The Conversation: An Intro to Tech Services in Peru

Peru’s often overlooked in conversations about nearshore IT. While the Latin American landscape has for decades been dominated by giants like Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina, Peru managed to carve a space of its own in the market for nearshore tech services. A space that seems to be steadily growing.

In order to understand where Peru stands in the nearshore IT space, we set up a virtual round table with representatives of three international companies that operate in the country: Giuliana Corbo (CEO of Nearsure), Fabiola Claro (People Operations Coordinator at Blue Coding) and Rodolfo Solano (Sr. Manager of Software Engineering at Hatchworks).

All three shared their experiences and thoughts on several topics relevant to understanding Peru as a location for tech outsourcing: the quality of IT skills that can be found in the country; the challenges related to dealing with clients from the US; the rise of alternative geos for sourcing beyond the capital, etc. A selection of their most insightful and valuable comments can be found below.

On Peruvian techies

The first question that comes to mind for any organization interested in nearshore IT is: are the skills there? In Peru’s case, the response seems to be: of course they are. All three participants agreed that Peruvian engineers are not only well versed in market relevant technologies, but they’re also willing to upskill and are already building capabilities in cutting-edge tech like AI.

“We’ve been discovering Peru over the past couple years. We have 17 people there; growth has been very fast. The quality of the team, their technical skills, are very good. You get talent from several technology stacks: .NET, javascript. We’re building an AI team, with a very good data team. We’ve been discovering great AI skills there.”—Giuliana Corbo

“On the technical side, they are pretty good. The technical guys we’ve hired in Peru have been willing to take the certifications, to continue studying and improving their technical skills.”—Rodolfo Solano

“We have a lot of senior tech people here in Peru. Quality is great among those with the experience […] The Peruvian government is investing in scholarships to turn people into software developers, or train them in QA Automation, making agreements with bootcamps from universities or even from outside Peru. But there’s no emphasis on training people to have them work for foreign companies.”—Fabiola Claro

Communicating with US Customers

Nearshore outsourcing is highly dependent on a team’s ability to communicate effectively with clients. The burden of dialogue cannot be laid entirely on sales reps or tech leads, however. All members of the team should be able to speak clearly and concisely. And, most probably, they’ll have to do it in English. Unfortunately, that seems to be the Achilles heel of Peruvian tech.

“At Blue Coding, our positions are open to all prospects in Latin America. Our recruiting team receives few applications from Peru, and about half of them are rejected due to English skills. That’s why we end up hiring people from Argentina, Colombia and other places where the English level is higher. When I myself have recruited here in Peru for Peruvian companies, it’s hard to find people with the language level required to speak with clients.”—Fabiola Claro

“There have been some guys that we had to put in extra programs to get up to speed in that area. English and communications are the two things in which our people in Peru required some extra coaching […] Peru doesn’t have an environment or ecosystem of big companies established in its territory; particularly companies from the US. That might be a reason for the gap [in English skills].”—Rodolfo Solano

“In terms of English, I don’t have that feeling [of it being poor]. Our experience [in Peru] has been great with English skills.”—Giuliana Corbo

Beyond Lima

Saturation is one of nearshore IT’s main concerns. In Latin American countries, it’s common for business, academia and technology to be centralized in capital cities. Lima is certainly Peru’s most important city, and anyone interested in exploring the country’s tech sector will most probably land there. But options do exist.

“Besides Lima, we also have people in Arequipa, Trujillo and Ica.”—Rodolfo Solano

“It’s not only about Lima. I feel like there’s good talent all around. In Arequipa and Trujillo.”—Giuliana Corbo

“Definitely Arequipa and Trujillo. I’m not sure why. I know Arequipa has a very important university for software engineering and computer science. We have a lot of people hired from Trujillo too. I guess, since the pandemic, a lot of people returned to their hometowns outside of the capital.”—Fabiola Claro

How to land in Perú/LATAM

Landing in any nearshore or offshore geo can be complicated. Each of the participants in this conversation shared different approaches to breaking into tech markets around Latin America. Some went for a more traditional approach of visiting offices and shaking hands. Others are flying pretty much by themselves, trusting their gut and the things they already know about the terrain.

“Whenever we want to open an office in another country, we usually move someone to that place and start making connections. Usually we do it all by ourselves, by hiring the right people to start growing locally.”—Fabiola Claro

“We didn’t speak to anybody specifically. We have the experience of how much we grew over the past year, and how fast. What we want to do is open an office and get more people to know Nearsure; that’s our strategy […] Until now, we’ve been flying by ourselves. If we have change that a couple of months down the line, I’ll let you know. But for now, I think we’re doing pretty well by ourselves.”—Giuliana Corbo

“Per my conversations with Brandon [Powell], our CEO, when we invested in Costa Rica and Colombia, he had local friends and contacts who helped establish all the infrastructure needed. You have to set up a legal entity, start speaking with the government, find a place for your offices. You need locals to help you navigate that environment. That’s, in my opinion, the best way to be successful; particularly in Latin America, where doing business can be complicated. To do things the right way, you need some advice.”—Rodolfo Solano

Introducing: The Conversation

At Nearshore Americas, we know that one of the best ways to understand any potential business location is to speak with the people already operating there.

This is the first of what will be a series of conversations with people and organizations operating in the nearshore. Our aim is to foster dialogue in order to provide an accurate picture of the successes achieved and the challenges faced in the region during times of growth and disruption, as well as to establish stronger connections in a space that seems fragmented, at least when viewed from afar.