GitHub’s Octoverse reports that there were more than 5.2 billion contributions to 518 million projects worldwide. The modern outsourcing model, in which companies in North America and Europe hire individuals with skills from all over the world, is based on this vast pool of talent. Microsoft’s .NET ecosystem remains very popular; surveys indicate that about 17% of developers use ASP.NET Core, which is Microsoft’s cross-platform framework. Wired magazine reported a 70% increase in offshoring development jobs. This is because companies are increasingly going where the talent is, rather than just where it’s cheapest. The Belitsoft custom software development company points out that nowadays, it is more important than ever for startup founders, CTOs, and procurement leads to know how and where to find .NET talent.
Belitsoft connects you with .NET developers who are experts in your field and tech stack. This partner can provide consultation on any .NET solution, whether you need expertise in the backend, the full stack, or the architecture.
Outsourcing in Real Life: What Startups Have Learned and What to Watch Out For
Many well-known startups have successfully used outsourcing. Entrepreneur magazine says that companies like Slack and Skype built early versions of their products with teams from other companies. Outsourcing can help lean startups get skilled .NET developers quickly without having to hire full-time employees. But experienced tech leaders often give a word of warning.
Trends in North America and Europe
North America
U.S. tech companies are consistently short on developers and pay them a lot at home, so many have started outsourcing to nearby and far-off places. According to an article in WIRED, more and more U.S. companies are hiring people from Latin America (such as Mexico and Brazil) and Eastern Europe (such as Poland). These areas have cultural ties, similar time zones, and much lower wages. In short, U.S. startups and businesses are now “globalizing” their development teams. As one expert put it, software development is becoming the first global job.
Europe
European companies also do business with people in other countries. The market for IT outsourcing in Europe is large and growing. According to Statista, it will be worth €176.4 billion. There is a lot of demand in the region. For example, 62.8% of EU companies tried to hire IT experts, which shows that there aren’t enough skilled workers in the area. As a result, many businesses in Germany, the Nordic countries, and the Benelux countries hire workers from Eastern European countries like Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as from India. Industry surveys indicate that this trend will continue: almost 80% of Dutch CIOs plan to maintain or increase outsourcing in the next few years. Gartner stated that by 2025, European businesses would spend $1.28 trillion on IT, an 8.7% increase from 2024. This demonstrates how large the projects that outsourced development teams could work on could be.
Research shows that skill and agility are the main reasons for both areas. According to Deloitte’s Global Outsourcing Survey, companies are still working with outside companies more, even though they are doing some work themselves. This is because skilled workers and flexibility have become just as important as cutting costs. CIOs in North America and Europe say that the demand for global .NET knowledge is growing because of tech-driven strategies like AI and cloud migration, as well as the rise of remote work.
Benefits of Outsourcing .NET Development
- Access to Specialized Expertise: Outsourcing gives businesses access to experienced .NET developers who may not be easy to find in their area. For example, TechCrunch said that teams from Eastern Europe can provide high-quality programmers who are fluent in modern frameworks like .NET and Java at competitive prices. Deloitte states that skilled talent and agility are two of the main reasons why companies outsource. Outsourcing partners typically have extensive knowledge of enterprise .NET technologies, such as ASP.NET and .NET Core, Azure, Xamarin, Blazor, in fields like finance, healthcare, and gaming.
- Cost Efficiency: Hiring .NET developers from countries with lower costs can significantly cut labor costs. In general, rates in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia are much lower than those in North America or Western Europe. In Eastern Europe, .NET hourly rates range from $25 to $75, while in Silicon Valley, they are often over $100. These savings help both new businesses and large companies make their budgets go further.
- Scalability and Flexibility: When companies outsource, they can quickly add or remove developers as needed for projects. Rather than committing to full-time hires, companies can augment their in-house .NET teams with contractors or dedicated remote teams. This flexibility is very important when projects grow quickly, such as when new features are added or user demand suddenly rises. Gartner found that the biggest problem with deploying new technologies currently is a lack of skilled workers. Outsourcing can help with that by giving companies access to talent pools outside of their own offices. Also, switching to variable-cost partnerships instead of fixed headcount makes it easier for companies to change their budgets and timelines.
- Focus on Core Business: By giving outside .NET teams routine or non-differentiating tasks, companies can free up their in-house developers to work on strategic priorities and new ideas. It’s still true, as Harvard Business Review (HBR) said a long time ago: companies should keep their most important and competitive technologies in-house and hire outside help for routine IT tasks. In real life, this could mean that your own workers come up with the product vision and architecture, while teams you hire from outside the company take care of tasks such as implementing modular components, testing, or keeping old systems running. This division of labor can help the core team stay focused on their big-picture development goals while also getting products to market faster.
