At a Glance: Tom Ferry International, a global real-estate coaching company, needed to build an engineering function from scratch without paying U.S. market rates. Over an 18-month partnership, Second Talent placed 14 developers across 5 role types in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, delivering 60 to 70% cost savings against local hiring.
Company Background
Tom Ferry International is a global leader in real-estate coaching and training, serving agents, brokers, and teams across North America, Europe, and Asia. Through structured coaching, performance systems, and data-driven marketing strategies, the company helps real-estate professionals scale their businesses with predictable, sustainable growth.
With 200+ certified coaches and industry-leading content, it supports every stage of an agent’s journey, from new agents building foundational skills to top-producing teams optimizing operations, lead generation, and long-term business planning. As the organization expanded its digital programs and product roadmap, building a strong engineering backbone became mission-critical.
Challenges Faced
1. Finding high-quality, long-term developers at sustainable cost
Hiring locally in the U.S. was both expensive and competitive. Tom Ferry needed developers who were technically strong but also committed, reliable, and culturally aligned for long-term collaboration.
2. Scaling engineering capacity rapidly
Ongoing product initiatives demanded more development velocity. The company needed a frictionless hiring pipeline that could onboard multiple roles quickly, without sacrificing quality or slowing existing projects.
Solutions Delivered by Second Talent
Second Talent built a curated pipeline of vetted full-stack, frontend, mobile, QA, and data professionals from Vietnam and Southeast Asia, selected for strong communication as well as modern tech-stack proficiency.
A multi-step sourcing and vetting workflow meant developers could be hired within days, so no project momentum was lost and hiring bottlenecks did not build up behind the product roadmap.
Proactive relationship management with both the employees and Tom Ferry’s leadership team supported smooth onboarding, high developer satisfaction, and strong retention across the 18-month engagement. Hiring through Southeast Asia produced substantial cost efficiencies while opening access to a far larger skilled talent pool.
Results Achieved
Tom Ferry went from no in-house engineering team to 14 developers across 5+ role types in 18 months, at 60 to 70% lower cost than equivalent U.S. hires. Product delivery accelerated, releases landed on time, and the offshore team became a long-term, scalable model rather than a stopgap.
Team Composition
Key Outcomes
- Access to high-caliber talent: A vetted pipeline of full-stack, frontend, mobile, QA, and data professionals with strong communication skills.
- Fast, streamlined hiring: Developers hired within days, eliminating bottlenecks and protecting project momentum.
- Cost-optimized strategy: 60 to 70% savings against U.S. hiring, with access to a larger skilled talent pool.
- Strong retention: Proactive relationship management delivered smooth onboarding, high developer satisfaction, and long-term retention.
- Scalable model: Faster product delivery, on-time releases, and a long-term offshore team the company continues to grow.
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