Kyiv has a well-deserved reputation as an excellent IT outsourcing destination. Thanks to the abundance of highly skilled developers, geographical proximity to Western Europe, and vibrant business environment, IT market in Kyiv is skyrocketing. It is occupying its place among the most preferred outsourcing hubs for European and North American companies. Kyiv developers combine professionalism, desire to broaden their tech stack and flexible approach to work. Let’s discover why global brands choose to outsource engineering to Ukraine and cooperate with remote software development teams in Kyiv.
Huge talent pool
Kyiv attracts many experienced developers and concentrates the biggest amount of talent in Ukraine. Due to the highly developed IT industry, it is a perfect outsourcing destination. More than 70,000 developers work in the IT sector in Kyiv (around 44% of all resources in Ukraine). Many Kyiv IT companies are looking for the best professionals and attract them for relocation from other parts of Ukraine. The rapid growth of the Kyiv IT sector and the highest salaries in Ukraine are leveraging the demand for relocation.
Moreover, Kyiv opens new opportunities for developers who are willing to have international work experience. Plenty of global companies have subsidiaries and R&D centers in the Ukrainian capital with thousands of engineers working there. So Kyiv developers know how important it is to follow international coding standards and maintain effective communication with their clients.
Vibrant tech community
Kyiv developers have lots of possibilities to enrich their knowledge or share it with their colleagues. Numerous events take place in Kyiv such as IForum, IT Talk Kyiv, IDCEE, and others. Furthermore, Kyiv developers have created various communities which organize regular meetups to share the experience in different technologies. They use them to network, learn something, exchange news, present interesting technical solutions and much more.
In addition, many IT companies offer courses to developers who want to extend their stack and upgrade their skill set. Such companies as Microsoft, Cisco, and others make it possible for IT professionals in Kyiv to get different kinds of certification. Software development providers in Ukraine always encourage their employees to obtain them and sometimes even cover the cost. So if you choose to cooperate with a team from Kyiv, senior specialists will most likely have an international certificate proving their competence.
Technical education in Kyiv
Kyiv is famous for its strong technical education. The four top-rated technical universities of Ukraine are located in the capital. They include such institutions as Kiev Polytechnic Institute, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and National Aviation University. Moreover, nearly 15,000 highly qualified IT professionals graduate every year with certificates in technical disciplines and over half of them work in Kyiv.
Related: Tech education of developers in Ukraine: 5 significant insights
Favorable geographical location
Kyiv has a great location in terms of accessibility and proximity. Cooperating with a company that is located nearby is undoubtedly a valuable advantage. Kyiv is situated in a close proximity to most central and western European cities. It takes only 2-3 hours to get to the largest European capitals from Kyiv and around 7 hours – to the US. Moreover, Kyiv has 2 airports with good connections to the major US and European airports. The average cost of a flight from top European cities to Kyiv is less than 100$.
Business environment
Kyiv is not only the capital but also the biggest and most developed city in Ukraine. It is attractive for large and small businesses and has a developed business culture. The government is supporting the development of the IT industry and encourages cooperation with international companies. Furthermore, Kyiv is the most popular location in Ukraine for opening an R&D center. Companies such as Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, Wargaming, Boeing, eBay, Siemens, IBM all have offices in the Ukrainian capital. On top of that, Kyiv is also attractive for doing business due to the rich choice of office premises, Internet providers, big variety of hotels, and the availability of all types of business services.
Technologies and programming languages
As the city has the largest number of programmers, the adoption of rare technologies in Ukraine begins here. For instance, hiring specialists with expertise in Data Science and BI might be still challenging in some other Ukrainian IT centres. Yet in Kyiv, there is already a good pool of these candidates, so you can staff the project faster. Furthermore, the availability of expertise in Microsoft Dynamics stack is another distinguishing feature of the IT market in Kyiv. Around 300 developers in Ukraine work with Microsoft Dynamics AX (Axapta) and over 40% of them are located in Kyiv. Such technologies as Navision and CRM are also gaining popularity in Kyiv.
Moreover, there are more programmers specializing in rare technologies like Scala, Erlang, and Go. Many senior developers who mastered Java and other popular languages often want to extend their expertise and try something different. So they start mastering functional programming. These technologies allow developers to work with Big Data, build complex architectures and high-load systems. Thus they can work on the most complicated and interesting projects.
English proficiency of Kyiv developers
Besides being remarkably skillful, most developers have a good command of the English language, which is an additional benefit. Kyiv developers have successfully overcome the language barrier and around 40% have upper intermediate/advanced level of English and can easily communicate with English-speaking clients. Moreover, most software companies have free English courses and speaking clubs. Some IT companies in Kyiv also have German and French-speaking managers and developers.
On the whole, Kyiv is one of the leading IT centres in Eastern Europe. It offers a perfect balance between cost and quality. What’s more, Kyiv has significantly improved its status in international business venue rankings over the past year. So it’s not surprising that the city is a home to major IT companies and R&D centers of global tech brands. Kyiv developers are stimulating the growth and development of the software industry in Ukraine. They are mastering rare programming languages and gaining experience in top technologies. So, cooperation with a remote development team from Kyiv would bring a myriad of benefits to your business.
