What is the talent pool like for nearshoring in Turkey?

Table of contents:

• Why Turkey's talent pool deserves a look in 2025

• What nearshoring to Turkey really means

• Is there enough talent? (Spoiler: Yes)

• Top roles and skills available for nearshoring

• How much does nearshoring to Turkey cost?

• Legal, payroll, and compliance considerations

• Equipment and workspace options in Turkey

• Nearshoring vs contractor outsourcing in Turkey

• Why companies are choosing nearshoring to Turkey now

• Risks (And how to avoid them)

• Final word: Turkey's talent pool won't stay underrated for long

Why Turkey’s talent pool deserves a look in 2025

You know who isn’t struggling to find senior developers right now?

Companies hiring in Turkey.

Yes, while the rest of the market is panicking over ghosted interviews and salary inflation, smart teams are quietly scaling with engineers who speak fluent GitHub, push clean code, and won’t ask for €150K and a Peloton.

Because here’s the thing:

Turkey isn’t some “up-and-coming” maybe. It’s already loaded with serious tech talent, especially in cities like Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. 

These aren’t junior bootcamp grads trying to figure out async. These are devs who’ve built fintech platforms, scaled SaaS apps, and know the difference between product velocity and busywork.

And yet, most hiring managers haven’t caught on.

Which is kind of wild when you realize:

• You get full-day overlap with Europe and real sync with the U.S. East Coast

• English fluency is solid (no “yes, yes” nodding while silently Googling your sentence)

• The cost-to-quality ratio still makes sense, for now

So, before this market gets saturated with everyone and their VC-funded cousin, let’s look at what the nearshoring talent pool in Turkey actually offers.

And no, it’s not just “React devs who reply fast.”

This is real talent. Real availability. Real value.

Let’s break it open.

What nearshoring to Turkey really means

Let’s get something straight: nearshoring to Turkey isn’t just a trendy way to say “we outsourced but want it to sound smarter.”

Nearshoring is a hiring strategy, but how you actually hire depends on the structure you choose.

In the case of Team Up, here’s how it works:

Nearshoring = Remote Hiring in Turkey + EOR Model

You're not setting up a legal entity in Turkey. 

You're also not hiring freelancers or contractors.

Instead, Team Up acts as the legal employer in Turkey using an Employer of Record (EOR) model. 

So yes,  nearshoring with Team Up = hiring through an EOR provider in Turkey.

You get:

• Full-time team members

• Legally employed and compliant

• No legal risk, no local setup needed

It’s not outsourcing. It’s not offshoring. And it’s definitely not hiring a contractor through someone’s cousin’s agency who sends invoices via WhatsApp.

Nearshoring to Turkey means: 

• You pick and manage the talent.

• Team Up legally hires them in Turkey.

• You get one monthly invoice that includes salary, taxes, benefits, and the EOR fee.

• Team Up handles all the paperwork: payroll, contracts, compliance, and filings.

You stay in charge of delivery. 

They stay in sync with your team. 

What do you get out of it? 

Timezone alignment that actually helps you ship. 

Legal protection that actually holds up. 

And a talent pool for nearshoring in Turkey isn't overfished, overpriced, or over it.

In a market full of buzzwords, this is the one that still delivers.

Is there enough talent? (Spoiler: Yes)

Short answer: yes. 

Long answer: hell yes.

If you’ve been hiring in London, Berlin, or Amsterdam, you might assume the entire tech world’s already booked out. The truth? You’ve just been looking in the wrong places.

Turkey’s tech scene in 2025 is what Poland was a decade ago, except with better coffee, stronger retention, and no line of recruiters outside every senior dev’s inbox.

Let’s start with the numbers:

• ~60,000+ software engineers across Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir

• Top-tier grads from schools like Boğaziçi, METU, and ITU

• Engineers with real product experience, not just outsourced task work

• Devs who’ve built SaaS tools, e-com platforms, fintech stacks, and mobile apps from the ground up

Istanbul alone is a magnet. It's the kind of place where you can find a React Native engineer with startup grit on Monday and a DevOps pro with AWS certs on Tuesday, both already fluent in GitHub workflows and standup etiquette.

Ankara? Backend-heavy, especially strong in defense and enterprise tech (surprise: all those government R&D grants paid off). 

