Businesses often face the pressing need for swift, scalable, and cost-effective solutions in software development. However, searching for strong tech talent and choosing a tech partner you can rely on can be a challenging task .

This article delves into the strategic possibilities of IT team extension to Turkey. We will shed light on the nuances of the country’s tech ecosystem, the benefits of outsourcing to Turkey, and the success stories of companies that use team extension services.

Turkey emerges as a strategic hub for software development outsourcing, offering a blend of skilled talent, cost-effectiveness, cultural compatibility, and a thriving tech ecosystem. As businesses seek efficient and affordable solutions, leveraging Turkey’s potential can provide a distinct competitive advantage in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Skilled workforce

Outsourcing software development to Turkey provides access to a strong pool of IT specialists. With 41 engineering majors demanding high scores, Turkish universities graduate skilled professionals. As of 2020, there were 140,000 software developers, with an annual increase of 10,000. Turkish developer expertise includes backend languages like C#, Java, PHP, and Python. At the same time, frontend development sees a preference for JavaScript, particularly in React and Vue.js frameworks.

Favorable tech ecosystem

Turkey’s tech landscape is diverse and dynamic, with startups like Hepsiburada, Dream Games, and Getir leading eCommerce, gaming, and rapid grocery delivery. The country demonstrates a growing interest in AI technologies, contributing to its status as a burgeoning tech hub.

Price-quality ratio

Turkey offers a cost-effective solution for outsourcing development without compromising quality. The competitive labor market and lower operational expenses compared to Western countries enable businesses to achieve significant cost savings while maintaining high work standards. A comparison of average yearly salaries reveals a favorable cost-to-quality ratio for senior IT specialists in Turkey.

Cultural compatibility

Cultural compatibility is crucial for successful outsourcing partnerships. Shared work ethics, communication styles, and a focus on building strong client relationships contribute to a positive outsourcing experience. Culturally diverse teams enhance problem-solving abilities and adaptability in the global environment.

“Turkey boasts a growing pool of strong IT specialists. Additionally, thanks to my country’s strategic location in the region, convenient time zone, unique blend of Eastern and Western cultures, promising market for technological innovations, and government support, Turkiye stands as an excellent option for nearshore technology team building.”

Dilek Devran,

Zoolatech Country Manager, Turkey

English proficiency

Turkish developers are proficient in English, ranking 66 out of 113 nations, as the EF English Proficiency Index indicates. This proficiency ensures effective communication and collaboration with global teams, eliminating language barriers in software development projects.

Time zone convenience

Turkey’s strategic location provides logistical benefits for businesses with global operations. Proximity to major markets enables efficient communication and reduces time zone differences, leading to faster development and delivery times. The time zone advantage also allows for potential 24/7 support for projects.

Team extension services allow businesses to scale their development capabilities quickly, tap into specialized skills, and manage workloads more efficiently. Overall, team extension in software development outsourcing is a strategic approach that helps businesses adapt to changing project requirements, access specialized skills, and enhance their overall development capacity.

With ZoolaTech, you can save costs and time by avoiding recruitment, HR, and admin overhead. We filter out 85% of the candidates and provide you with the top tech talent that best fits your project.

Key characteristics of team extension in software development outsourcing at ZoolaTech include:

• Finding and hiring the right tech talent fast. We will help complement your internal team with external talent. This is particularly valuable when a need for specific skills or expertise is unavailable within the current workforce.
• A well-established employer brand and proven global recruitment practices. Using ZoolaTech’s IT team extension in Turkey means you tap into a global talent pool, accessing skilled professionals who may not be available locally. This is particularly beneficial when there’s a shortage of certain skills in the home country or when seeking cost-effective solutions.
• Easy scaling up and down, with the flexibility of locations and cooperation models. You can scale your development teams up or down based on project requirements, ensuring optimal resource utilization and cost-effectiveness.
• Seamless integration of the tech talent into your in-house team. A dedicated development team extends your in-house staff and follows their processes and methodologies.
• Dedicated HR managers and flexible HR practices for team retention. This personalized approach allows HR managers to understand the dynamics of their teams better and address specific challenges and opportunities unique to that group. It’s tailored to enhance team retention, job satisfaction, and employee engagement.
• Full hiring transparency. Transparency ensures that no hidden agendas, biases, or undisclosed factors could impact the understanding of the hiring process. We openly communicate and share all relevant information about the recruitment process, candidate selection, and employment terms with all stakeholders involved.

