29 facts about outsourced software engineering in Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is becoming an increasingly popular destination for outsourced software engineering. While Western Europe is facing the shortage of tech experts, Eastern European tech talent pool is soaring. This region boasts its high level of technical education and qualified software developers. Also, Eastern European countries are culturally close to Western Europe and the USA, which increases their attractiveness in terms of potential partnerships.

If you are considering outsourcing software development, the facts gathered in this article will help you learn more about the IT market in Eastern Europe and make an informed decision. The data comes from a lot of reputable sources, such as PwC, Bloomberg, Tholons, A.T. Kearney, and others, and sheds some light on the Eastern European software development market.

1. According to Stack Overflow, there are over 1 million developers in Central & Eastern Europe overall. Nearly 42% of them are based in Poland and Ukraine.
2. Six Eastern European countries (Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Ukraine, and Estonia) are listed in the top 25 of AT Kearney’s 2017 Global Services Location Index. The index assesses the offshoring environment in 55 countries considering such factors as financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, and business environment.
3. In HackerRank Best Developers ranking, the countries of this region have high positions: Poland – 3rd, Hungary – 5th, and Ukraine – 11th.
4. Ukraine and Poland have made it to the top 10 European countries with the largest professional developer population demonstrating rapid growth during the latest years.Source: The State of European tech Report
5. Many Eastern European countries are listed in the top 50 of Bloomberg Innovation Index 2018. It includes Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.
6. Ease of Doing Business 2018 rating shows that Eastern European countries demonstrated considerable growth in comparison with the previous years. Poland has risen from 74th place in 2006 to 27th place in 2018, Romania – from 71st to 45th, Hungary – from 60th to 49th, and Ukraine – from 132th to 76th respectively.
7. Four Eastern European cities (Krakow, Prague, Warsaw, and Budapest) are listed in the top 25 in Tholons Services Globalization City Index 2017. This Index rates cities and countries considering innovation, startup ecosystem, and digital transformation.
8. According to the EF English Proficiency Index 2017, 4 Eastern European countries are listed in the top 20 (Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic). The index ranks 80 countries based on their English proficiency level.
9. In HackerRank Best developers by Domain challenge, Eastern European countries attained the leading positions: Poland is the first in Java category, Hungary in Tutorials, the Czech Republic in Shell, and Ukraine in Security.Source: HackerRank
10. Two Eastern European cities (Warsaw and Krakow) are rated in the 9 biggest movers list in Tholons Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations 2016.
11. Clutch includes 1,661 web & custom software development companies in Eastern Europe.
12. Several Eastern European cities such as Tallinn (18th position in the top 60), Budapest (33), Prague (37), Warsaw (38), and Bratislava (41) are rated in European Digital City Index.
13. PHP is reported to be the most popular and widespread language throughout Eastern European countries.
14. Node.JS developer share has risen throughout Eastern European countries over the past few years, especially in Ukraine (from 14% in 2012 to 21% in 2016) and Belarus (from 12% in 2012 to 18% in 2016).
15. In Top Coder ranking, an original platform for competitive programming online, Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus are in top 10.
16. Due to the rapid development of the Romanian IT sector over the past few years, the country has got more software engineers per capita than India, the US, China, and Russia.
17. According to Stack Overflow, Central and Eastern Europe is home to nearly 68,000 mobile developers and 164,000 backend web developers.
18. The distribution of Web and Mobile developers is similar across Eastern European countries.Source: Stack Overflow

Ukraine is one of the leading software development outsourcing destinations in Eastern Europe. The country’s IT market is growing rapidly generating more and more skilled engineers as well as successfully delivered software projects for renown global companies. That is why we have outlined several facts about IT outsourcing in Ukraine as one of the key players on the Eastern European IT market.

Outsourced software engineering in Ukraine

19. Eighteen Ukrainian companies are rated in The 2018 Global Outsourcing 100 by IAOP. In 2017, this list included 13 companies from Ukraine.

20. Currently, about 1,000 Ukrainian companies and almost 160,000 programmers provide services to the clients around the globe.

21. According to the PwC report, Ukraine is ranked among the top 25 IT services exporters worldwide.

22. Ukrainian IT industry export volume has grown from $2.7 bn in 2015 to $3.6 in 2017, taking the third place among export volumes in the country (after metallurgy and food industry).

Source: IT Ukraine

23. Ukrainian IT outsourcing industry grew by 27% in 2017. This growth rate is similar to Ukraine’s GDP rise in 2006-2007 (before the financial crisis).

24. More than 70% of IT services in Ukraine are exported.

25. In October 2017, Ukraine was named Offshoring Destination of the Year at the GSA UK Awards 2017.

26. According to The Global Human Capital Index 2017, Ukraine has the 24th position out of 130 countries. The Ukrainian human capital serves as a foundation for IT economy development in the country.

27. According to DOU.ua survey, the Ukrainian IT market has a high rate of highly qualified software engineers comprising 36% of middle software developers, 26% of junior programmers, and 19% of senior engineers.

28. The number of IT vacancies in Ukraine published on DOU.ua, a popular Ukrainian website about IT industry, increased by 45% in 2017 compared to 2016.

29. There are more than 38,000 graduates with technical degrees annually in Ukraine.

The data from different rankings such as AT Kearney’s Global Services Location Index, Tholons Services Globalization Index, Bloomberg Innovation Index and others demonstrates the impressive growth of Eastern European IT industry during the recent years. Many global companies, such as Lebara, Xerox, Philips, Gogo, and others benefit from outsourced software engineering and partner with IT vendors in Eastern Europe.

So, due to its rapidly growing software development industry and a considerable number of highly qualified software engineers, Eastern Europe is a great choice for outsourcing software development services.