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For anyone who has worked with a tech company based in Florida, this has been the norm for 15 years. It started with Buenos Aires/Argentina based devs in early

For anyone who has worked with a tech company based in Florida, this has been the norm for 15 years. It started with Buenos Aires/Argentina based devs in early 2000s and then clusters started popping up in Bogota, Mexico City, Santiago, and now in 2nd tier Latam cities too. In mid 2000s there was a big push in universities across LatAm to teach OSS tools. One of my friends had a team of 250 engineers in Guatemala like 10 years ago. There was a brief period 6-7 years ago when Venezuela was in between dictators that they had hints of a blossoming nearshoring industry. Eventually situation got too dangerous and all those that could left to other countries. So these teams can be built, and this is not new.

NickC25 3y ago
I'm in South Florida. All big companies here have a big tech presence in LatAm, especially Argentina & Chile. The last company I worked for had maybe 5 developers tops locally, the rest were based in Argentina. Funny enough my old landlord is not technical at all yet runs a near-shoring dev shop, primarily in Argentina....she charges a pittance in pure USD terms compared with local devs but somehow she's managed to make a very solid living for herself. I also lived in DF (Mexico City) for a little while, the tech scene there is very strong. IIRC, YC has funded a handful of companies based there - I don't blame them as that city is growing, modernizing quickly, and is a fast, direct flight to any major tech hub in the US. Plus the cost of living is low, and the street food is genuinely incredible. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to dip their toes into LatAm but doesn't want to fly all the way to Santiago, Sao Paolo or Buenos Aires.
- haliskerbas 3y ago
  How did she connect her devs with her clients?
  - NickC25 3y ago
    That, I do not know - I'd have to ask. I'm guessing she acts as an intermediary/agent of sorts, and probably has 1-2 PMs or lead engineers here in the US, so all external calls are with that group, and then the work is partitioned off from there to the team in Argentina.
  - brianbreslin 3y ago
    When I first recruited devs in latam 18 years ago, I posted job ads in the local newspaper, local job boards, etc. (I had no idea what I was doing tbh). I think today I would reach out to the professors at the local universities, many of whom I've met over the years running their own nearshoring shops as their main source of income vs teaching.
yardie 3y ago
We've bumped into each other. I'm also a Miami dev and part of the 00s brain drain. It's been exciting to see this city change so much. And I've gotten to meet so many amazing developers and engineers.
- NickC25 3y ago
  Probably. I've been down here 7 years now and I used to be pretty active in the local scene in terms of going to meetups, talks, etc.. I am not as active these days but participated in Hack Week. We probably have a few folks in common. Do you participate in any of the meetups like Brickell Tech Tuesday, the Wynwood Tech slack group, etc..?
  - yardie 3y ago
    On my way to the miami tech happy hour now. I participated at ‘22 and ‘23 Hack Week. I was really impressed by the winners, Yenta.
    - NickC25 3y ago
      Neat - I was in the Social House this year during Hack Week. Hack Week is great but it just kind of adds to the whole notion that Miami isn't really a city to grow in, it's a city to come down for a little bit, do something, and leave. Very transient, almost too transient. I was one of 3 people in my house that actually live here, even though the house's roster was close to 40 people. Everyone was from SF/LA.
  - brianbreslin 3y ago
    Is wynwood tech slack group still around? There was a period a few years back when there were like 5 competing slack groups (MIA Tech, Miamitech, RefreshMiami, WynwoodTech, etc). Also Hey Joe! I used to be much more active in the local scene, but having a kid + covid shifted my focus to other things. But it is wild to see how much it has changed here in 5 years.
    - 3y ago

NickC25 3y ago

I'm in South Florida. All big companies here have a big tech presence in LatAm, especially Argentina & Chile. The last company I worked for had maybe 5 developers tops locally, the rest were based in Argentina. Funny enough my old landlord is not technical at all yet runs a near-shoring dev shop, primarily in Argentina....she charges a pittance in pure USD terms compared with local devs but somehow she's managed to make a very solid living for herself. I also lived in DF (Mexico City) for a little while, the tech scene there is very strong. IIRC, YC has funded a handful of companies based there - I don't blame them as that city is growing, modernizing quickly, and is a fast, direct flight to any major tech hub in the US. Plus the cost of living is low, and the street food is genuinely incredible. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to dip their toes into LatAm but doesn't want to fly all the way to Santiago, Sao Paolo or Buenos Aires.

haliskerbas 3y ago
How did she connect her devs with her clients?
- NickC25 3y ago
  That, I do not know - I'd have to ask. I'm guessing she acts as an intermediary/agent of sorts, and probably has 1-2 PMs or lead engineers here in the US, so all external calls are with that group, and then the work is partitioned off from there to the team in Argentina.
- brianbreslin 3y ago
  When I first recruited devs in latam 18 years ago, I posted job ads in the local newspaper, local job boards, etc. (I had no idea what I was doing tbh). I think today I would reach out to the professors at the local universities, many of whom I've met over the years running their own nearshoring shops as their main source of income vs teaching.

yardie 3y ago

We've bumped into each other. I'm also a Miami dev and part of the 00s brain drain. It's been exciting to see this city change so much. And I've gotten to meet so many amazing developers and engineers.

NickC25 3y ago
Probably. I've been down here 7 years now and I used to be pretty active in the local scene in terms of going to meetups, talks, etc.. I am not as active these days but participated in Hack Week. We probably have a few folks in common. Do you participate in any of the meetups like Brickell Tech Tuesday, the Wynwood Tech slack group, etc..?
- yardie 3y ago
  On my way to the miami tech happy hour now. I participated at ‘22 and ‘23 Hack Week. I was really impressed by the winners, Yenta.
  - NickC25 3y ago
    Neat - I was in the Social House this year during Hack Week. Hack Week is great but it just kind of adds to the whole notion that Miami isn't really a city to grow in, it's a city to come down for a little bit, do something, and leave. Very transient, almost too transient. I was one of 3 people in my house that actually live here, even though the house's roster was close to 40 people. Everyone was from SF/LA.
- brianbreslin 3y ago
  Is wynwood tech slack group still around? There was a period a few years back when there were like 5 competing slack groups (MIA Tech, Miamitech, RefreshMiami, WynwoodTech, etc). Also Hey Joe! I used to be much more active in the local scene, but having a kid + covid shifted my focus to other things. But it is wild to see how much it has changed here in 5 years.
  - 3y ago