Staff Augmentation in Eastern Europe: Ukraine Overview

Eastern Europe has become a lucrative destination for software development talent over the past two decades. The major players in this field, such as Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, are now the promised land for Western companies looking to optimize their software development budgets and add skilled talent to their teams. 

In its turn, the region provides an excellent price-quality ratio, modern IT infrastructure, and a strong STEM educational base, making the region a fertile ground for the rise of staff augmentation Eastern Europe. Overall, the talent pool entails over 1 million software developers. The lion’s share of tech talent (that’s nearly 200,000 developers and counting) is based in Ukraine, whereas countries such as Belarus, Romania, Moldova are home to less than a half of that number. This number explains why Ukraine is considered a powerhouse in IT staff augmentation services, rivaled only by Poland in terms of developer numbers. 

Staff augmentation in Eastern Europe: Ukraine is ahead of the curve

Western companies give Ukraine a lot of credit for its quality to price software development ratio, which is what led to Ukraine’s nomination as “Outsourcing Destination of the Year” nomination of the year 2017 and its continued inclusion and consideration in outsourcing rankings yearly. For example, a significant milestone for Ukrainian IT is being ranked first by  A.T. Kearney’s Global Services Location Index for talent availability and financial attractiveness in 2019. 

As the birthplace of more than 3,000 IT companies, most of which provide team extension (Europe) services, Ukraine boasts the region’s highest number in this regard, which puts it ahead of other Eastern European countries when it comes to sourcing tech talent. Below, we dive deeper into the points that place Ukraine high on the ladder of staff augmentation in Eastern Europe. 

READ ALSO: Staff Augmentation or Project Outsourcing, Which is Better for you?

Education

Ukraine has a long history when it comes to a commitment to science/ technological education, dating back to the Soviet Union. With 30,000+ IT specialists graduating each year, the tech talent pool is constantly replenishing. This number by far exceeds the educational forces of other countries in the region, making it a formidable competitor when it comes to the variety of tech talent. 

Over 80% of IT specialists in Ukraine have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, and 60% of the graduates are alumni of Computer Science faculties. Thus, when you are looking for staff augmentation opportunities in Ukraine, you can always count on a supply of well-educated and experienced engineers, which brings us to our next point, skills. 

Programming skills | Seniority 

When tapping into staff augmentation in Eastern Europe, you may wonder what programming languages prevail in the development community. Ukraine keeps pace with the rest of the world, emphasizing JavaScript as the most popular language among young developers. However, JS is constantly competing with Java and Microsoft technologies, such as C# and .NET. Other popular languages include Python (thanks to Data Science popularity), Ruby, PHP, Kotlin, and Typescript. 

Another thing you may be interested in is the developers’ level you’ll find in Ukraine. Thanks to a vast talent pool, Ukraine can offer specialists ranging from developers who are in the middle of the career ladder to ones who already have a decade of experience under their belt. 

If developer’s seniority is your major criterion when going with team augmentation Europe, you’ll come across roughly 25% of developers with up to 2 years of experience, 40% with up to 3-5 years of experience. The latter are strong mid-level software engineers who make up the bulk of the software development community. Finally, we have  25% of specialists with at least a decade of experience and 10% of all developers have been in development for longer than ten years. 

Expertise

The booming IT industry creates a thriving environment for newly-minted graduates and seasoned specialists alike. Most developers draw expertise from working with Western companies and team augmentation Europe services, as the national/internal development market in Ukraine is still in its early stages. Thus, many developers harbor expertise in different verticals ranging from fintech, healthcare to telecom, which helps the country stay at the edge of the global IT market. 

To pinpoint this idea, we should mention that Samsung Electronics, Netcracker, Aricent, Wargaming have established their offices in Ukraine. These companies are actively hiring developers off the Ukrainian market, which lets specialists apply their knowledge to the development of acknowledged products as well as learn from these companies’ best practices.  

Cultural affinity 

While cultural affinity to the Western world can be attributed to any country of the region, it’s essential to say that Ukraine lies at the crossroads of Western and Eastern cultures, which is why Ukrainians are so open-minded, and readily absorb other companies’ cultures. That can be crucial when you are looking for staff augmentation in Eastern Europe, expecting that your teams will stay on the same wavelength. 

IT companies in Ukraine are similar to Western companies in many ways, sharing the same business ethics, communication culture, and mentality. That’s not to say that Ukraine doesn’t have its unique national traits. However, if you are considering exploring staff augmentation Eastern Europe, you’ll be pleased to know that Working with Ukrainian companies means straightforward communication, honesty, and a “can do” attitude. 

Read Also: Staff Augmentation Companies in Ukraine: Cultural Aspects

Afterword 

Eastern Europe, and Ukraine in particular, is a hotbed for software development where you can find any expert, from developers with generic backgrounds to niche specialists. While it may seem overwhelming to find the right kind of talent in a pool as large and diverse as Ukraine, this is where companies that specialize in staff augmentation in Eastern Europe companies can be useful. 

Our team at nCube can help you extend your team with skilled web and mobile developers, frontend and backend engineers, UX/UI designers, QA engineers, and DevOps specialists based in Ukraine. Contact us.