The shortage of professional Java, JavaScript, Python and .Net developers is hobbling the technology world, especially in the USA. To answer the growing demand for skilled technical brainpower, businesses are increasingly tapping into tech talent pools overseas. Ukraine has become one of the most popular IT outsourcing destinations and a powerhouse of software developers with unmatched expertise.
Working with Java, JavaScript, Python and .Net developers in Ukraine can be a viable option for companies who want to scale their development teams, avoid the recruitment hassle, and find a reliable IT outsourcing partner. So in this article, we present a comprehensive overview of software developers in Ukraine and answer the questions of why, where and how to hire the best specialists.
Java software developers in Ukraine
Ukraine has one of the largest and fastest-growing pools of IT professionals in Eastern Europe. This figure ranges from 166,000 to 184,500 software developers, according to different sources. In addition, Linkedin data shows that about 30,000 of them are Java developers. By all projections, the overall number of software developers in Ukraine is going to reach 200,000 by 2020 with Java and JavaScript specialists prevailing on the market.
Although Java’s market share has slightly decreased in the last two years, it still remains the most popular programming language among software developers in Ukraine. Also, a lot of software development companies in Ukraine offer professional Java outsourcing services.
According to Clutch, there are more than 170 Java development companies in Ukraine that have a proven track record of working on Java outsourcing projects across a variety of industries. By contrast, as of June 1, 2018, there were only 40 Ukrainian Java development companies registered on Clutch. Such a staggering boost demonstrates the boom of the IT industry in Ukraine.
Analyzing the number of Java job postings in Ukraine on Indeed.com, we can see that the supply of Java developers is almost 55 times bigger than the demand. And judging from the data on job postings in the USA, Ukraine has the huge potential to satisfy the US companies’ demand for Java developers.
Main requirements for Java software developers
When it comes to hiring a Java development team for your project, you need to be specific about your tech requirements. Here is the list of must-have skills an experienced Java engineer should possess:
- Deep knowledge of core Java
- Extensive background in building scalable Java applications
- Solid knowledge of Java libraries and frameworks: Struts, Spring, Maven, Gradle, Ant, JUnit, Hibernate, etc.
- Demonstrated experience using Jira, GitHub, Jenkins
- Strong knowledge of OOD concepts and development experience in JEE architecture
- Practical skills in creating secure RESTful web services
- Hands-on experience with Angular, Express, Node.Js
Python software developers in Ukraine
Python is among the top 5 most popular programming languages in Ukraine. Python developers constitute a large part of the Ukrainian IT community. Linkedin indicates that there are over 24,000 Python software developers in the country for the queries 'Python developer' and 'Python engineer'. Moreover, 52% of Ukrainian software developers surveyed by DOU plan to learn this technology in 2019.
An average Python developer in Ukraine is 27 years old and has more than 3-year work experience. Python is not the most used programming language among developers due to the huge popularity of Java and JavaScript, but it has become the second most popular programming language Ukrainian developers use as a supplementary one.
According to Clutch, Ukraine is home to 173 Django & Python development companies which have rich profiles of successfully delivered Python projects.
On Indeed.com, there are 267 and 524 open positions in Ukraine for a Python developer and a Python engineer respectively. On the US market, these figures reach almost 28,000 and 42,000. Therefore, a lot of American companies hire Python software developers in offshore locations in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine.
Key skills for Python software developers
When looking for Python software developers in Ukraine, companies should clearly define the technical requirements essential for the project. Below is the list of fundamental skills any Python developer should have:
- Fundamental knowledge of core Python concepts: Python syntax and semantics, Python built-in container data types and libraries, threading limitations and ways to overcome them, etc.
- Knowledge of the Python ecosystem and Python development tools such as debuggers, editors and IDEs, etc.
- Experience with popular Python libraries and frameworks: Django, Flask, Requests for web development; NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, TensorFlow for machine learning and data science, etc.
- General knowledge of front-end technologies, such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, etc.
- Basic database knowledge.
JavaScript software developers in Ukraine
JavaScript is the most popular programming language in the world, according to the 2019 StackOverflow survey. In Ukraine, it holds the leading place along with Java, as there are 17,8% of Java developers and over 17,7% of JavaScript developers in the country. Yet, JavaScript is the most popular programming language Ukrainian software programmers use as a supplementary one. Moreover, it is the second programming language software developers in Ukraine plan to master in 2019.
Ukraine has a vibrant JavaScript community. There are a lot of JavaScript events for learning and knowledge sharing, such as JS Fest, Kharkiv JS, Lviv JS, Odessa JS, and JavaScript framework days.
According to Linkedin, more than 64,000 JavaScript developers reside in Ukraine. As Clutch data shows, Ukraine has the greatest number of JavaScript development companies in the CEE region. There are over 500 software development vendors providing professional JavaScript development services.
As for the job openings in the USA and a JavaScript talent pool in Ukraine, there are roughly 2,2 Ukrainian JavaScript developers for every open JavaScript position in the USA.
JavaScript software developer skills
To hire a competent JavaScript developer for a project, a company needs to specify certain technical requirements from the outset. So the basic selection criteria should be as follows:
- Advanced experience with JavaScript libraries and frameworks such as React.js, AngularJS, Knockout.js, Backbone.js, JQuery, and others.
- Deep knowledge of web markup, including HTML5 and CSS3
- Good understanding of asynchronous request handling, partial page updates, and AJAX
- In-depth understanding of cross-browser compatibility issues and the ways to work around such issues
- Demonstrated knowledge of JavaScript module loaders, such as Require.js and AMD
- Experience with front-end build tools, such as Grunt, Gulp.js or Webpack
- Proficient understanding of code versioning tools, such as Git, Mercurial, SVN, etc.
.Net software developers in Ukraine
Nowadays, the number of companies who choose to outsource .NET development to Eastern Europe has soared. And the reasons for it are a large pool of qualified .Net software engineers and the rapid growth of the IT industry.
Microsoft .Net platform occupies one of the leading positions when it comes to software development. It allows designing, developing, and deploying a wide range of web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT applications. It covers a large number of support programs, code libraries, APIs, and toolsets. .Net apps can be written either in C#, F#, or Visual Basic.
In Ukraine, C# is the 3rd most popular programming language among software developers. And the number of C# programmers reaches almost 20,000, according to Linkedin. While the number of .Net developers in Ukraine registered on Linkedin is 14,000. Moreover, there are around 120 Ukrainian .Net development vendors on Clutch. Considering the number of .Net job postings and .Net developers in Ukraine, tech companies have a versatile choice of specialists to fill the positions. In the USA, by contrast, there are more job openings for software developers than qualified professionals to fill them.
Must-have skills for .Net software developers
.Net software developers' expertise and skills ensure a great part of the project success. So when you hire a dedicated development team of .Net developers, make sure they have the following skills:
- Good knowledge of .NET fundamentals
- Experience with .NET based CMS like Sitecore, Kentico or others
- Experience working with Visual Studio
- Programming experience with C#
- Proficiency in web frameworks such as ASP.NET Webform, .NET, Microsoft Web API, Powershell
- Knowledge of JavaScript, HTML5, CSS
- Experience working with SQL Server
Wrap-up
Today, Ukrainian Java, JavaScript, Python and .Net developers are in the spotlight of the companies that want to expand their development capabilities and innovate. Ukraine has the second largest tech talent pool in CEE and a great number of vendors that offer quality offshore software development services. There are a lot of professional .Net, Java, JavaScript, and Python engineers in Ukraine, so companies can build strong offshore teams in the country faster than in other locations and at the same time save money. Therefore, any company that is looking for software engineering talent should explore Ukraine's booming tech market.
