Nearshore Software Development in Turkey

SHORT ANSWER

AMG Software Studio builds mobile apps, Unity games and SaaS from Beyoğlu, Istanbul, for clients abroad. Istanbul is on UTC+3 all year: in winter, 09:00 in London is 12:00 here and 09:00 in New York is 17:00. Contracts can go through our Delaware company, GSAM SOLUTION LLC, and proposals are in USD. Five of our 11 Upwork reviews come from the USA.

What is the time difference, exactly?

Turkey dropped daylight saving time in 2016; Istanbul stays on UTC+3 all year. Since only the client’s clock changes, the gap shifts by an hour twice a year:

United Kingdom: Istanbul is 3 hours ahead in winter (GMT) and 2 hours ahead in summer (BST). 09:00 in London is 12:00 or 11:00 in Istanbul.
Central Europe (Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam): 2 hours ahead in winter, 1 hour in summer. 09:00 in Berlin is 11:00 or 10:00 in Istanbul.
US East Coast: 8 hours ahead in winter (EST), 7 in summer (EDT). 09:00 in New York is 17:00 or 16:00 in Istanbul.
US West Coast: 11 hours ahead in winter, 10 in summer. 09:00 in Los Angeles is 20:00 or 19:00 in Istanbul.
Sydney: Istanbul is 8 hours behind during AEDT (October to April) and 7 hours behind during AEST. 16:00 in Sydney is 08:00 or 09:00 in Istanbul.

The US and Europe switch clocks on different weekends, so for a few weeks in March and in October–November the gap to one of them is an hour off the usual figure. In those weeks it pays to confirm meeting times in both local times.

How does that play out over a working day?

For the UK and Europe the gap is small: the client’s morning falls in Istanbul’s late morning or midday, and the hours when both sides are online cover most of the day. For these regions the word nearshore genuinely fits.

For the US East Coast the shared window is Istanbul’s afternoon and evening, which is New York’s morning. With the West Coast and Australia the window is narrow, so written communication carries more of the load: requirements, acceptance criteria and scope changes are kept in writing, and feedback happens on a working build rather than on screenshots.

Meeting times are agreed together; working across countries does not turn into a promise of availability at every hour. Delivery cadence and communication expectations are set at the start of the engagement. The meeting request form has fields for your availability and time zone.

What do clients abroad say, and how many of them?

Our Upwork profile carries 11 reviews from completed contracts, written between 2023 and 2026, each one 5 stars. By country:

USA: 5 reviews, three of them from consecutive contracts with the same client, HuntLine IQ.
Türkiye: 3
Canada: 1
Hong Kong: 1
An Upwork client with no country shown: 1

The most frequent theme is communication. Kyle at HuntLine IQ wrote, after the multi-state milestone, that Ali “continued communicating clearly about exactly what was being built and why”, and endorsed the contract as Clear Communicator. Tom in Hong Kong, whose minimalist SwiftUI countdown app has a lock screen widget, wrote that he “delivered everything on time, kept me updated regularly, and was responsive whenever I had questions or feedback.”

The full reviews are on the site’s reviews page; the English texts are the originals and the Turkish versions are our translations.

A US project up close: HuntLine IQ

HuntLine IQ lets hunters share trail-cam observations without giving away their spots. The work spans three Upwork contracts: architecture (April 2026), MVP phase 1 (July 2026), and the multi-state framework with the Tennessee expansion (August 2026).

The client already had a web app; to make the Tennessee fair window they needed native iOS and Android apps with exact behavioural parity in three weeks. The typed API layer and EXIF-preserving photo preparation were ported verbatim from the web repo, and the only server additions were a push-token registry and a RevenueCat webhook. The app is one Expo SDK 57 codebase, submitted to TestFlight and Play through EAS. Locations are snapped to an H3 hexagon grid and raw coordinates are never stored.

The multi-state milestone moved state-specific counties, regions, season windows, time zones and advertising logic into one framework. US domain knowledge shows up elsewhere too: our own product Kutylawsuit prepares small-claims documents in English and Spanish from typed reference data for 51 jurisdictions, the 50 states plus DC.

