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Over recent years, Java development services outsourcing has become a vital part of a lot of businesses of any size. We have previously discussed the benefits of such innovative technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for the Retail, Finance, Banking, Manufacturing, and Food industries. Today we will take a different path. Instead of highlighting just another novel game-changer technology, we will take a closer look at outsource java development, it’s benefits and costs.

In this article, we will review the benefits of the programming language, describe in detail how software engineers actually do coding in it, and provide some information on salaries in case you are looking to hire Java developers. You will also learn about the pros and cons of forming a remote team and hiring Java development specialists for it. Building an efficient remote team was vital during the Coronavirus pandemic, and now it is an essential part of operations in many businesses. Read this article and learn more about the basics of hiring the right experts. Are you ready? Let’s get started!

“Truth can only be found in one place: the code.”
― Robert C. Martin

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Market Overview of Java

For over 25 years, Java has been one of the most popular technologies in the world. According to recent research, it is currently the second most popular programming language after Python, and also definitely one of the most favorite development technologies among experts. Java shares the top spots with HTML, CSS, Python, SQL, and JavaScript, with the latest release being dated March 21, 2023.

In 2023, the most popular LTS is Java 11 (56%), followed by Java 8 (33%). The more recent LTS is actually Java 17 that was released in September 2021 and currently has an only 9% market adoption, according to New Relic. However, the adoption of Java 17 has grown 430% in just one year!

There is still no information on the adoption of the latest Java 20, so the older versions are currently leading the market.

The responsibilities of a Java Developer

Java Developers are the masterminds behind many IT solutions. They design and build software products from the ground up, recommending innovative solutions to improve user experience and the client’s business processes.

Java Developers’ roles and responsibilities vary depending on the level of the organization’s ownership, but typically they include activities related to creating or expanding business software applications. Java Developers may work on a specific programming task, or be part of a full-scale software development effort. These programmers are responsible for:

Designing, developing, and maintaining Java applications.
Analyzing software, testing results, and debugging efforts. This includes recommendations as to the improvement of the existing processes.
Creating stipulations based on project requirements and finding production-related and other issues.

If you want to hire freelance Java developer and don’t know what to expect them based on their experience level we got you. There are probably as many opinions on how to classify programmers as programmers themselves, but, hopefully, this description will be fair enough:

A Junior Java Developer’s role and responsibilities

Entry-level experts can’t work independently without continuous guidance. This kind of specialist has little-to-no knowledge of the business domain. Junior Developers can find even some of the basics of the programming language and the related set of tools challenging. Thus, they can’t take on much responsibility. Consequently, having too many Junior Programmers without proper supervision can become a problem. Anyone at the beginner’s stage could be considered “junior”.

A Medium Java Developer’s role and responsibilities

A mid-level expert must have a certain amount of coding experience. At this level, a specialist is expected to be able to work independently and deliver results for most tasks without much outside help. If any problems occur, the medium-level programmer must know what exactly they need and whom to ask for a solution.

A Senior Java Developer’s role and responsibilities

Senior Java developers have even more experience. They must be able to not only complete the tasks they are assigned to but also design solutions. They may lack an overall vision of the architecture, so their designs must be approved beforehand. They are able to mentor and even lead junior-level programmers.

Best Countries for Java Development Project Outsourcing

While you can hire Java developers almost everywhere, some regions are more cost-effective as compared to others. Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia can offer reasonable prices, while providing top experts.

For example, Eastern-European countries, are great, because they offer such benefits over other regions, as:

A sizable IT Talent pool.
More than 3,500 IT providers.
Diversity in tech expertise.
Experience in almost any business vertical.
A high level of education.
A high level of English.

So, you should probably consider countries like Ukraine, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Bulgaria as your Java Development outsourcing destinations.

However, every business scenario is unique, so you have to pick your country based on a variety of factors, including your needs, the time zones, the available talent pool, the level of English, any cultural differences, and the political situation.

Outsourcing vs. In-House: which is better for your business?

The best choice for your business depends on your goals and priorities. In this quick overview, we would like to focus on the fortes of both approaches to find out which is a better fit in your case. With a clear budget, deadline, and project scope, it will be relatively easier to make a decision, considering the information presented below.

