Software Developers in Eastern Europe: Which Country Suits Your Project?
When it comes to outsourcing software development work, Eastern Europe is one of the most popular regions in the world now. Companies in Western Europe and America are now outsourcing work to this region, working with remote developers, and even opening offshore development centers here.
A combination of large numbers of skilled developers, a growing talent pool of graduates, government support, and inward investment is making Central & Eastern Europe and attractive region for companies in search of developers.
Some of the most popular destinations include Poland, Ukraine, Romania, with Estonia, Slovenia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and of course Russia, amongst the top countries for development outsourcing.
Before we look at the region in more detail, let’s take a look at the costs of development outsourcing in this region and what developers do?
How much do software developers make?
In the U.S., it’s not unusual for a developer — especially those with a few years experience — to command a six figure salary. Most small and medium business can’t afford to pay that. Startups often need to hire those with less experience to gain the skills they need, or they can outsource.
Working with remote developers in Eastern Europe is considerably more cost effective than recruiting developers in the U.S. Even compared to the UK and Western Europe, Eastern European developers are significantly more cost effective, they have the advantage of being only a few hours away (so often work on similar time zones), often speak competent English, and are efficient and effective.
What do software developers do?
Software developers come in many shapes and sizes.
What they do depends on the coding languages they’re fluent in, the tools they use, number of years experience and what they’ve built and worked on in the past. Developers are capable of building and improving complex databases, working with APIs, building apps — web and mobile apps — and working on servers, amongst other things.
Developers have dozens, if not hundreds of coding/computer languages they can learn. From Java to .NET, PHP to Ruby, there are countless languages that are important, relevant and play a big role in making the Internet and software products what they are today. Developers that know several languages are even more useful and thankfully many do, and many are skilled at using a wide range of tools that make their work more efficient and useful.
With the right developer or team, you can turn an idea into reality.
One simple way to look at what developers do is to consider what you want building. Or your business goals: Can technology help you achieve what you want?
If the answer is yes, and an off-the-shelf solution isn’t the answer, then you are probably going to need to work with a developer to create the solution, either from scratch or working with a set of products, platforms and tools that already exist.
Software developers salary
Unlike developers in India and the Philippines, those in Eastern Europe command higher rates. However, for U.S. and UK companies, the going rates — usually between $30 to $50 per hour (depending on the level of skills/experience and specialisms required) — are still considerably more cost effective than recruiting an in-country team.
If you were to recruit a developer from this region, a typical cost can be between $30,000 and $50,000; also depending on the skills, number of years experience and role they play within a team. A product manager is always going to command a higher salary than a junior developer. Now let’s take a look at the best countries to recruit developers from Eastern Europe.
Top Eastern European Countries for Software Developers
For companies looking to benefit from Eastern European development talent (alongside IBM, Apple, and Microsoft, amongst other tech giants), let’s take a closer look at three of the most popular outsourcing destinations: Poland, Ukraine, and Romania.
- Poland is an EU country with over 140,000 developers and an IT market growing at a rate of between 5% and 10% every year. According to HackerRank challenges scores in 2018, Poland is in the top 3 of countries for developers in the world. The Tholons Globalization Index 2018 places Poland as 11th in the world for developers.
- Ukraine opened its market to inward investment in 2014, resulting in an influx of $630 million in 5 years, which is showing no signs of slowing down. An emphasis on technical education makes this an ideal country for those looking to outsource development, with 15,000 tech graduates churning out of universities annually and a strong base of 160,000 IT professionals. Gartner and several professional bodies have noted how Ukraine is an outstanding destination for outsourcing. Several well-known startups, including Petcube, Preply, and Grammarly were created in Ukraine.
- Romania has become an attractive country for development outsourcing, with changes to tax laws creating a favorable environment. It is home to development offices for Microsoft, Ericsson, and Huawei, and the IT sector generates 5% of GDP, worth $4.2 billion. Romania boasts an IT talent base of 100,000 with 7,000 tech graduates leaving universities every year.
For a number of reasons — language fluency, technical skills, professionalism, value for money and experience working on remote development projects — Eastern Europe is rated highly by numerous global consultancy firms. Big companies, startups and small and medium enterprises can take comfort in knowing that development projects are going to be in safe hands in this region.
One way to recruit the talent you need in this region is to use YouTeam.
YouTeam is a platform that gives you the ability to build remote teams of world-class engineers within 1 week. YouTeam is a Booking.com for IT outsourcing, with developers carefully, independently vetted, using various tools to verify the skills and experiences of developers.
Founders can rest easy knowing projects come with a dedicated project manager (no extra charge), the developers on the platform are carefully selected from firms with the capacity to deliver, and all at the fraction of the cost of recruiting a team in the Bay Area. Using YouTeam means you can work, build, and scale safely — all with a 100% money-back guarantee.
