The countries of Eastern Europe are renowned as some of the liveliest software development destinations in the world. IT outsourcing here gained momentum and it is probable to keep it up also, even during the recent times. In the last few years, the main Easter European countries have increased their IT industry, each year, with an average of 10% growth.
In terms of software development costs, Easter Europe is seen as the “middle ground” between Asia and Latin America. In this part of the world, anyone can find a huge talent pool (more than 1 million professionals) and enormous quality.
For a lot of time, Western Europe claimed the headlines on technological advances but even so, the countries in Eastern Europe managed to establish themselves as a solid bedrock in terms of software development companies.
Let’s take a brief look at what each country has to offer.
Romania
A few years back, studies have shown that Romania was the fastest growing market in Europe in terms of IT outsourcing services. Why was that? The main reasons were the multilingual highly skilled professionals, the proximity to Central Europe and the lower hourly rates compared to Western Europe. Let’s detail.
Talent
Romanian IT professionals are appreciated for their innovation, creativity, work culture and most of all, their excellent technical skills. Their ability to speak many languages (all of them are fluent in English, many speak French, German, Spanish, Hungarian and other languages) and the experience working with technologies such as Java, JavaScript, .Net, PHP and many others made the IT companies around the world conclude that Romania is the perfect partner for software development projects.
Education
There are 41 technical Romanian universities. They produce about 5000 graduates each year, software and computer engineers. This makes a total of 120.000 new specialists every year (software developers, software testers), ready to take projects and deliver great results.
Prices
A perfect balance between good prices and great work might be hard to keep for certain countries. But not for Romania. It is not as cheap as India but provides very good value for money. However, the recent trend is that companies outsource because they can’t do everything in-house. So lately, the prices are not so important as they used to be, the decisive factor is who can provide excellent execution and innovation.
Accessibility
First, Romania is in the European Union and this can help at reducing legal and financial concerns. Second, the major IT cities (Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Iasi, Tg. Mures, etc.) are very well connected to a lot of destinations around the world. And the ticket prices are lower than the ones for Western Europe.
The high-speed broadband internet is ranked fourth worldwide, making Romania great for working with clients located on every continent. The time zone differences are not a problem because the programmers can work at flexible hours.
Ukraine
The IT sector in Ukraine has developed tremendously in recent years. The country is known for its well-educated IT specialists working with many technologies at competitive prices. This advanced growth of the IT industry, as well as the constant increase in the number of new developers each year, is offering new opportunities for possible customers. The center of the IT outsourcing industry in Ukraine is the capital, Kiev.
Poland
According to Bloomberg, Poland is listed among the most innovative countries in Europe. Its IT industry is seen as one of the general branches in the economy. Through its 120.000 IT specialists working in the country, Poland offers one of the biggest numbers of working places in Europe. Most of the IT outsourcing companies are in Warsaw and Krakow. Having the experience of decades, the companies specialize in outsourced and hardware design. However, everything comes at a cost. Poland is by far one of the most expensive countries on our list.
Belarus
Belarus has now around 54.000 IT specialists. Half of them are involved specifically in outsourcing. The government supports the IT industry by discharging from taxation all the residential IT companies. The companies contribute greatly to the economy. The epicenter of the industry is in Minsk, the country capital. Believe it or not, this small country has over 50 years’ experience in technology development.
Bulgaria
The capital city of Bulgaria, Sofia, is home to a rapidly growing community of developers. The highly educated, motivated and skilled labor force and the low prices put Bulgaria on the map on the IT outsourcing options in Easter Europe.
Conclusion
Considering all the above, the future of IT outsourcing in Eastern Europe looks promising. The industry will transform and grow, to keep up with the ever-changing global IT market. For many global companies looking for a software development partner, this region has become the number one choice due to a great number of talented specialists, great prices and technological facilities. For this, we can conclude that Eastern Europe is on the path of being a world-class leader when it comes to providing IT outsourcing services.