An in-house team is the best choice if face-to-face meetings are really important for your project. With your project team located on your premises, you can receive quick feedback, control your experts, and coordinate their work. You can forget about the language barriers or cultural differences — the ease of communication and the ability to change direction are the main advantages here.

Outsourcing your software to an offshore software development team gives you an edge in scalability and access to the intellectual capabilities of the development talent regardless of your geography. Partnering with an outsourcing firm can give you access to precisely the kind of experts that you actually need for the job.

Furthermore, with an in-house team, you must always make sure that your workforce has a sufficient workload to stay cost-efficient. In the case of a software outsourcing arrangement, you hire people for specific objectives for a specific period of time. An outsourced team is much less expensive because you skip the recruitment process, training, and even the interviews, aimed to help you find the appropriate candidates. Your experts keep their jobs based on their performance and not any other commitment you have towards them. The time-to-market is much faster due to the performance-based approach. Most importantly, the pool of available experts is basically limitless, as compared with an in-house team.

If you choose to create a project team on your premises, all the details on hiring the right people you would need to know could be enough for a bunch of articles. But in the case of outsourcing that seems like the best option for your goals, we will delve deep into the details to help you hire the right remote Java Developers.

How much does it cost to hire Java Developers?

According to UpWork, the average hourly salaries of Java developers in 2023, are:

Junior: $25 per hour
Middle: $49 per hour
Senior: $160 per hour

However, it is just averages, and it goes much deeper than that. The region is a deciding factor in hiring Java developers. The United States is considered to be the most expensive country to hire developers, with annual salaries reaching $200,000 for senior developers, and the minimum exceeding $100,000 for junior developers.

The salaries in Western Europe are significantly lower. The experts there earn from $40,000 to $150,000, and the annual junior developer salary may start from $20,000.

How to hire Java developers? A few things you need to bear in mind

The following tips can help you with hiring a Java developer or an entire team of experts.

Choose the best cooperation model for outsourced Java development

If you have technical skills and require experts for specific goals, hiring Java developers as freelancers could be the easiest and most effective option. However, if you have a long-term project with a scope that might change in the future, partnering with an outsourcing company can be a better option.

One of the most important parts of partnering with another company is choosing a suitable engagement model to build a lasting partnership. Learn more about such models, such as Extended Team, Dedicated Development Team, and Managed Product to determine how you can benefit. In a nutshell, the right cooperation model can spare you the hassle of hiring experts and managing the development process, while letting you focus on the business aspects.

Partner up with the right company for outsourcing Java development services

If you are considering working with a Java outsourcing company, make sure to check its track record on outsourced Java projects. Some case studies on long-lasting projects might be a sign that your potential partnership will deliver good results. The knowledge and experience in your specific industry will be a big plus. Please don’t rush into choosing a partner. As we have discussed earlier, there are plenty of options, so take your time to find a perfect match!

Be specific in your requirements

Ensure that your recruitment team is not using some generic Java Developer job descriptions that don’t say anything about the actual job.

Your candidates must have the specific set of technical skills and soft skills required for the job. Highlight the key technologies in your stack and your business domain. This can narrow down the number of candidates and help you find the right people more quickly.

Java as a programming language is very versatile. It covers a wide range of areas in web development services and mobile application development. You, or your technical team, need to understand what the JSF, Strut, Grails, Play, Spring, and Maven frameworks are, and which of them you require for your outsourced Java project. There is a chance that you will find an expert who does not have the skills in the required tech stack. After your requirements are defined, make sure that the actual interview includes questions about the development skills, tools, and key strengths (for example, the candidate’s experience with wireframes, user experience design, or their knowledge of APIs).

Get motivated experts

On the other hand, you need to understand the motivation of your potential candidates. You must understand what exactly drives experts to be a part of your company. Is it a good salary or an interesting project? Or maybe it is an opportunity for potential growth? Clearly understanding your employees’ motivation can help you keep them on the team even in the most challenging of situations.