Team extension onboarding

Part of the success of extending an existing team is in effective onboarding. It’s about creating an immersive journey integrating newcomers into the company and the team from day one. Here are a few recommendations for smooth onboarding for extended teams:

• Communication. Tell your in-house team about the reasoning and objectives behind outsourcing team extension. Clearly define the boundaries of task ownership and responsibility and maintain open lines of communication between team members.
• Positive work environment. Foster belonging and team integration by avoiding labels like ‘contractors,’ ‘vendor team,’ or ‘offshore team.’ Share team-specific terms, jokes, memes, and rules to provide context and help newcomers feel part of the team culture.
• Offshore team collaboration expectations. Acknowledge cultural differences in common practices among new developers from different countries, such as voicing an opinion, turning on the camera, raising issues or delays early on, etc.
• Work time expectations. Establish agreed-upon collaboration windows accommodating different time zones.
• Regular check-ins. They are the best way to monitor and evaluate new team members’ advancement and ensure alignment with goals and responsibilities.

Mastercontrol – accelerating time-to-market and boosting scalability

Our client is a leading provider of MES and QMS solutions, focusing on ensuring compliance with regulations and improving the quality and safety of the products for regulated industries.

As MasterControl prioritizes its products’ immaculate quality and supreme user experience, the company decided to modernize the existing solutions and build new-generation systems. To avoid downtime and accelerate the delivery process, they needed a strong partner for technology team extension.

ZoolaTech approach

We provided MasterControl with a team of strong senior software engineers, working closely with the client’s in-house team to ensure engineering excellence, improve velocity, and accelerate time-to-market. Starting with just two engineers, 60 experts across Europe were hired within 18 months.

Value delivered by ZoolaTech

We fostered a collaborative environment, breaking down traditional customer-vendor barriers, which resulted in a fast delivery process and high product quality. In particular:

• The collaboration resulted in operational improvements, including increased velocity and overall product quality.
• Seamless integration with the in-house team allowed for quickly delivering new features.
• ZoolaTech’s proactive collaboration has contributed to innovation and efficiency.
• We played a pivotal role in extending the feature base of legacy systems to meet MasterControl clients’ requirements.
• The successful partnership addressed immediate challenges and positioned our client for sustained growth in the dynamic pharmaceutical sector.

Driving digital transformation for a jewelry giant

The company started its Digital transformation in 2021 to improve its consumer personalization capabilities and develop a scalable platform to support its Phoenix growth strategy. For this reason, the company needed a bigger team to:

• Reduce latency and increase data accuracy
• Increase scalability
• Eliminate data duplication and usage of extra memory and processing resources
• Reduce maintenance expenses and complexity
• Make the efficiency and correctness of data exchange more trackable
• Eliminate operational and analytical data discrepancies

To solve these problems and build a solid foundation for digital transformation, Pandora decided to develop a scalable integration hub based on Event-Driven Architecture and Kafka.

ZoolaTech approach

We provided the company with a strong engineering team. The team built a PoC and MVP and proceeded with further product development. Furthermore, the ZoolaTech team prepared a set of clear engineering standards to drive operational excellence and optimize costs.

We also helped accelerate platform adoption among other teams by building templates, writing documentation, and transferring knowledge. What’s more, it helps to reduce development time and costs considerably.

Value delivered by ZoolaTech

The product created a digital foundation for integrating all business processes and operating digitally end-to-end. It helps our partner to:

• Ensure seamless integration, facilitating fast, efficient, and accurate data exchange between multiple company’s systems.
• Significantly reduce latency from 36 hours to milliseconds, enhancing data accuracy.
• Unlock the value of real-time data analytics, offering visibility into all business processes.
• Build a robust foundation for implementing Advanced Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
• Provide an omnichannel user experience.
• Increase fault tolerance to enhance system reliability.
• Enable more efficient management of logistics and transportation.
• Ensure future-proof scalability to accommodate growing business needs.
• Reduce maintenance expenses and complexity for improved operational efficiency.