Survey reveals the truth why American companies outsource to freelance developers

Kyiv, Ukraine – September 10, 2020 – The research by Lemon.io reveals that American companies often rely on freelance developers when building their products. The study highlights the reasons why American companies use the services of freelance developers, as well as fears and risks that withhold them from doing so.

The lack of information always begets myths and misconceptions. For too long, there was little to none reliable research the market of freelance developers. Who are they? Who are the companies hiring them? What are the risks and benefits of working with freelance developers? Many businesses using the services of independent contractors had to act from inside of a huge knowledge gap. 

“Hiring freelancers has been a grey and lonely area for years. Everyone does that but no one talks it. Startups talk building a culture, finding the best first employees possible, but we rarely mention that our MVPs were built by Ukrainian guys from a city whose name we can’t pronounce, or by an Indian girl who completed weeks of work in just two days. So we figured, this would be a good time to start talking how and why we work with freelance developers,” says Alexander Volodarskiy, the founder and CEO of Lemon.io.

The study shows that the absolute majority of the respondents have worked with freelance developers in the past. Most of them have marked their experience as positive (27% for “very good, 44% for “good”) and 86% would recommend hiring a freelancer to their fellow startuppers. 41% of respondents prefer to hire freelance developers from Eastern Europe, 40% would hire in the US or Canada. Companies hiring in Eastern Europe explain their choice by great previous experience, big talent pool, and best available rates.

Research also covers the topics of bias that keep American companies from hiring freelance developers, typical tasks which businesses don’t trust to freelancers, employers feelings towards freelancers in comparison to in-house developers, as well as what factors contribute to positive and negative experiences of working with freelancers. 

The study was conducted from February 2020 to June 2020. Over 300 representatives of businesses registered in the United States participated in the survey, most of them (32%) stated they were CEO/Director of their company.  

Lemon.io believes it will become a valuable source of information for startup owners who consider hiring freelancers, as well as for tech blogs and other media resources researching the subject. Full report is available for free download on Lemon’s website: Startups VS. Freelancers Report. 

Lemon.io

Lemon.io is a platform matching early-stage startups with some of the best offshore software developers. By vetting freelance developers before hiring, Lemon ensures its clients – early-stage startups – get instant access to extra dev hands in no time. As a customer fills out the project description, Lemon combines matching algorithms with the human touch to connect them with the perfect developer within hours.