Contracting, currency and ownership

There are two companies. In Türkiye, AMG Yazılım is Ali Mert Güleç’s sole proprietorship in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. In the US, GSAM SOLUTION LLC, also owned by Ali Mert Güleç, was formed in Delaware on 20 February 2025, with its registered address at 8 The Green, Suite A, Dover, DE 19901. Clients who want a US counterparty can contract with GSAM SOLUTION LLC; the written proposal states which company signs.

Proposals are prepared in USD once the scope is defined, whatever the client’s country, and we do not publish fixed prices or packages. Payment is split into three stages: at the start, when the design is complete and before delivery. Every payment is invoiced.

You own the source code and the accounts. App Store and Google Play developer accounts, the domain, servers, database and service accounts are opened in your name, and at delivery you get the full source, the design files and every credential. Two examples: Parent Daily’s source code and App Store release were handed to the client in May 2026, and ProcedureLogic was handed over together with its EAS and Vercel deployment guide.

What to expect, and what not to expect, from a studio in Turkey

What you can expect:

English, in writing. Every one of our reviews was written in English, and decisions are written down rather than left in the call.
Talking to the person who writes the code. Founder and computer engineer Ali Mert Güleç leads the work; larger projects add dedicated designers and engineers.
Deliveries you can check. On Wardlight the client signed off the drag feel at an interim delivery before the second stage added further features, and a report in the repo shows all 3200 levels are solvable. On Garaj, delivery, release and Firebase notes went to the client as PDFs.

What not to expect:

A fixed price list. The proposal comes from the scope.
Midnight calls as the norm. Shared hours are picked together.
Guarantees on downloads, revenue or search rankings.

A simple MVP built around one core flow, with content ready and few integrations, can take about 2–4 weeks; multi-platform apps and full SaaS products take a few months or longer. The timeline is set together based on discovery, design, integrations and testing.

Frequently asked questions

Is Turkey really nearshore for US companies?

By distance, no. The gap is 1–3 hours to the UK and Europe and 7–8 hours to the US East Coast. The shared window with the US is Istanbul’s afternoon and evening, which is the East Coast morning. On the West Coast the window narrows, so written updates and feedback on working builds do more of the work.

Does Turkey change its clocks?

No. Turkey has not changed its clocks since 2016, so Istanbul is on UTC+3 all year. The gap only moves when your clock does: 3 hours to London in winter and 2 in summer, 8 hours to New York in winter and 7 in summer. Because the US and Europe switch on different weekends, the gap can be an hour off for a few weeks in March and October–November.

Can we contract with a US company?

Yes. GSAM SOLUTION LLC is the US company owned by Ali Mert Güleç, formed in Delaware on 20 February 2025 with a registered address in Dover, Delaware. Clients who prefer a US counterparty can work with it. The proposal states which company signs, alongside the amounts and the payment schedule.

What currency are proposals in?

USD. Proposals are prepared in USD for every client, wherever they are, once the scope is defined. The site lists no fixed prices or packages, because a simple MVP and a multi-role platform are not the same scope. Payment is staged at the start, at design completion and before delivery, and every payment is invoiced.

Can we work together through Upwork?

Our Upwork profile is public, and the 11 reviews on the site come from completed contracts there; HuntLine IQ ran three consecutive contracts through Upwork. Clients who prefer to work directly can send a project request through the form. Just say which route you prefer in the request; scoping and the proposal work the same way.

Who actually does the work? Is it passed to a subcontractor?

Founder and computer engineer Ali Mert Güleç leads the work, so the person on your calls is responsible for the code. Larger projects bring in project-specific hires and dedicated designers and engineers. Team size and responsibilities are planned with the scope and discussed in the proposal.

How does working with an Australian team from Turkey look?

Sydney is 7–8 hours ahead of Istanbul, so the Sydney afternoon lines up with the Istanbul morning: 16:00 in Sydney is 08:00 in Istanbul during AEDT and 09:00 during AEST. With a short shared window, weekly plans, acceptance criteria and feedback run in writing, and calls can sit in that morning slot.

Who owns the source code and accounts?

You do. The domain, servers, database and service accounts are opened in your name. At delivery we hand over the full source code, the design files and every credential.

Do you use templates or off-the-shelf admin panels?

No. We design the user screens and the admin panel screens for your project and build them from scratch, so the panel follows your workflow.

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