Do LATAM time zones align well with the US and Canada?

Yes, they do, and you should definitely leverage this advantage when building a remote software development or data engineering team. Latin America is the only choice for establishing a synchronous nearshore team if your company is based in the US or Canada.

It's important to keep in mind that the vast majority of IT professionals in Latin America are eager to engage with North American companies and are willing to adapt their daily schedules to be part of a synchronous remote team.

While some Latin American countries share the same time zones as the US and Canada, others have only a few hours of difference. With a bit of creative thinking, you can transform this difference into a significant advantage. For instance, by strategically adding engineers to your team across Latin America, you can extend the operational hours of your development or support.

Here is how Latin American time zones intersect with those of the US and Canada, and why this alignment benefits your nearshore hiring strategy.

• US Pacific Time Zone (GMT-8) and US Mountain Time Zone (GMT-7) overlap with parts of Mexico.
• The US Central Time Zone (GMT-6) is shared with several Latin American countries, including parts of Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. While some of these locations may seem exotic, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the quality and diverse skill sets you can discover in unexpected places. For instance, you can find a number of proficient remote AEM developers in El Salvador and a wide array of IT support contractors with excellent communication skills in Honduras.
• Latin American nations that share the US Eastern Time Zone (GMT-5) include Panama, Colombia, Cuba, parts of Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador.
• In South America, countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Bolivia highly align with US Time Zones. These are very sizeable markets in terms of IT talent pool size and depth.

Something to keep in mind, hiring in LATAM helps you access a larger remote talent pool and hire the best engineers for the job without sacrificing synchronous collaboration.