Your outsource java developers need to have a fine-tuned process

Motivation is a good thing and a significant factor for the success of any team. However, the experts you add to your team must understand the product development process. If we’re talking about hiring Java developers in a dedicated development team, the complete understanding of Agile principles and its practical implementation of Scrum is mandatory for maximal efficiency. Of course, they can use some other process, like Waterfall. But based on our experience, the Agile/Scrum combination is the best for most of the projects. Java development outsourcing is not an exception. In case the development team you hire is not adhering to the principles of Agile, you will probably need to spend some time coaching them; otherwise, you may not get the best results due to the chaotic process.

SPD Technology as Your Outsource Java Development Partner

SPD Technology has been offering Java development services to businesses worldwide since 2006.

Currently, we have onboard more than 200 experts who are proficient in Java as well as in some other technologies. Furthermore, more than 70 of them are Oracle-Certified top Java Developers, this number being continuously on the rise. The projects our Java software engineers are working on include those for businesses in the Finance, FinTech, E-Commerce, Biotech, Travelling, and Logistics industries.

While developing a product for a leading financial data and SaaS provider, SPD Technology leveraged its Java development expertise to scale both the client’s organizational and development processes. This was necessary to move the entire organization from a monolithic solution to a microservice-based architecture.

Switching to microservices allowed each team to be responsible for a specific component (or service) within the organization, while also eliminating the disadvantage of having a single code repository.

Java offers a great infrastructure for developing microservice architecture. In this particular case, we incorporated microservices into the financial data provider’s ecosystem by using frameworks such as Spring and gRPC. As a result, currently, the financial data provider has multiple sub-teams that are working on different business goals separately. SPD Technology’s project team continues to splitting a monolith into smaller parts of functionality for better overall performance.

Java played a pivotal role in the project and included the following:

As the number of microservices was increased, Java’s support and integration of Open API contracts dramatically simplified the communication between them.
Using Java enabled the implementation of a load search system for locating information across a dozen data sources based on hundreds of criteria. The developed search functionality had a response time of up to 100 milliseconds. The search system also included the ability to sort, filter, and analyze the retrieved information.
Using Java helped our developers easily implement a mini version of the file-based, key-value storage, optimized for project-specific read-write operations.

While implementing this, as well as some other Java projects, we had teams in different countries. Thanks to our use of Java, these collaborations were highly efficient, with all the key decisions being made quickly and consistently.

To improve the work of our distributed Java development teams even further, we use Metucat, an Integrated Framework for developing, maintaining, and evolving data-centric applications. Metucat drives and controls application development using visual metadata, where the architecture becomes an organic part of the system.

This framework improves the quality of a product, communication between team members, scaling, and provides a comprehensive insight into available datasets. Most importantly for Java developers, Metucat allows distributed teams to work on different parts of the product independently.

Conclusion

Despite being a long-standing technology, Java is currently experiencing an upsurge in popularity and has limitless potential for the future. According to DistantJob, there are currently 9.4 million Java developers in the world. Developers are opting for this technology because new versions are released on a regular basis, providing all the features that are necessary to handle modern development tasks. Technology has some drawbacks, but all of them can be solved.

Probably, the principal advantage of Java for enterprises is that this programming language enables efficient collaboration among remote teams. That is why businesses should consider hiring Java Programmers for development tasks in the current situation. Nobody knows when things return to normal after the current global pandemic, so there is a high expectation that more businesses will switch to remote work in the near future. Your business can benefit from cooperation with development teams in other countries. Consider SPD Technology as a trusted partner that can help you bring your vision to life!

FAQ

How can businesses overcome challenges in communication and collaboration with outsourced Java development teams?

In the same way, as with any other outsourced collaboration: a clear project scope, transparent communication, a dedicated Project Manager, adherence to Agile and Scrum, knowledge sharing, and leveraging of collaboration tools.

What security measures should businesses take to protect their intellectual property when outsourcing Java development?

A comprehensive set of security measures for this includes NDA and Confidentiality Agreements, Access Control and Authentication, Data Encryption, Regular Monitoring and Auditing, Secure Communication Channels, and Physical Security Measures.

How can businesses ensure the quality and timely delivery of outsourced Java development projects?

It all starts with picking the right outsourcing partner and signing comprehensive contracts and agreements. After that, you need to make sure to set up effective project management and follow Agile for the best results. You need to have effective communication channels with your vendor to be flexible to react to any changes and challenges.

Outsourcing Java Development in 2023: The Ultimate Guide