Prioritizing staffing in a skill shortage is not all that different than prioritizing your spending when creating a budget. Or just like when you’re at the grocery store and realize there’s ₪120 in your cart and only ₪100 in your wallet. Odds are, you’ll set aside the least vital item. It’s also likely that if the store doesn’t have something you need, you’ll try to find it at another store. But, if you were a mobile shopper, you’d check prices and availability before you got to the store.
Israel’s shortage of tech talent presents a good chance that you’ll face one or both of these situations. If you find candidates with the skills you need may be asking for more than you can budget for them.
But, do you need software developers on-site to develop your software? Not unless you’re working on some kind of top-secret government program. In at least 95% of other software development projects, it doesn’t matter much if the developer is at the office, at home, at an internet cafe, or sitting on the beach with their laptop.
Nearly none of what a software developer does requires their physical presence unlike a cashier at a store, a warehouse worker stocking shelves, or the like. Meetings, though always best conducted in person, can be handled online – just like many investor companies are doing to speed up processes with startups.
The only four things a software developer needs to do their job are:
- A computer
- Requisite software
- An internet connection
- The software specification – or task
- Skills that match the software project’s requirements
Many companies are finding that #5 (developer skills) are themselves enough of a bottleneck without also requiring them to be within immediate driving distance of a central office.