Nearshore Software Development: 6 reasons to choose Portugal

The nearshore industry didn’t grow as it did in Portugal because we’re cheap. You have other countries if the price is all that matters to you. The sector grew because we’re really good at what we do – with the extra that we’re in a great location, we are at a tremendously flexible time zone, most people are highly proficient in English and much more. So, we’re attractive for companies looking for nearshore partners for a myriad of reasons. Let’s discover them.

We mentioned this before, but have you truly noticed how well-located Portugal is? We’re right in the middle of 3 continents – Africa, America and Europe. And the right location is a key factor for the success of a nearshore software development partnership.

Nearshore is a win-win solution exactly because partners can work simultaneously and have onsite visits. You’ll want those trips between your office and the partner’s office to be as easy as possible. Our teams become part of our partners’ teams. And, before the restrictions dictated by the pandemic, our partners would frequently come to our offices. As our employees would often visit our partners and their teams too.

We should let you know that our headquarters has a prime location too. You can find us in Lisbon’s downtown, right next to the Tejo river. And it is really close to Lisbon’s airport – only 7km, in fact.

Nearshore is all about relative geographical proximity – and similar time zones, right? Our airports receive direct flights from most European countries and we have the same time-zone as London, for instance. This maximises the overlapping working hours between different teams.

Communication flows easily and teams don’t have to wait long hours to get answers. You get the efficiency of having teams working simultaneously.

Recalling a little bit of Portuguese history, over the centuries, we have become very creative and resourceful. Generation after generation, people learned to think outside the box. But that’s not all. There’s something else that other countries started to notice about Portugal: the ability that people have to do different tasks simultaneously. We are true experts at multitasking. Such flexibility was incorporated for work and business purposes. Additionally, Portuguese people are easily adaptable people.

Nevertheless, our country has been making lots of public investments to bridge those skills into the new technologies. In fact, out of 141 countries, Portugal ranked 6 in the “Upgrade infrastructure to accelerate the energy transition and broaden access to electricity and ICT” section of the 2020 Global Competitiveness Index.

Also, Portugal is a country of hard-working, welcoming and friendly people. Besides that, it’s a really safe country, having one of the lowest crime rates in the world proves just that.

On one hand, Portuguese people used to emigrate and therefore became used to other languages and cultures. On the other hand, Portugal rose as a tourist destination and people wanted to be able to communicate with visiting foreigners.  So we truly developed our language skills too.

Portugal ranked #7 in the 2020 English Proficiency Index. We’re one of the few countries that ranked “very high” in the proficiency index. Communication is key. And having different teams that perfectly understand each other is a big step to the success of nearshore software development solutions. 

Portugal has been proving itself as a first-class nearshore software development destination. This only happened thanks to all the previously mentioned reasons. But not only – this Iberian country developed its reputation due to a highly skilled and talented workforce.

IT professionals in Portugal are extremely qualified, adaptable and experienced. That’s why you can find a great number of companies opting to have nearshore teams here. Portugal is truly full of talent. We ranked 26 in the World Talent Ranking 2020, above countries like France (28), Spain (32), Poland (35), Japan (38) or Ukraine (42). The report is based on the evaluation of 3 categories (investment & development; appeal; and readiness).

In fact, one of our state Universities was ranked as one of the best 200 universities in the world, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2020. And despite being a small touristic country, we have 9 professional developers per 1,000 inhabitants.

You might think this doesn’t matter, but it does. Have you tried working with happy people who enjoy a great life quality in a sunny European country? As we told you before, we are somehow a tourist paradise. We have thousands of kilometres of coastline with beautiful beaches, our capital is the 3rd sunniest city in Europe and despite being a small country, it has a wide range of tourist offers – from paradisiac beaches to icy mountains, from big cities to small unknown countryside villages. In fact, Portugal was (once again) Europe´s Leading Destination in the World Travel Awards, winning 27 awards in last year’s ceremony. 

Our people love gastronomy – we have so many traditional dishes that we can name a few for each small region of Portugal. And the same applies to our very typical pastries and sweets. Besides that, we know you won’t let us forget about the exceptional wines from various Portuguese regions. We’re pretty sure once you have your software development team in Portugal, you’ll want to come for a visit as many times as possible.

You might be thinking: ok, Portugal is indeed a great nearshore outsourcing location – but how can I choose the best partner there? We’ll help you with that.

By choosing e.near, besides all those advantages of partnering in Portugal, you get something that other nearshore companies don’t have and that can’t be bought: a company culture that develops strong relationships to the point that all members become part of the family – “the e.near family”. And that’s the kind of work culture you want from a nearshore software development team.

With us, it’s not only the management team that supports employees – colleagues always support each other. People who come to work with us understand & apply this camaraderie very quickly. Colleagues are always there to give a helping hand. Because it is easy, it makes everyone closer and, in the end, everyone’s happier at work.

Because of that, we made sure to have an open space office – and a terrace with one of the best views in Lisbon. We want our people to connect, to have fun at work with the rest of the team. (And we have the greatest parties too, but we won’t tell you about it, or you’d send your application to us right away!). Even now that we have to do them online. 

Our culture has been developing over the years, but camaraderie, fun and professionalism are always part of who we are. Happy people always do a better job – if you’re aware of that, you know that e.near offers you top-notch talent and the best possible work environment. Our partners know it.