Izmir? Smaller, but rising. Design-forward, creative devs. Full-stack talent. Remote-ready by default.

And yes, English isn’t a blocker. Most senior engineers here don’t just understand the roadmap, they can challenge it, clarify it, and still hit the sprint demo without drama.

They’ve been working with EU and U.S. product teams for years.

You’re not onboarding “junior+” coders who need four weeks to figure out your ticketing system.

You’re bringing on people who ask smart questions, write clean code, and understand the product.

So, when we say there’s talent in Turkey?

We’re not pitching potential. 

We’re offering production.

And the best part? 

The market’s not oversaturated yet.

But give it a year, and those $3.5K/month senior engineers might be the ones ghosting recruiters like it’s 2023 again.

You’re still early. 

Use that.

Top roles and skills available for nearshoring

Let’s not sugarcoat it, some markets have become a hiring circus.

You post a job, you get 40 résumés, and still, somehow, none of them know how to write a clean pull request.

That’s not what you’re getting with nearshoring in Turkey.

In 2025, Turkey’s tech talent isn’t just “available.” It’s qualified, product-minded, and already working across European and U.S. workflows. The engineers here don’t need to learn what agile means. They run the sprint.

This section breaks down exactly what you can hire for, backed by real hiring patterns, local expertise, and what we’re seeing on the ground.

Most in-demand nearshore roles in Turkey

1. Frontend Developers (React, Vue.js, Angular)

• Istanbul, Izmir, and remote

• Proficiency with component-based frameworks and a strong Figma-to-code workflow

• High supply of React devs with SaaS, e-commerce, and product startup experience

• Bonus: Many are already working with international design systems, so onboarding is quick

2. Backend Developers (Node.js, Python, Java, .NET Core)

• Ankara (especially strong in enterprise-level Java), Istanbul (Node and .NET)

• Node + TypeScript devs are common in consumer product and marketplace builds

• Python devs are often cross-trained in data workflows (Pandas, FastAPI, Airflow)

• Java engineers tend to come from the fintech and defense sectors with great documentation habits

3. Full-Stack Engineers

• Often React + Node or .NET + Angular pairing

• Very common among startup-experienced talent

• Typically 3–5+ years of hands-on product delivery experience

• Good async comms, Git hygiene, and test coverage expectations

4. DevOps & Cloud Engineers (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Terraform)

• Ankara, remote across the country

• Strong knowledge of CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and GitLab

• Kubernetes and Docker familiarity are standard

• Most engineers here have worked in cross-functional squads and are well-versed in SRE principles

• Very few “script monkeys”, most understand systems design and security baselines

5. QA Engineers (Manual & Automation)

• Istanbul, Izmir

• Selenium, Cypress, Postman, and TestRail experience is widespread

• Well-trained in test planning, regression strategies, and writing scalable test suites

• Most automation engineers are cross-functional and used to working in agile sprint cycles

6. Mobile Developers (React Native, Flutter, Swift)

• Istanbul (React Native), Izmir (Flutter)

• High mobile adoption = strong ecosystem

• Turkish app developers are used to building for real users at scale (think: e-commerce, logistics, fintech)

• Familiar with App Store / Play Store ops, user analytics, and performance testing

7. Data Engineers & Analysts (Python, SQL, Airflow, dbt)

• Remote, with strong clusters in Ankara and Istanbul

• Python devs often cross over into ETL and pipeline work

• Experience with Snowflake, Redshift, PostgreSQL

• Analysts usually combine SQL + visualization stack (Power BI, Tableau, Looker)

8. UI/UX Designers & Product Designers

• Izmir (strong design presence), Istanbul

• Highly collaborative with frontend teams

• Fluent in Figma, Zeplin, Adobe XD, Notion

• Most are trained in cross-device user flows and understand product KPIs

9. Technical PMs & Agile Product Managers

• Istanbul and remote-first teams

• Many with previous dev background, great at translating between product and engineering

• Experienced in Jira, Confluence, and ClickUp

• Strong English, capable of leading international sprint planning and retrospectives

What makes the talent pool for nearshoring in Turkey ready?

1. Remote-first culture 

Turkey adapted fast. Long before remote work became a global policy, developers here were already freelancing internationally or working for EU/U.S. clients. 

Now? They’re fully fluent in async workflows, timezone-sensitive collaboration, and digital-first culture.

