For many companies in industry and retail, the IT skills shortage has a very concrete face: a vacancy that has been stuck in the job ads for months. Nearshoring does not answer this problem completely, but it shifts the bottleneck to a place where it can be resolved.
In Germany, 109,000 IT positions are unfilled, and an open position stays vacant for 7.7 months on average. Nearshoring does not solve the skills shortage; it creates additional capacity for clearly defined projects, while the internal team keeps system knowledge and control. A team is usually in place in a few weeks instead of seven months.
Just How Severe Is the IT Skills Shortage?
On average, an open IT position in Germany remains unfilled. As a result, a project that was supposed to start in the first quarter is often pushed back to the next fiscal year.
Bitkom Study Report: IT Professionals, 2025
| metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Open IT Positions in Germany | 109.000 |
| Companies Feeling the Impact of the Shortage | 85 percent |
| Companies that expect the shortage to worsen | 79 percent |
| Average Time to Fill | 7.7 months |
| Employees in ICT occupations | 1.61 million, up 6 percent from the previous year |
| Companies that actively recruit abroad | 14 percent |
The Bitkom Study Report also shows that the shortage is not spread evenly across all areas. Software development, IT security and data management are particularly affected, precisely the areas in which industry and retail are currently investing.
Why the Skills Shortage Persists Despite Growing ICT Employment
At the same time, the number of people employed in the ICT sector has risen to 1.61 million, an increase of 6 percent compared with the previous year (Federal Employment Agency, 2025). The cause, therefore, is not a shrinking supply. Demand is growing faster than supply, and this growth is concentrated in certain regions and among companies of certain sizes. Large corporations with their own employer branding departments have an easier time attracting candidates than a mechanical engineering firm with 200 employees in a medium-sized city.
In software development specifically, the shortage is even more acute than the average across all ICT professions. In Germany, experienced backend and cloud developers often switch employers within a matter of weeks because demand from multiple companies simultaneously converges on the same small pool of candidates. Industrial companies that cannot compete with the salaries offered by large tech conglomerates often lose this race before it even really begins.
Why So Few Companies Recruit Abroad
Only 14 percent of German companies actively recruit abroad (Bitkom, 2025). That is surprisingly low, considering how severe the domestic labor shortage is. One reason for this is practical in nature. Direct recruitment abroad involves employment contracts governed by foreign law, visa issues for non-EU countries, and an onboarding process that is difficult without a local structure. Nearshoring through an established partner circumvents this hurdle. Instead of hiring individual developers directly, companies work with a team that is already set up on-site and operates in full compliance with local laws.
That doesn't change the fundamental question of how to find the right partner. We describe the warning signs to look for in this article Warning Signs with a Nearshore Partner.
Nearshoring as a Capacity Solution to the Skilled Labor Shortage
Nearshoring does not fundamentally solve the skilled labor shortage; rather, it creates additional capacity where a company’s own workforce is reaching its limits. For example, a nearshore team might take on the development of a new customer portal feature, while the internal team focuses on maintenance and strategic projects. This division of labor works best when both sides clearly understand who is responsible for what and where the points of collaboration lie. We describe how to set up such a model in practice on the page Nearshore Software Development by torck.
How the model holds up against offshoring is shown in our comparison of Nearshoring and Offshoring.
What a ramp-up period means in practice
Unlike a permanent position, which can take several months to fill, a nearshore team can usually be assembled within a few weeks. The selection process focuses on skills, project history, and compatibility with the existing tech stack—not on traditional recruiting involving job postings and multiple rounds of interviews. For companies with a specific deadline in mind—such as the rollout of a new inventory management system—this time savings often makes the difference between a project staying on schedule and one falling behind.
It’s important not to confuse this approach with a pure “bodyshopping” model. A good nearshore team brings spare capacity to the table, as well as project structure, testing processes, and a dedicated point of contact who oversees the collaboration throughout the entire project duration. If these elements are missing, it usually only becomes apparent after the first few weeks, when promises regarding the team’s continuity are not kept.
A Realistic Expectation for the Transition
The first few weeks with a new nearshore team rarely go smoothly. Access rights must be set up, coding standards agreed upon, and the existing system landscape explained. Companies that plan for a two- to three-week onboarding period from the outset report a smoother collaboration than those that expect full productivity right away. This ramp-up period is worthwhile if the team remains in place for several months or years; it’s less worthwhile for very short projects lasting only a few weeks.
How quickly can a team be assembled for your project?Tell us your tech stack and desired start date. We'll let you know which positions can be filled and within what timeframe.
Why Capacity Remains Reliable at torck
Additional capacity must remain reliable; otherwise, the problem will simply be shifted to the next project phase. torck develops with its own teams at three locations: Maxhütte-Haidhof, Vienna, and Rabat. Rabat is a separate torck company, not an outsourced partner agency with rotating freelancers.
Instead of a rotating staff, a dedicated team works throughout the entire project, including direct communication with the developers. It is precisely this continuity that is lacking in many offerings that promise available capacity on short notice and then withdraw it just as quickly. Project management and point of contact are based in Germany and Austria, with the same quality standards for reviews and CI/CD as at the other two locations. The contractual partner is always the German company torck GmbH, governed by German law and subject to the GDPR obligations that apply to a German company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will nearshoring replace a company's own IT staff?
No, in most cases, a nearshore team complements the existing team. In-house specialists know the system landscape and business processes best, while an external team provides additional development capacity for specific projects.
How quickly can a nearshore team be set up?
Depending on the job requirements, a team can be assembled within a few weeks—significantly faster than the average time to fill a position of 7.7 months for a traditional permanent position in Germany (Bitkom, 2025).
Which tasks will still be handled in-house?
Strategic system decisions and the management of multiple projects and tasks with very high security requirements are typically handled by the internal IT department. A nearshore team, on the other hand, takes on specific development work within a defined framework.
The Next Step
The main challenge highlighted in this post is ensuring reliable capacity throughout the entire project duration. To address this, torck offers dedicated teams at three locations with direct access to the developers. In the Initial Consultation We'll determine how quickly a team can be assigned to your project.
This article refers to laws and regulations to put technical decisions in context. It is not legal advice. Whether and how a rule applies to your company is a question for your legal department or a law firm.
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