The tech talent shortage continues to be a significant challenge for businesses in the US and Western Europe, with 74% of companies reporting staffing difficulties, according to ManpowerGroup. This scarcity of skilled professionals significantly impacts the IT industry's growth and innovation potential. Organizations are increasingly turning to IT outsourcing services to address these workforce constraints as a strategic solution. The effectiveness of this approach is reflected in market growth, with Statista reporting that the global IT outsourcing services market has surpassed $541B in value in 2024.
Software development in Croatia has emerged as an attractive option, with the country boasting a highly skilled workforce and competitive rates. The country's growing tech prominence is evidenced by its advancement in the Future of IT report from Emerging Europe. Croatia's IT Competitiveness Index ranking improved from 13th place in 2023 to 10th in 2024. This comprehensive index evaluates countries based on talent availability, digital infrastructure, innovation ecosystem, and business environment, measuring factors from IT graduate numbers to R&D investments and startup support. Read our new article to discover Croatia's tech landscape, including its talent pool size, developer specializations, and industry coverage.
Software developer in Croatia: a portrait of a tech specialist
Croatia has seen significant growth in its tech workforce, making it an attractive destination for software development outsourcing. The number of skilled tech specialists in the country has increased from over 60K in 2022 to nearly 70K in 2024.
Diverse tech specializations of local ICT professionals
Outsourcing to Croatia gives you access to the talent pool of experts with multi-dimensional expertise. The country has enough specialists to fill both managerial and technical positions. According to LinkedIn, the number of software developers in Croatia reached 13K, with around 25% having the Senior qualification level. Around 2K local engineers have indicated their current qualification as Junior.
The Croatian IT market includes over 4.5K business analysts specializing in market analysis, business process evaluation, requirements gathering, and process improvement. The local talent pool also features other specialized roles: more than 900 QA engineers, over 600 system architects, and more than 500 DevOps developers.
The most popular expertise areas among Croatian IT specialists
Croatian engineers possess diverse technical expertise to handle complex technical requirements and business needs. LinkedIn data shows that JavaScript, Java, and Python are Croatia's tech sector's most widely used technologies. JavaScript leads with over 10K software engineers specializing in it, offering expertise in web development, server applications, front-end development, and cross-platform mobile applications.
Croatia boasts a robust pool of over 10K skilled Java developers who excel in building high-performance solutions. These developers are well-versed in Java best practices and apply them across various domains, including web applications, desktop software, and Big Data systems. Their expertise extends to developing cloud solutions, enterprise systems, and IoT applications.
Python ranks among Croatia's top three programming languages, with approximately 8K developers on LinkedIn specializing in this technology. Croatian Python developers are experienced in both prototyping and full-stack web development. They also bring strong capabilities in ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, Data Science, and Machine Learning projects.
Education prospects for software developers
Croatia offers strong educational pathways to aspiring ICT (Information and Communications Technology) professionals. Leading institutions include the University of Zagreb, Algebra University College, the University of Dubrovnik, and the University of Split. These universities offer comprehensive computer science programs, with software engineering and multimedia computing courses available in Croatian and English.
The country's technology education sector is robust, with over 7K students pursuing ICT degrees annually. Approximately 2K students graduate from computer science programs across Croatian universities each year.
English proficiency of Croatian tech professionals
Croatian developers demonstrate excellent English language skills, crucial for international business collaboration. According to the EF English Proficiency report, Croatia ranks 5th globally in English proficiency, with most professionals achieving around C1 level. This high ranking represents significant progress, as Croatia has climbed 12 positions since 2018, surpassing many European nations, including Hungary, Romania, and the Czech Republic.
This strong command of English stems from Croatia's comprehensive educational system, where English instruction begins in primary school and continues throughout all academic levels. Tech professionals' strong English language skills facilitate effective communication in multinational teams and reduce miscommunication risks during software development in Croatia.
