[Nebulab Case] How this e-Commerce tech studio went global to fight talent shortage and improve diversity

Hiring talent has become one of the top challenges for technology companies. The global talent shortage and emerging trends such as the “Great Resignation” and “Quiet Quitting” have made finding and retaining skilled professionals more difficult. The task is even harder for small businesses, that need to compete with larger and more established companies for top talent. This is why Nebulab turned to Microverse, the online school for remote software developers where students around the world pay nothing until they land a life-changing job in tech.

Nebulab, a strategy, design and engineering studio powering the next generation of e-Commerce technology, faced this scenario three years ago. The Italian company has been around for over a decade and helps startups and enterprise companies build the future of online retail. The demand for its services keeps growing, and so is the demand for talent; a challenge that Nebulab found hard to address within its own borders.

“The programming languages we work with are quite niche and it was becoming increasingly hard to bring people in. That’s when we decided to pivot and go global with our recruiting,” explained Matteo Latini, Co-founder of Nebulab. “With a global pool of talent at our disposal, it’s much easier to find qualified candidates who will also contribute to making our company culture more diverse.”

That’s when Nebulab came across Microverse. The company connects students across the globe by bringing together skills and opportunities in the fast-growing technology sector. Microverse’s model is explicitly designed to support students to learn as part of distributed teams working remotely, with over 80 percent of the job offers received by its students being for fully-remote roles. 

Nebulab currently has three Microverse alums working in its teams. They all started out as junior engineers, working on small teams doing a lot of pair programming. After a three-month academy to go over the basics, they gradually started picking up more client work. 

Latini continued: “The Microverse engineers we hired were great because they were fast learners and adapted to our company quickly. They came prepared, smart and curious. Another important trait they have is they know how to do remote-first work and were not afraid of cultural differences and the tech that comes with working in a remote environment.”

Working with a Microverse alum also proved to be a very effective way of improving diversity within Nebulab - with a multicultural team, they now have richer discussions around product and culture in general. The experience is also life-changing for the Microverse alum, who are also able to succeed at international companies and access better opportunities.

Safa Aballagh is a Ruby on Rails developer from Morocco who completed the Microverse program at the end of 2021. She always wanted to be a developer and after finishing her studies she was  interested in a remote role. In order to do that, she needed to work on improving her web development and communication skills. Safa Aballagh, Associate Software Engineer at Nebulab, said: “The most important thing I learned at Microverse is how to collaborate and work in a remote multinational environment. Microverse helped me improve my communication and collaboration skills and I met wonderful people from around the world.”

Speaking of his experience at Nebulab, Ikraam Ghoor, a Full-Stack Engineer also hired through Microverse, said: “My role is a consulting mid-level software focused on the backend using Ruby on Rails and Solidus, the open-source e-Commerce engine. I enjoy the challenge, flexibility and variety of the work. I appreciate the opportunity to work and learn with many extremely skilled people and great human beings.”

Microverse recently announced an initiative for companies to trial full-stack remote developers for 30 days risk-free before hiring them. Companies interested in the initiative can express their interest here, and share details of what kind of professional they are looking for. Based on this information, Microverse will connect them with a qualified alum. 

Once the company selects the developer of its choice, they can get onboarded in as little as a day and start working for 30 days with Microverse paying their salary for the period. If the company decides to hire them, then they pay Microverse back and pay the developer a fair salary moving forward. If the company doesn’t wish to hire the developer at the end of the trial period, they don’t pay anything and can try working with another Microverse alum. There are no hiring fees or strings attached.

www.nebulab.com
www.microverse.org