2. Strong English proficiency 

Engineers don’t just “read the docs.” They join sprint demos, lead retros, and write clearly in Slack. 

Especially in cities like Istanbul and Ankara, the level of business English is often higher than in more saturated hiring markets.

3. Tool fluency baked in 

Every candidate TeamUp puts forward is already working with:

• GitHub/GitLab

• Jira, Trello, ClickUp

• Slack, Zoom, Notion

• CI/CD tools, Docker, cloud platforms

They won’t need two weeks of onboarding to learn your toolchain. They’ve used it.

4. High commitment, low churn 

Here’s the game-changer: Turkish engineers stay. 

While you’re watching candidates in Berlin hop jobs every 9 months, our clients are running stable squads in Turkey with 12–24+ month tenures. 

Why? 

Because the structure is sound:

• Full-time employment

• Local compliance and benefits

• Legal clarity and IP protection

This isn’t freelance work in disguise. It’s proper team building.

How much does nearshoring to Turkey cost?

Let’s skip the vague ranges and fluff math.

If you're a founder, CTO, or Head of People trying to scale smart, you’re not asking “Is it cheaper?” 

You’re asking:

• How much will it actually cost us per month to hire a solid engineer in Turkey?

• What does that price include (and what’s hiding in the fine print)?

• Is it stable, compliant, and low-maintenance—or are we signing up for another spreadsheet circus?

Let’s break it down, clearly and honestly.

Monthly cost of a nearshore hire in Turkey in 2025

Role	Mid-Level	Senior	Lead
Frontend Developer	$1,800–$2,500	$2,800–$3,800	$4,000+
Backend Developer	$2,000–$2,800	$3,200–$4,200	$4,500+
Full-Stack Developer	$2,200–$3,000	$3,500–$4,500	$5,000+
DevOps / SRE	$2,400–$3,300	$3,800–$5,000	$5,500+
QA Automation Engineer	$1,800–$2,400	$2,800–$3,800	$4,200+
Product Designer	$2,000–$2,700	$3,200–$4,000	$4,500+

What you’re really paying for

With Team Up’s nearshoring + EOR model, your monthly cost covers:

• Gross salary in Turkish Lira

• Employer contributions (SGK, unemployment, stamp tax)

• Payroll tax compliance and filings

• Legally binding employment contract

• Optional add-ons: local benefits per Turkish labor law

• Optional add-ons: coworking, equipment, private insurance

• EOR in Turkey service: €299/month, fixed

No back-office hires. No consultants. No fragmented systems.

So, why is this actually cost-effective?

It’s not just that Turkish salaries are 50–70% lower than in London, Berlin, or New York.

It’s that everything is structured:

• You’re not guessing payroll taxes. We handle it.

• You’re not comparing random contractor day rates. These are full-time employees.

• You’re not eating costs for equity, pensions, VAT filings, and HR compliance, because we’ve built that into a flat monthly cost.

You don’t pay for:

• Entity setup

• Legal retainers

• HR hires

• Local tax filings

• Compliance nightmares

You do get:

• Talent who deliver real value

• Contracts that protect your IP

• Predictability, your CFO will actually thank you for

Here’s how it stacks up vs. Western Europe and the U.S.

Region	Mid-Level Dev	Senior Dev
U.S. (remote)	$8,000–$12,000	$12,000–$16,000
UK (London)	$6,500–$8,500	$9,000–$12,000
Germany	$5,500–$7,500	$8,000–$11,000
Turkey	$2,200–$3,000	$3,500–$5,000

Same stack.

Same tools.

Same Git commits.

Less burn.

Why not just hire a contractor?

You could. 

But you’d also be responsible for:

• Managing misclassification risk

• Handling payroll and tax filings yourself

• Dealing with contracts that may not hold up in court

• Losing IP protection if challenged

With a contractor, you cut costs at first. 

With Team Up’s model, you cut risk and build a real team.

Legal, payroll, and compliance considerations

This is what most founders underestimate when hiring in Turkey: 

You’re not just hiring talent, you’re entering a regulated employment system with real laws, real obligations, and very little tolerance for ambiguity.

Well, nearshoring to Turkey only works if it’s legally structured. That’s what Team Up’s EOR model is built for.

Here’s what this looks like from a local legal perspective.