Challenges and Risks of Outsourcing
- Quality and Integration: Ensuring code quality and consistency can be challenging when multiple teams collaborate remotely. When outsourcing agreements are unclear, projects can end up in fixed-bid “waterfall” contracts with severe rules that do not allow changes to be made. The integration of outsourced .NET code into the main codebase requires strong review and governance. Poorly managed outsourcing runs the risk of accumulating technical debt or misaligned architectures.
- Safety and intellectual property: Giving an outside vendor access to sensitive source code and data can cause problems with intellectual property and adherence to the rules. Access controls, encryption, and audits are some of the best security practices that vendors should follow.
- Vendor Dependence: Relying too heavily on one outsourcing provider can be hazardous. If the vendor encounters financial difficulties, quality issues, or suddenly alters its strategy, the client may have to scramble to find a new one. It is a good idea to have contracts that allow you to switch suppliers and to consider having more than one supplier (for example, by splitting tasks between different teams or keeping a small backup team in-house). According to HBR, it is advisable to avoid outsourcing anything that makes your business stand out, and to not give up full architectural control unless you are sure you can trust the partner.
Best Practices for Successful Outsourcing
- Clearly state which .NET tasks should be performed by outside companies and which should be done by your own staff to set the strategic scope. Some of the most important strategic modules that should remain in-house are system architecture, core libraries, and security frameworks. Use the initial discovery workshops to set goals and determine how to track progress.
- Strong Governance: Hire an internal sponsor or project lead (usually a senior developer or CTO) who stays in-house and keeps an eye on the work that is done outside of the company. The VP of Engineering or Chief Architect should stay on the domestic team and work closely with developers who are based overseas. This ensures that everyone is on the same page culturally and technically, and that decisions can be made quickly.
- Contracts Based on Outcomes: A lot of businesses are moving away from paying by the hour and toward contracts that are based on value and have specific deliverables or key performance indicators (KPIs). Deloitte’s report shows that outsourcing is becoming increasingly about working together to achieve results, which means that the vendor’s goals are aligned with the project’s success.
- Strong Quality Controls: Set up automated testing, regular code reviews, and continuous integration pipelines. Use the same standards for outsourced code as you do for code written in-house. If possible, plan for team exchanges or visits to the site from time to time to build trust and rapport.
- Vendor Management Capability: As outsourcing ecosystems become increasingly complicated, with contractors, offshore centers, and even AI tools, Deloitte suggests that the company should expand its Vendor Management Office (VMO) to keep an eye on all outside talent. It is important for procurement managers to set standard criteria for judging vendors, like their technical skills, references, and financial stability, and to keep an eye on how well vendors are doing. Instead of having adversarial relationships with suppliers, it’s often better to think about building a long-term partnership.
Outlook and Takeaways
A lot of companies in North America and Europe that require a large amount of software talent are now outsourcing .NET development as a common way to obtain it. Research supports this trend: outsourcing markets in Europe are growing by double digits, and North American companies are treating developer jobs as if they were global. However, for things to go well, you need strict management and a clear plan. Smart CTOs and heads of procurement will use outsourcing to augment their core teams, not replace them. This approach is in line with HBR’s idea of keeping strategic value in-house and using outside teams to help the business grow. There will be a significant need for .NET skills as IT budgets around the world are expected to grow, with Gartner predicting that Europe’s IT spending will reach approximately $1.28 trillion by 2025, and digital projects such as cloud, AI, and mobile becoming more prevalent.
Literature suggests that in real life, you should choose your partners carefully, work on your communication, and agree on your culture and goals. Deloitte says that mastering the complexity of finding talent is essential. This means ensuring that the work of in-house staff, outsourced experts, and even AI-powered tools in the extended workforce all fit together seamlessly. From startup founders to CIOs, the message is clear: hiring .NET developers from outside the company can speed up processes, bring in talented individuals, and save money, but only if it is done with a clear strategy and strong oversight.
About the Author:
Dmitry Baraishuk is a partner and Chief Innovation Officer at a software development company Belitsoft (a Noventiq company). He has been leading a department specializing in custom software development for 20 years. The department has hundreds of successful projects in AI software development, healthcare and finance IT consulting, application modernization, cloud migration, data analytics implementation, and more for startups and enterprises in the US, UK, and Canada.
