality performance | High, great performance for the price and worldly-recognized quality |
| Ease of doing business | Not very easy because of the complicated legislation, difficult tax laws, and restriction. There is also a low English proficiency. | Easy and convenient, especially for the USA, the UK, and the EU. They share the same business values, ethics, and easy taxation. |
The choice of destination depends on what a specific business is looking for. The next step, of course, is to find a perfect vendor.
Mobilunity – Credible Ukrainian Service Provider
If you are looking for an outstanding partner in finding a dedicated software development team, Mobilunity is exactly what you need. We’ve been working in this industry for more than a decade and know exactly how to help you.
We have more than 40 satisfied international customers, a great team, and policies that help companies to save some money and time.
Mobilunity can find and recruit the highly-skilled and experienced programmers and help to hire Neural Network developers that will become a part of your team. We always focus on client’s requirements and needs and hire developers that are the best for your particular project.