Legal employment in Turkey: not optional, not flexible

If your developer in Turkey:

• Works full-time

• Reports to your team

• Uses your tools and follows your roadmap

Then, under Turkish labor law, they are an employee. Period.

You can’t call it “contracting” just because there’s no office badge.

That means:

• You must provide a written employment contract

• You must register them with SGK (Social Security Institution)

• You must pay into social security, income tax, and unemployment insurance

• You must offer statutory benefits (sick leave, holidays, etc.)

• You must comply with notice and severance rules

Team Up’s model ensures all of this is handled. As the legal employer, we hold the liability and responsibility. You get a fully compliant team member, without setting up a local company.

Employment contracts: enforceability matters

At Team Up, every hire signs a bilingual employment agreement, compliant with Turkish Labor Law No. 4857 and the Turkish Code of Obligations.

That includes:

• Jurisdictional clarity (Turkish courts have authority, but we align with your home base if needed)

• IP transfer clauses under Turkish civil law (a contractor NDA from another country is not enough)

• Explicit job definition and salary terms (to avoid reclassification disputes)

• Termination protocol that aligns with both the Labor Code and the employee’s seniority

Fun fact most companies miss: 

IP created by a contractor in Turkey does not default to your ownership unless transfer clauses are written, signed, and enforceable in Turkish.

Team Up builds this into every contract, no loose ends, no risk of IP loss during a funding round or acquisition.

Payroll and tax filings: monthly obligations you don’t want to own

If you were to hire directly in Turkey, here’s what you’d have to do monthly:

1. Withhold and report income tax (based on progressive brackets up to 40%)

2. File SGK social security contributions (~20.5% employer share)

3. Pay Unemployment Insurance (~2%)

4. Submit Stamp Tax (0.76%)

5. Generate compliant payslips in Turkish

6. File reports with the Turkish Revenue Administration (GIB)

Miss a deadline? Late filing penalties stack quickly.

Team Up handles all of this through its Turkish legal entity. You never see a government portal, tax return, or wage filing.

You just received a clean monthly invoice in EUR or USD.

Termination and severance: don’t wing it

Here in Turkey, firing an employee isn’t like revoking a Slack invite.

If the employment has lasted more than two months, the following must be observed:

• Written notice: 2 to 8 weeks, depending on tenure

• Severance pay: one gross monthly salary per year worked (if termination qualifies under Article 17)

• Final payments: unused leave, pro-rated salary, SGK deregistration

• Official exit documents signed by both parties

This is not optional. If improperly handled, an employee can file a complaint with İŞKUR (Turkish Employment Agency) or bring a case to the Labor Court.

Again, Team Up owns this process from start to finish. We ensure proper legal compliance so you’re never exposed to a labor claim, retroactive penalty, or reputational risk.

Mandatory benefits (and what employees actually expect)

The law requires:

• Paid annual leave: minimum 14 days per year, increasing with seniority

• National public holidays (e.g., Republic Day, Eid, Victory Day)

• Sick leave (backed by state insurance)

• Maternity/paternity leave

• Healthcare and pension enrollment via SGK

That’s the baseline.

Most Turkish developers, especially those who’ve worked with foreign teams, expect more. We help you go beyond compliance with:

• Private health insurance

• Equipment provisioning (Mac or PC, delivered locally)

• Coworking space access (Kolektif House, Workinton, Impact Hub)

• Monthly remote work stipends

This isn’t fluff. It’s how you attract and retain senior talent in a competitive (but still quiet) hiring market.

Equipment and workspace options in Turkey

You can’t ship fast if your team’s stuck with laggy laptops, slow internet, or asking where they’re supposed to work from.

One of the most overlooked reasons remote teams underperform? Poor setup.

Not poor skills.

At Team Up, nearshoring to Turkey includes more than just compliant hiring. It includes making sure your team is equipped, literally, to deliver from day one.

Whether you want them working from a quiet home office, a buzzing coworking hub, or a hybrid of both, we’ve built the infrastructure to support it.

Let’s break down what that looks like.

Equipment: You choose the spec, we handle the rest

Option 1: Equipment leasing

Starting from €69 per employee/month 

Perfect for fast-moving teams who want flexibility without big upfront costs. 

