If you’ve ever heard about Costa Rica, you’ve probably heard about an stunning country with a widely diverse culture, people, history, and geography. But as a developing economy Costa Rica is no longer known only for being a natural paradise, but also for becoming a popular destination for outsourcing of talent, including technological services, web design, quality assurance testing, and custom software development. This growth can be greatly attributed to an often unmentioned aspect of Costa Rica—its natural, symbiotic cultural fit with North America.
Offshoring work to the other side of the world is a viable solution for some projects if you are looking to reduce costs. But executives looking into this option understand the risks and tradeoffs that this entails in quality and service, not to mention, for Agile development projects that require ongoing communication and collaboration within a similar time zone, offshoring can hinder project velocity. We needed a better option.
Nearshoring IT projects can not only significantly reduce cost, but also allow for companies abroad to fill staffing needs at a fast pace while receiving similar or even higher quality work. Let me tell you about tico culture, and walk you through why Costa Rica is such a good fit for development.
Communication and collaboration
Two factors that contribute to the success of agile development are communication and collaboration skills. The tico culture lends itself well to building the type of integrated teams. We know from experience that our clients sometimes have difficulty discerning between their US in-house team members and the Costa Rica-based ones during daily stand-ups due to a natural ongoing dialogue between team members and clear, focused decision-making during critical project milestones.
Ticos are passionate about helping their clients succeed, they readily brainstorm, problem-solve, and suggest alternatives to ensure the success of a project, as opposed to sticking to an strictly transactional duty—all of this simply because its ingrained in their working culture.
Innovative software culture
Costa Rica has a strong community of developers and technology professionals, think of it as the Central American equivalent of Silicon Valley. From meetups to hackathons and programs designed to involve women in science and technology, Costa Rica’s vibrant and innovative software culture has attracted many companies eager to establish development centers in the country. The developer community has also contributed to a burgeoning startup ecosystem which is a benefit to US companies wanting to tap into a culture of creative problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking.
English fluency
While Spanish is the native language in Costa Rica, it is one of the most westernized, bilingual countries in all Latin America, it boasts a 97.98% literacy rate and is the second-highest in English proficiency in Latin America and top-30 globally.
Besides these things, Costa Rica has aligned itself with North American culture through its business practices and dedication to science and technology education. The tech community also pursues certifications that are valuable to North American businesses, such as PMP, Six Sigma, ITIL, Scrum, and more; and is rapidly on the rise in topics such as cybersecurity, AI, UX, cloud systems, and digital architectures.
The services offered by outsourcing technology companies can range anywhere from mobile design, website design, and custom software, to staff augmentation and consulting services. It’s no secret outsourcing enables businesses to expand their operation while generating value through cost-savings, and choosing Costa Rica is, put simply, a smart choice for North American companies looking to get the best out of this venture.