Software development companies in Croatia: a sectional market analysis
Since joining the European Union in 2013, Croatia's IT industry has grown significantly. However, the country has yet to reach its full digital potential. Currently, Clutch lists approximately 219 companies offering offshore software development in Croatia-a notably smaller number than other Eastern European nations.
Engineering companies in Croatia: the size of IT firms
Company size is a key consideration when selecting a software development company in Croatia. Large and mid-sized companies (those with 250+ technical specialists) typically offer well-established development processes and reliable access to talent. However, these larger enterprises represent only 5% of Croatia's IT market. Most Croatian software development companies-over 200-are smaller vendors employing fewer than 250 technical specialists.
Croatian tech companies: the most popular service lines
Companies offering software development in Croatia deliver diverse technical services, with web development being the most prevalent specialty provided by 130 companies. Mobile app development is the second most common service, with 98 vendors, while 72 companies specialize in UX/UI design. The market includes 39 firms offering IT strategy consulting and 34 companies focusing on web design. Several Croatian companies offer specialized services in AI development and IT managed services. The market includes ecommerce development vendors and low/no code development solutions. Additionally, the ecosystem features firms that focus on cloud consulting, system integration services, and application management and support.
Software development companies in Croatia: key expertise areas
Croatian outsourcing vendors provide wide-ranging expertise that covers all the most popular programming languages. Most often, local engineering companies base their projects on the JavaScript stack-over half of IT firms in Croatia deal with JS development. SQL is the second most popular language for coding, and around 80 tech enterprises use it. Usually, the technology list of an average software development company in Croatia includes Java, PHP, and Python, as well as AJAX and C# development.
Croatian IT enterprises: industries serviced
Croatian tech vendors serve diverse industries, with information technology being their primary sector, followed closely by financial services. Healthcare and business services represent significant portions of their client base, while e-commerce and consumer products & services also form substantial market segments. Croatian IT companies have established a strong presence in the telecommunications sector and maintain steady engagement in education, hospitality & leisure, and manufacturing industries. This broad industry coverage demonstrates the versatility and adaptability of Croatian software development firms in meeting varied sector-specific requirements.
Tech vendors in Croatia: analysis by the client type
Understanding the typical client profile of Croatian software development companies provides valuable insight into the market's capabilities and reach. Croatian software development companies serve clients across all revenue segments. According to Clutch, most software development companies in Croatia work with small and midmarket companies (<$10M-$1B). Simultaneously, 87 Croatian IT firms deliver projects for large enterprises with revenue exceeding $1B.
Croatian developers vs. Eastern European engineers
When selecting a vendor for outsourcing software development in Croatia, decide based on specific business needs and objectives. Before entering into a partnership, develop a comprehensive checklist of technical project requirements and evaluate potential markets in different locations according to your key criteria.
Pay careful attention to the vendors' core industry experience and areas of technical expertise. Having engineers with direct experience in your specific domain or related fields is particularly valuable, as it can significantly reduce onboarding time and improve project outcomes.
To assist with your market research, we have prepared a comparative analysis of key characteristics and prevalent developer expertise across Croatia and other Eastern European countries:
Why partner with N-iX for software development in Eastern Europe?
- N-iX is a global software development company specializing in custom solutions for telecommunications, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, agritech, and other industries.
- Over the past 22 years since its establishment, the company has expanded its operations by opening offices across Europe and the Americas.
- N-iX engineering team counts 2,200 specialists skilled in Cloud development, Data Analytics, Big Data, Business Intelligence, the Internet of Things, Embedded development, and many other services.
- Our client list includes global enterprises such as Currencycloud, Fluke, Gogo, AVL, Messer, and others. Moreover, N-iX has established cooperations with many Fortune 500 companies.
- N-iX complies with international cybersecurity guidelines, including GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO 27001:2013, and ISO 9001:2015.
- N-iX is well-recognized in many industry rankings, including the IOAP Global Outsourcing 100 rating, CRN Fast Growth 150 list, and other international rankings.
Have a question?
Speak to an expert