You get:

• The latest devices

• Easy upgrades as roles evolve

• No long-term commitment

Option 2: Equipment buying

Tailored pricing based on role and spec 

Prefer to own? We’ll source, configure, and deliver everything your hire needs from MacBooks to mechanical keyboards, and you keep full control.

And yes, we include:

• Setup and configuration

• Local delivery (on time, working, no questions asked)

• Ongoing support when something breaks

Free IT Training

Your hire’s not waiting on IT to “look into it.” 

We onboard them, troubleshoot live, and make sure their gear stays functional, secure, and fast.

You get a fully equipped, supported team member. 

They get to work without chasing chargers or submitting support tickets into a void.

Workspace: The office, without the overhead

Not every dev wants to work from home. And not every founder wants to guess whether someone’s trying to debug a CI/CD issue from a kitchen chair.

So we built flexible workspace options that match how your team actually works, no leases, no real estate headaches.

Option 1: Flex desk

A rotating desk in a premium coworking space. Great for remote-first hires who want professional infrastructure, fast Wi-Fi, and zero distractions.

Option 2: Dedicated desk

A permanent setup in a shared space. Ideal for engineers who thrive on routine, privacy, and having the same chair every day.

Option 3: Private office

Need space for a pod, a team lead, or just want control? We’ll secure and manage a fully equipped private office for your crew. 

You don’t negotiate leases. We do.

All spaces include:

• High-speed internet

• Meeting rooms

• Lounge access

• Optional expansion when your team grows

You tell us how your people work best, we’ll make sure they’re set up for it, day one.

Why this matters

Tools matter. Environment matters. 

A fully compliant hire who’s under-equipped isn’t going to move the roadmap.

Nearshoring with Team Up gives you the structure and the setup.

Your team gets:

• Professional gear

• A solid workspace

• Real support when things break

You get:

• One monthly invoice

• No back-and-forth

• A team that shows up ready to work, not waiting on IT or juggling invoices

This isn’t about perks. It’s about performance.

Let’s get your team what they need to deliver, no guesswork, no shipping delays, no excuses.

Nearshoring vs contractor outsourcing in Turkey

Let’s clear up the confusion. 

Just because someone’s working remotely from Turkey doesn’t mean you can call them a contractor and move on.

If they’re full-time, on your Slack, in your sprint planning, using your stack, and delivering your product? 

They’re not a freelancer. 

They’re an employee, and Turkish labor law sees it that way, whether your contract does or not.

This is where most companies slip. 

They try to cut corners with contractor outsourcing, and it comes back to bite them through back taxes, IP disputes, or employees who walk away with no legal trail.

Let’s compare the models side-by-side.

Contractor Outsourcing: Low upfront, high long-term risk

On paper, hiring a contractor sounds simple. 

You wire money, maybe sign an NDA, and avoid payroll complexity.

But in Turkey, this approach creates more problems than it solves:

• Legal risk: Turkish law reclassifies misused contractors as employees. If they report to your team and work full-time, that’s employment, even if your contract says otherwise.

• Tax exposure: No local payroll = no taxes withheld. You’re now liable for employer contributions retroactively, with penalties.

• No IP protection: Unless your contractor is formally registered and your contract includes Turkish IP law clauses, you may not legally own the code they write.

• High churn: Contractors move fast, and they leave faster. There’s no incentive to stick when they’re treated like temps.

• No benefits, no infrastructure: Forget about equipment, workspace, legal protections, or support. It’s every dev for themselves.

Nearshoring with Team Up: Structured, safe, and built to scale

With Team Up, nearshoring means hiring full-time professionals through a clean legal structure. 

We use an Employer of Record (EOR) model: 

You manage the work. 

We handle everything else.

Your developer in Turkey is:

• Legally employed through our local entity

• Paid via compliant payroll, with taxes and benefits fully covered

• Protected under Turkish labor law

• Backed by enforceable IP and confidentiality agreements

• Equipped with professional hardware and workspace

• Part of your team, with the infrastructure to stick long-term

And for you?

• No tax risk

• No misclassification

• No administrative burden

• No legal guesswork

Just one monthly invoice that covers it all, including salary, social contributions, benefits, and our €299 EOR fee.

