Founded in 2018, Provision is a technology company that develops cloud software to streamline food safety and QA. The software allows clients to build simple digital templates that expedite recordkeeping with automatic schedules, rules, and alerts, increasing compliance. With food safety and quality data centralized in one hub, their software makes completing audits and analyzing processes faster and easier.
After closing their first major investment round in 2020, they created the front-end UI/UX design system for intuitive use and scaled the company across Canada. In 2021, Provision tripled in size, closed their second major investment, and landed their first major clients and partners outside of North America.
Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Provision has 24 employees, including eight on their development team with the company projected to double in size over the next two years.
Outsourcing developers to scale quickly and cost-effectively
When it was time to scale their development team, the Calgary-based startup was having a difficult time finding local talent with the skills they were looking for.
“The Calgary market did not have the level of expertise I needed,” said Provision’s CTO, Terry Thibodeau. “COVID really opened up the possibility of remote work and made that kind of a necessity.”
The demand for high-quality developers has been very competitive making it difficult for companies to attract and retain talent. With the acceleration and adoption of remote work worldwide, Provision saw an opportunity to expand their talent search to other markets.
“As a startup, you have budget restrictions and have to be very discerning about the cost of resources,” said Thibodeau.
After working with a remote team in Serbia, the time zone difference was challenging and was not working for the company. However, Provision was not ready to give up on exploring talent pools outside of North America. When choosing where to outsource developers, the company identified two critical factors: time zone and strong English communication skills.
Ready to explore other options, Terry connected with Teamit, a relationship he has had with the founders for 18 years as both a candidate and hiring manager seeking technical recruitment services. Familiar with the talent challenges Provision was experiencing, Teamit presented Brazil as a solution.
Finding developers with passion and expertise
As the leading Latin American country for outsourcing developers, Brazil has a large talent pool and is globally recognized for its top-ranked science and technology schools.
With Provision’s drive to expand further, globally, and South America being one of the world’s largest food producers, tapping into Brazil’s talent pool aligned with the company’s vision.
“We were looking at South America anyway and it was a nice fit potentially for the future as we might even open an office in Brazil in 2024,” noted Thibodeau. “Brazil made a lot of sense from a time zone, cost, and expertise level.”
When it was time to discuss the company’s talent needs, Provision was looking for intermediate-to-senior developers who were driven by passion and had expertise in technology methodologies and architectural patterns that spanned multiple technologies. This included Java, React, APIs, front-end, cloud native software, and mobile and web applications.
Teamit's candidates are vetted, high-quality and referred through a network of established and reputable IT professionals.
"The developers that Teamit presented us had more passion than I've seen in a long time in Canadian developers,” said Thibodeau. Terry was also impressed by the candidates’ English communication skills and breadth of technical experience. “They seemed to have more drive to learn things, not just what’s required by typical jobs, but they had more experience outside of the standard.”
Provision hires three developers in Brazil in less than two months
In less than two months, Provision hired three Brazilian developers who integrated well with the team.
“The team has been extremely impressed with the hires we've made,” said Thibodeau. “Initially, they were skeptical around outsourcing remotely, but they were very surprised and turned their thoughts around quickly.”
Not only did the Brazilian developers show and take initiative immediately, “Their passion, drive, execution, and the work they are doing has been noticed by every team member,” Thibodeau shared.
Having used several recruitment agencies in the past, Teamit’s detail-oriented, personal and hands-on approach to placements stood out to Terry.
“I found the professionalism and attention to detail to be much higher with Teamit. They don’t just send you candidates to just fill a job. They are tailored to what you are looking for and much more engaged in finding the right fit.”
For companies who are looking to outsource developers, Terry’s advice is to have your processes nailed down and geared towards remote work. “You have to be streamlined in your process and the maturity of your process needs to be there to enable remote work.”
Build your software development team in Brazil
Teamit connects North American companies with highly qualified, vetted, English-speaking software developers in Brazil. Globally recognized as having the largest talent pool of back-end, front-end, and full-stack developers, hiring remote contractors based out of Brazil has become a cost-effective talent strategy for growth-focused North American tech companies.