What is Andela?

Andela is a platform for hiring tech talent from Africa and Latin America. They have a pool of over 150,000 professionals in most domains, from product design to engineering. Andela was founded in 2014 by Jeremy Johnson, Christina Sass, Brice Nkengsa, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Ian Carnevale, and Nadayar Enegesi. Carrol Chang is Andela’s current CEO. 

How To Hire Developers On Andela

Here’s Andela’s 4-step process for hiring developers:

1. Create a job post: Fill out a form on their website and define the skills and specific role you want. State the years of experience you want and your budget for the project.
2. ‍Browse potential talent: After filling out the form, you’ll be matched with candidates that fit your criteria. 

3. Schedule an interview: If you spot a potential candidate, you can schedule an interview with them. Discuss your project and goals with them, and see if they’re the right fit for your team.

4. Hire and start working: If any of them seem like the right fit, you can hire them. Andela handles the onboarding process, so you can start working with the developer. 

The whole hiring process, however, can take up to 2 weeks.

Andela’s Vetting Process

1. Candidates apply on Andela’s website to be accepted into their talent pool. 
2. They must pass an AI-powered English proficiency test.
3. Next, they must pass coding challenges developed by senior engineers to test their problem-solving and programming skills. 
4. Candidates also go through a live interview with Andela recruiters. They assess their reasoning, communication skills, personality, and work style.
5. Successful applicants are verified and added to Andela’s talent pool.

Client reviews of Andela

With a 4.7 star rating on G2, Andela has earned some plaudits for its services. Clients have praised the quality of the developers they hired. However, there were complaints about their high turnover and inability to self-manage. 

Pros and cons of Andela

Pros

1. Transparent pricing: Andela is clear on the pay range for their developers on their website and charges no extra fees. 
2. ‍Large talent pool: Andela boasts over 50,000 engineers on their platform. The chances are that you'll find a developer for your tech stack.

Cons

1. Few senior developers: Andela has not had many skilled developers join their talent pool. They only recently switched to bringing on board veteran programmers.
2. ‍Only long-term hires: All Andela contracts are signed for 12 months, meaning they’re not the right fit if you’d like to hire developers for short-term projects.‍
3. Lenient vetting process: Andela uses AI in its screening process. AI testing hasn’t been proven effective in determining quality hires as it lacks the human touch to understand personal dynamics. 
4. ‍Expensive developers: Some devs cost as much as $15,000 a month. 
5. ‍Inability to self-manage: Some clients have reported that the developers they hired needed constant managing and supervising despite working for a full year with them.
6. ‍High turnover: Some clients were unhappy with the high turnover of devs hired.
7. No free trial available.

Andela pricing

Andela charges an average monthly flat rate of up to $15,000 per developer. Considering that all contracts are signed for at least 12 months, you could be paying as much as $180,000.

If you choose to hire their developer as your full-time employee, be ready to cough up an additional $50,000 direct hiring fee. 

Top Andela Alternatives

Andela is a great platform for hiring tech talent, but it may not be the best fit for all your needs if:

• You have a tight budget.
• You need to hire a more experienced developer.
• You want to hire developers for short-term projects.

In either of these cases, you need to resort to other platforms, such as these: 

ReactSquad

ReactSquad is a marketplace of vetted React developers for SaaS startups. We’ve worked with fast-growing startups like ReferralRock, ConversionFactory, Dango, and many more. We’re your go-to choice for hiring React specialists for your team. All our devs are rigorously vetted and handpicked by Jan Hesters, our CTO. 

Here’s what you gain:

✅ Fast matching with a dev within 48 hours.

✅ Simple, affordable, and transparent pricing of $75/hour.

✅ 7-day no-risk free trial.

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If you want to hire a React dev within 48 hours, book a call today.

CloudDevs

CloudDevs is a hiring platform that provides Latin American devs to companies looking to hire. CloudDevs has worked with several VC-funded startups and enterprise companies. They’re a good choice if you want to work with developers in South American time zones.

CloudDevs features

• You can work with hired developers outside of the platform after reaching mutual agreements.
• Developers are skillful in C#, C++, React Js, Django, Java, Net, Ruby on Rails, etc. 
• Risk-free 7-day trial 
• You must pay a $500 deposit before your project starts.
• Developer rates are between $50 - $75 per hour.
• Hiring takes up to 10 days to complete.

Toptal

Toptal is a global hiring platform for recruiting top freelance developers. This platform can help you hire tech talent at any seniority level from anywhere in the world. They’re known for their strict vetting process, ensuring quality engineers at very premium rates.

Some features of Toptal

• Their screening process involves English tests, technical interviews, coding exercises and real-world test projects. 
• They have a 2-week risk-free trial period. If you’re unsatisfied, you can request a refund. 
• Pricing is generally at $100-$200 per hour. There’s also a $79 monthly subscription fee for using their platform. 
• Hiring can take up to two weeks to be completed. 

Turing

Turing is another popular platform where US and Canadian companies hire talented software developers. It has a talent pool of over 2 million qualified candidates from all over the world. However, with such a large number, quality tends to suffer, especially as Toptal uses AI to vet developers. Its AI matching, while fast, often leads to mismatches because AI lacks the human touch. 

Turing features

• Risk-free 2-week trial.
• You can hire a developer within a week.
• Turing has developers based anywhere in the world.
• AI is used in assessing candidates. This is yet to be proven effective in filtering quality candidates. \
• Dev rates vary from $100-$200 per hour, depending on seniority.

Bridge

Bridge is a service that helps companies hire software developers from Eastern Europe and Latin America remotely. They prioritize matching developers with full-time roles, so they’re not ideal for short-term projects. Currently, Bridge recruits developers from 11 countries.

Bridge features

• Vetting involves English tests and engineering interviews to be added to their pool.
• The Bridge team handles payroll, tax documents, onboarding, and employee benefits for you.
• Hiring can take up to 4 weeks.
• Bridge developers specialize in Android, Swift, Scala, Golang, Rust, etc. 
• Pricing starts from $50 per hour.

What is the best Andela alternative?

The table provides the best platforms for different situations. 

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With Andela, you can hire from a large talent pool. The legal aspects are also handled, making it easy to find highly skilled developers. But the 12-month long contracts could be a hindrance if you’re not looking to commit for that long. 

In certain use cases, like hiring React-focused projects, it’s better to use specialists like ReactSquad. We’ll make your hiring smooth and easy. You also enjoy a no-risk 7 day free trial. If you’re unsatisfied, the bill is on us. 

Book a call with ReactSquad today and get matched within 48 hours.

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