5 ms·

I am surprised that it took so long to realize that hiring people in the same time zone is better for productivity. I am saying it as someone who spent N years

by krasin 5y ago

I am surprised that it took so long to realize that hiring people in the same time zone is better for productivity. I am saying it as someone who spent N years working for an American company from Moscow (~11 hours difference) and had to sleep in the office frequently to get at least some things done (like, code reviews approved by the team members in the main office).

novok 5y ago
We have been trying for years actually, there just isn't that many to hire as the article said :( There is a reason why all tech worker offices seem to be from east/west europe, china, india, USA and canada. Oracle has had offices in mexico for quite a while for example.
jorblumesea 5y ago
Language/education/infrastructure barrier in Latin America, for some countries at least. Situation is improving as of late but a large skill gap both in terms of education and foreign lang skills (English). Hiring in India was painful for some reasons, but everyone spoke English and education was top level due to intense competition. Most of Latin America is only roughly overlapping with US timezones. The western most countries (Ecuador for example) are basically EST time, but Brazil is closer to GMT.
- krasin 5y ago
  I have a first hand experience working with a great team at Trinidad and Tobago. Maybe we got lucky in finding them, but I've got an impression that good universities exist and therefore there's a steady supply of capable new grads. As for timezone, Trinidad and Tobago is EST+1, Lima (Peru) is EST, and Brazil is EST+2. That gives much more workday overlap than even Western Europe.
  - jorblumesea 5y ago
    Overall, Latin America has way less STEM graduates per capita than they need and is absolutely unable to fill the demand. Some countries might fare better than others but the trend is overall that most companies will end up competing for the few graduates that do exist. The article also pointed this out. https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h77528693?country=USA&indicator=40334&countries=BRA,TTO,ARG,ECU&viz=line_chart&years=2013,2020 https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h77528693?country... Many tech companies are West coast so you're +5 hours and then...why not Europe?
    - laurencerowe 5y ago
      Having 3 hours of overlap during the regular work day is going to be much easier than no overlap during the normal work day and people having to work early/late for meetings.
- 8note 5y ago
  Language/education/infrastructure are a lot easier to change that timezone, at least
88913527 5y ago
It's interesting to hear of requiring code reviews approved by the main office team. That's a strategy we've adopted on my team, and I got pushback for it. Good to hear that it's not out of the ordinary. The technical quality of the work is typically good, but oftentimes the domain knowledge isn't there due to the T+12 issue meaning little time for overlap.

by krasin 5y ago

novok 5y ago

We have been trying for years actually, there just isn't that many to hire as the article said :( There is a reason why all tech worker offices seem to be from east/west europe, china, india, USA and canada. Oracle has had offices in mexico for quite a while for example.

jorblumesea 5y ago

Language/education/infrastructure barrier in Latin America, for some countries at least. Situation is improving as of late but a large skill gap both in terms of education and foreign lang skills (English). Hiring in India was painful for some reasons, but everyone spoke English and education was top level due to intense competition. Most of Latin America is only roughly overlapping with US timezones. The western most countries (Ecuador for example) are basically EST time, but Brazil is closer to GMT.

krasin 5y ago
I have a first hand experience working with a great team at Trinidad and Tobago. Maybe we got lucky in finding them, but I've got an impression that good universities exist and therefore there's a steady supply of capable new grads. As for timezone, Trinidad and Tobago is EST+1, Lima (Peru) is EST, and Brazil is EST+2. That gives much more workday overlap than even Western Europe.
- jorblumesea 5y ago
  Overall, Latin America has way less STEM graduates per capita than they need and is absolutely unable to fill the demand. Some countries might fare better than others but the trend is overall that most companies will end up competing for the few graduates that do exist. The article also pointed this out. https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h77528693?country=USA&indicator=40334&countries=BRA,TTO,ARG,ECU&viz=line_chart&years=2013,2020 https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/h77528693?country... Many tech companies are West coast so you're +5 hours and then...why not Europe?
  - laurencerowe 5y ago
    Having 3 hours of overlap during the regular work day is going to be much easier than no overlap during the normal work day and people having to work early/late for meetings.
8note 5y ago
Language/education/infrastructure are a lot easier to change that timezone, at least

88913527 5y ago

It's interesting to hear of requiring code reviews approved by the main office team. That's a strategy we've adopted on my team, and I got pushback for it. Good to hear that it's not out of the ordinary. The technical quality of the work is typically good, but oftentimes the domain knowledge isn't there due to the T+12 issue meaning little time for overlap.