Colombia is on UTC-5 all year, so engineers in Bogota and Medellin get 7 to 8 hours of workday overlap with US Eastern and 6 to 7 with US Pacific. The country has more than 1.0M GitHub developers, and Plugg's role medians run from $28 an hour for QA to $52 for AI and data engineers, the lowest AI and data median of the three priced countries.
- Tech hubs
- Bogota, Medellin
- Time zone
- Colombia uses UTC-5 all year and does not observe daylight saving time.
- GitHub developers
- Colombia has more than 1.0M GitHub developers (Octoverse 2024), growing 25% year over year. GitHub counts active accounts, not employed engineers.
- English
- Colombia ranked 76th of 123 countries on the EF English Proficiency Index 2025. That national rank covers the whole population and developers are a self-selected group, so test English directly in every interview. Plugg screens for advanced-level English communication.
- Universities
- The report names the Universidad de los Andes among representative Colombian engineering universities. Medellin is home to the Ruta N innovation center.
Time-zone overlap with the US
| US time zone | US standard time (about Nov to Mar) | US daylight time (about Mar to Nov) |
|---|---|---|
| US Eastern | 8 hours (same time) | 7 hours (1 hour behind) |
| US Central | 8 hours (1 hour ahead) | 8 hours (same time) |
| US Mountain | 7 hours (2 hours ahead) | 8 hours (1 hour ahead) |
| US Pacific | 6 hours (3 hours ahead) | 7 hours (2 hours ahead) |
Overlap assumes a developer workday of 9am to 6pm local time and a US workday of 9am to 5pm local time.
What talent costs in Colombia
These are median client bill rates for engagements Plugg has placed in Colombia, from the 2027 hiring report. Use them as a planning range and request rates for your exact role.
| Role | Median bill rate | Engagements |
|---|---|---|
| AI engineers | $52 an hour | 8 |
| Data engineers | $52 an hour | 8 |
| Senior backend engineers | $37 an hour | 12 |
| DevOps and cloud engineers | $47 an hour | 7 |
| Salesforce developers | $40 an hour | 9 |
| QA engineers | $28 an hour | 10 |
How to read these rates
What the figures are. Median client bill rates in US dollars per hour, by role and country, from Plugg Technologies' own engagement data as published in the 2027 Latin America Tech Hiring Report. The number in parentheses is how many engagements sit behind each median.
Bill rate is not pay. The bill rate is what the client pays. The contractor's pay is lower. For senior and lead engineers the report shows contractor pay of $30 to $38 an hour against a client bill rate of $44 to $52.
Do not stack these with the country-level medians. The report also cites country-level software engineer medians. It says they are reported separately and do not reconcile with this table, so each page here uses one or the other.
These are illustrative medians from a Plugg sample, not a quote. Your rate depends on the role, seniority, stack and country. Request talent rates for a real number.
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Request Talent RatesColombia gives a US team a close working day, a fast-growing developer base and the lowest medians for AI and data, senior backend and DevOps work in the 2027 report. This page covers the time zone, talent base, English, hiring considerations and rates.
Why hire engineers in Colombia
- A close working day. Colombia is on UTC-5 all year and does not observe daylight saving time. That matches US Eastern in winter and US Central in summer.
- Fast growth. The report counts more than 1.0M GitHub developers, growing 25% year over year.
- Homegrown scale. Rappi, founded in 2015, operates a delivery platform across nine countries and is among the companies that have trained experienced engineers in the region.
Talent hubs
Bogota is the capital and the larger market. Medellin is home to the Ruta N innovation center, and the report's Oxford Economics scores put it at 52.6 for human capital and 45.5 for quality of life, on a 0 to 100 scale.
Hiring considerations
Hiring directly in Colombia generally means a local entity, payroll registration and compliance with Colombian labor law. Colombian employees receive mandatory benefits on top of salary, so total cost sits above base pay. Colombia also passed a major labor reform in 2025, so check how it applies if your engineer will work outside standard hours. Confirm current rules with Colombian labor counsel.