Andela to become remote-first, look beyond employees after lay-offs

Less than five days it laid off 135 employees, software talent company Andela said it plans to become a remote-first company and open up its talent placement to non-employees.

In a medium post on 8 May, Jeremy Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Andela said the new strategy is based on the company’s proven record of operating fully remote by delivering “excellent work” to its customers over the past couple of months.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, remote working has become the new normal as companies push their workers to face the current realities. All eyes have also turned on the companies that enable remote work. There is now a new generation of startups innovating on the infrastructure of remote work ranging from conferencing, to task management and engineering talent providers like Andela.

To position itself properly, Andela will also be looking beyond its in-house talents to offer employment opportunities to qualified software engineers who were not trained by Andela.

“While we’ve trained more than 100,000 people through programs like the Andela Learning Community (ALC), in order to actually be placed with a company, you’ve historically had to be a full-time Andela employee,” Johnson explained.

The previous strategy, he said, limited the opportunities Andela is able to provide, and it also limits the breadth of talent available to our customers.

“Moving forward, we will expand the network to include top engineers from across the continent, and eventually around the world – and we won’t require engineers to be full-time employees to apply for opportunities.”

The strategy pivot was borne from the belief that the world needs a long-term engineering talent network: a way to make the global talent feel local.

While Johnson sees competition ahead, he is hoping that Andela could quickly plug into a perceived need for a network that supports building long-term, trust-based relationships – the kind that results in great teams and extraordinary products.

“The transitions we are making this week, while painful, will allow us to expand access to top talent for our customers and increase opportunities for the best engineers around the globe,” he said.