Head-to-head comparison

Topic	Contractor Outsourcing	Nearshoring with Team Up
Legal Structure	Ambiguous at best	Fully compliant EOR model
Payroll Taxes	Not withheld	Managed and filed locally
IP Ownership	Often unenforceable	Clearly assigned in the contract
Talent Stability	Short-term, project-based	Full-time, long-term employment
Employer Liability	High (misclassification risk)	Zero (we’re the legal employer)
Equipment & Workspace	Not provided	Fully managed by Team Up
Monthly Cost Predictability	Variable, inconsistent	Fixed all-in monthly invoice

So, which model fits your roadmap?

If you're looking to hire fast, stay clean, and scale without waking up to a labor dispute or a call from a Turkish tax office, contractor outsourcing won’t cut it.

You don’t need another workaround. 

You need a structure that holds.

Team Up gives you:

• Real employees

• Real compliance

• Real infrastructure

No risk. No legal fog. 

Just your team working, protected, and productive.

Why companies are choosing nearshoring to Turkey now

Let’s not pretend this is about trends. 

The companies nearshoring to Turkey in 2025 aren’t doing it because it sounds cool on LinkedIn. They’re doing it because it solves real problems, hiring bottlenecks, bloated burn, and legal risk that keeps HR up at night.

Nearshoring to Turkey gives these companies what they actually need:

Skilled engineers. Reasonable cost. Legal clarity. 

And a structure that works without a full-time legal department.

Here’s why smart teams aren’t just considering Turkey, they’re already building there.

1. The hiring window is open, but not forever

Western Europe is tapped out. 

Try to hire a mid-level backend dev in Berlin, and you’re looking at three months of sourcing and a salary that rivals your Series A raise.

Turkey, on the other hand, is still wide open. 

You get access to talent that hasn’t been burned out by recruiter spam or inflated market noise. Engineers are experienced, product-minded, and available.

But this won’t last. The hiring window is clean now, but every month, more companies are catching on.

If you’re early, you hire better. If you’re late, you join the queue.

2. Full-time contributors, not freelancers, not outsourcers

This isn’t about outsourcing tickets. 

Nearshoring to Turkey through Team Up means building your own team, people who sit in your Slack, attend your standups, and take ownership of delivery.

They just happen to be based in Istanbul or Ankara instead of Amsterdam or Dublin.

And because we use a fully compliant Employer of Record (EOR) model, your team members are legally employed in Turkey, with contracts, benefits, and protections that hold up under scrutiny.

You get:

• Delivery ownership

• Team integration

• No entity setup

• No misclassification risk

It’s real employment, just without the overhead.

3. You keep your burn rate in check, without cutting quality

Let’s talk numbers.

A mid-level engineer in Western Europe? Easily €6,000/month.

In Turkey? 

With full employment, benefits, payroll, and infrastructure? 

You’re looking at €2,500–€3,300/month, all-in, including Team Up’s flat €299 EOR fee.

That’s not a “low-cost” strategy. That’s a sustainable one.

You’re not paying less for less. 

You’re paying fairly, in a market where salaries still reflect experience, not hype.

4. You don’t touch Turkish labor law, we do

No one on your team wants to learn how SGK contributions work. Or what a valid IP assignment clause needs under Turkish civil law.

With Team Up, you don’t have to.

We handle:

• Contracts

• Tax registration

• Payroll and benefits

• Local compliance

• Workspace and equipment provisioning

You stay focused on the product. 

We keep your hiring structure airtight.

5. The timezone works. The culture fits

Turkey runs on GMT+3.

That means:

• Full-day overlap with European teams

• Real-time collaboration with UK mornings and US East Coast afternoons

• No midnight demos or 6 AM standups

English fluency is high, especially among senior developers, and most engineers here are used to async workflows, agile delivery, and cross-border communication.

You’re not training them to work remotely. 

They’re already doing it.

Risks (And how to avoid them)

Let’s be honest, every smart founder or CTO has the same gut check before hiring internationally:

“What could go wrong?”

The short answer? 

Plenty, if you pick the wrong structure.

Misclassified contractors. 

Unenforceable IP rights. 

Payroll mistakes that lead to legal exposure. 

Engineers who vanish mid-sprint because they were never really part of your team.

The good news? These risks are avoidable. 

But only if you build the foundation right.

Here’s what to watch out for and how Team Up’s nearshoring model removes the friction before it starts.

