For some time now, the USA and Europe have started to hire talent from South America, especially in the IT and Computer Science industry. This has a significant effect on those industries over LA and the people that work there. Of course, as always, these effects are in some ways good and some other bad.
One of these globalization effects is that South America IT and Computer Science industry is experiencing a new era of development, where some a lot of talented people are relucting to work on the South of the American continent, because of the prestige and because of the payment. On the other hand, many agencies have been born in the last ten years that only export their work to the USA and European companies, because of the prestige and the hourly rates they can get, hence they become competitive in the market much faster.
How it happened
Social unrest
First, let’s talk about how this phenomenon happened. Latin American countries have suffered severe social unrest in the last decade, reaching the point of generalized vandalization and uprising, like in Ecuador, Chile, and Bolivia, due to decades of mismanagement, poor social conditions, and rancid wealth distribution. By itself, that would have been bad, but added to the COVID pandemic, the economies of Latin-American countries received a heavy blow.
COVID 19
Now, COVID 19 generated a jump forward on time for the SaaS development worldwide and also in Latin America. The lack of infrastructure related to computer sciences and information technologies is a problem throughout LA, but the SaaS rapidly solved that problem for all the companies or professionals in the area due to globalization. With the explosion of SaaS, LA achieves actual development on their IT-related industries and professionals, being impossible to do before.
LA suffered greatly, considering the below and many other issues, and many people and businesses started looking for opportunities abroad. Also, companies in the USA and Europe suffered the blows of the economic crisis, and COVID 19 commenced their rebuilding process looking for talent in places like India and Latin America due to its more competitive hiring prices and the presence of incredible talent.
A second wave of the phenomenon manifested itself in many new businesses created in LA in the computer science and IT sectors, and Scalater is an example. Here, almost all of us have worked in a US or European company before deciding to return and work in LA again. We used to think that we’d never work in LA again, due to its clear disadvantages. However, “this new breed of businesses, where Scalater is just one, convinced us (Scalater employees) that our beliefs were misplaced and founded on our personal experience, which is not always the best way to make decisions and make conclusions.” Jairo Niño, Full Stack at Scalater.
A third wave is B2B development, between companies in the US and Europe and those located in Latin America. They are not always looking for talent or freelancers but business opportunities with small and nuclear companies specializing in key industry sectors. The phenomenon is not unilateral anymore, and now LA IT companies and professionals are actively looking to do business with companies worldwide, especially in Europe and the US.
Consequences
Talent globalization and leakage.
Right now, LA businesses are having difficulties finding top talent in the information technologies and computer science industry due to the globalization and leakage of professionals we’re experiencing. And it’s only natural if people are having a hard time finding a job, and a company offers you better conditions and pay, you wouldn’t think about it either. I know I wouldn’t. Like my colleagues on Scalater, I worked in a European-based company, particularly in Germany.
But this is not only happening with the professionals in the area, but also with the TOP companies that are looking to export their work outside LA due to its more competitive budgets and more “noticeable” or “prestigious” projects, and we’re not out of this practice, on Scalater., and this is because of us, and a lot of other companies on LA, it is near to impossible for us to work with the budgets that we’ve seen on LA, and we tried a lot to work here.
“Dollarization” of the income
The dollar is the world’s most important currency, and we all know that. But for these “new” companies and professionals, the dollar is more important than ever because they’re being paid with dollars now, a thing that just a few professionals and companies have experienced before in LA. Only top managers and the most prominent companies of each LA country used to deal with dollars in their business before, and their employees are still being paid with the currency of their countries. That is changing now, giving us a more international or holistic understanding of the economy, the money, making us interested in things we never expected before.
Technical increase of the jobs
People’s perception of the consequences of this new phenomenon is excellent and “splendorous.” Because of that, many people and businesses have shifted to be a part of the IT and computer science industry. I’m not only talking about companies like marketing or web development agencies, but I also mean traditional universities, governments, and many more. This is slowly generating an increase in the average requirements companies are demanding from their employees and products, consequentially inducing a general growth in the quality of the companies, professionals, and products/services.
There is an abundance of good professionals in the IT industry in Latin America, and the USA and European companies have realized this. – Guillermo Figueroa, SEO at Scalater.
English speaking people have increased
A natural and obvious consequence is that English is becoming more and more critical by the day, and a lot more people than, let’s say ten years ago, are able to understand, write and talk basic English. Eventually, this will generate a more cosmopolitan professional and business community, understanding international business and other cultures much much better.
Conclusion
With time, LA businesses and professionals will reach world-renown quality. When that happens, we’ll experience the fourth wave of this phenomenon. Full-scale talent, business, and ideas export from LA to the world, generating new developments, ideas, and technologies. That will be a great day because the most brains we have in the IT and computer science industry, the faster and the better we’ll further the human efforts for evolution and a green future.
Check this article about the environmental sustainability of the Saas Industry called: IS SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS) A SUSTAINABLE OPTION
