How to hire a software development team in Algeria

Time zone and language

Algeria stays on UTC+1 all year and does not change its clocks. For a client in Paris, Madrid or Brussels the working day matches in winter and is one hour apart in summer. London is one hour behind the team in winter and on the same time in summer. Calls fit inside normal office hours on both sides.

French is widely used in business and in the software industry, and many engineers also work in English. Agree on one language for specifications, tickets and code comments, and test it during the first call.

Who will write the code

Some companies have their own engineers. Others resell the work of freelancers or subcontractors. Both models can work. You should still know which one you are paying for, because the person writing the code decides the quality, the pace and the cost of every later change.

Ask for the names and roles of the people on your project, how much of their time is yours, and whether you can talk to them directly when a business question comes up.

See working software early and often

A portfolio shows screens. A system in production shows how a team handles users, outages and updates. Ask to see one, even with the data hidden, and ask what went wrong after it launched.

During the project, agree on a rhythm. A version you can click through yourself every one or two weeks, on a test server you can reach, tells you more than any status report.

Code, data and accounts in your name

Remote work makes this point more important. If the accounts sit with the provider, a dispute or a slow reply can stop your business.

• The code lives in a repository under your organisation, on GitHub, GitLab or a similar service.
• Your company registers the domain name in its own name.
• You own the hosting and database accounts, and the team works in them as administrators.
• The team hands over admin passwords and keys, with written steps to change them.
• The contract says you own the code, including what the team writes during maintenance.

Contract, invoicing and data

Agree in writing who owns the code and when ownership passes to you, how the team prices changes in scope, and how it will invoice you. That covers the currency, the milestones and the legal entity on the invoice. Ask the team how it invoices clients outside Algeria before you sign, because the answer shapes the payment schedule.

If you process personal data of people in the European Union, the GDPR still applies to you as the client. Decide where the data lives and who can reach it. Algeria has its own personal data protection law, Law 18-07 of 10 June 2018, which applies to data processed in the country.

After go-live

Business software runs for years. Ask who fixes a blocking defect on a Friday evening in your time zone, how the team makes backups and how often someone checks that they restore, and what a small change costs.

Get the answers in writing. A team that cannot answer these three questions has probably never run software in production.

Questions for the first call

Send them before the meeting. Written answers are easier to compare between providers.

• Who exactly will work on our project, and how much of their time is ours?
• Can you show us a system you run in production?
• Will the repository, domain, hosting and database be in our name?
• How often will we get a version we can use, and where?
• How do you invoice clients outside Algeria?
• Who answers when something breaks, and how fast?
• In which cases would you advise us to buy an existing product?