1. Misclassification: The hidden cost of “just using a contractor”

Most early-stage teams default to hiring freelancers. It feels fast. It looks lean.

But in Turkey, if someone works full-time for your company, under your direction, with your tools, they’re an employee, whether you call them one or not.

What can go wrong:

• Retroactive tax liabilities

• Employer contribution fines

• Penalties from the Turkish Revenue Administration (GIB)

• IP rights that don’t legally transfer

• Legal disputes that land in a Turkish labor court, not in your favor

How do we solve it? 

With Team Up, every engineer is legally employed through our Turkish entity. 

We handle payroll, taxes, and benefits. You stay in the clear, no risk, no exposure.

2. IP ownership issues: “You paid for the code, but you don’t own it.”

Under Turkish law, IP created during a freelance engagement doesn’t automatically transfer to your company. 

Even if your contract says it does.

What can go wrong:

• Code built by freelancers may not legally belong to you

• Investors flag it during due diligence

• Your valuation takes a hit, or worse, your product becomes a legal risk

How do we solve it? 

Every employment agreement through Team Up includes locally enforceable:

• IP assignment clauses

• NDAs

• Jurisdictional alignment with your HQ You own what your team builds fully, clearly, and defensibly.

3. Payroll and tax compliance: Not your job, but still your liability

Wiring money directly to a developer’s Turkish bank account doesn’t count as payroll. 

And “figuring it out later” is how fines pile up.

What can go wrong:

• Missed income tax filings

• Unpaid employer social contributions

• No payslips or monthly declarations

• Audit exposure or backdated penalties

How do we solve it? 

We manage the entire payroll process from gross salary calculation to monthly tax filings. 

You get a clean invoice. The engineer gets paid locally, with full benefits.

You never touch a Turkish tax portal.

4. Churn and poor retention: If you treat them like contractors, they’ll leave like contractors

Most companies lose great talent not because of compensation, but because of setup.

No benefits, no proper equipment, no structure = no reason to stay.

What can go wrong:

• Engineers ghost mid-project

• No accountability, no visibility

• You waste time onboarding replacements

How do we solve it? 

With Team Up, your nearshore hires are:

• Fully employed and protected under local labor law

• Equipped with professional-grade gear

• Given access to coworking spaces or dedicated offices

• Treated like real team members, not temps

It shows. And it keeps them around.

5. Picking the wrong local partner

Even with good intentions, if your partner in Turkey can’t provide contracts, file taxes, or prove compliance, you’re still carrying the risk.

What can go wrong:

• Shadow payroll through intermediaries

• Noncompliant contracts that won’t hold up in court

• Lack of support when something breaks

• You end up doing their job while paying for the privilege

How do we solve it? 

We hire directly through our own legal entity in Turkey. 

No shell companies. No subcontractors. No middlemen.

You get:

• One point of contact

• Full transparency

• Real legal infrastructure

• No cleanup later

Final word: Turkey’s talent pool won’t stay underrated for long

If you're still weighing whether Turkey is “worth it,” you’re already behind the curve.

Are the companies making real progress right now? They’re not spending six months navigating local entity setups or hoping their contractor doesn’t bail mid-sprint. They’re building product-ready teams in Turkey fast, legally, and without the operational mess.

Because here’s the reality: 

Turkey’s not an “emerging” tech market anymore. It’s already delivering.

• Full-stack engineers fluent in English, async, and agile

• Mid to senior talent that sticks, without needing perks and politics

• Clean timezone overlap with Europe, real working hours with the U.S. East Coast

• Costs that still make sense without cutting quality

And yet, most of the market hasn’t caught on. 

Not yet.

But they will.

The quiet hiring advantage won’t stay quiet much longer. Salaries will rise.

Availability will tighten. And the companies that moved early will be sitting on stable, high-performing engineering teams while others are stuck refreshing job boards.

Nearshoring to Turkey with Team Up gets you in now, on your terms, with no risk.

You get:

• Legally employed engineers

• One fixed monthly invoice

• No local entity

• Full compliance, full infrastructure, and full control over delivery

So here’s the move: 

Skip the contractor chaos. Skip the spreadsheets. 

Build your team where the talent still works, the costs still scale, and the structure actually holds.

Let’s make your first hire in Turkey clean, fast, and fully compliant. 

You focus on your product. We’ll handle the rest.