12 reasons to hire Ukrainian software developers for IT outsourcing

IT outsourcing to Ukraine is getting more popular: Ukraine is becoming a leading IT outsourcing destination in Europe due to its booming tech ecosystem, which is predicted to reach US $8.4 billion of industry export volume in 2025, a large talent pool of more than 285,000 IT professionals, and strong tech education. 

Ukrainian software developers have been ranked as the 4th strongest IT professionals globally thanks to their solid technical expertise, high English proficiency level (70% speak English at an upper-intermediate level), and knowledge of emerging disciplines (Go, AI, big data, blockchain, etc.)
No wonder top-tier enterprises the likes of Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, and Apple prefer outsourcing to Ukraine to build cutting-edge software solutions.

According to the Ministry of Economy, the volume of computer services provided in Ukraine during the first nine months of the year increased by 13%, while exports increased by 23%. Businesses in the tech sector paid taxes totaling UAH 48B during this period. More than half a billion dollars was allocated to aid the Ukrainian Armed Forces and  humanitarian groups. Despite the war, $350 million was invested in Ukrainian IT companies, and more than 80% of them preserved nearly 100% of their contracts.
Currently, outsourcing in Ukraine employs over 285,000 developers.

Ukrainian developers rank 4th among the best software developers in the world. Plus, the country is ranked second in the world for the best Java Script developers and freelancers. 

Ukraine is ranked fourth in the world for digital and technological expertise and is one of the main sources of IT outsourcing in Central and Eastern Europe.

JavaScript is the most popular programming language in commercial use (18.8%), while C# comes in second (14.7%) with a positive dynamic for the second year in a row.

Java was ranked third (14.3%) in 2021, with its share decreasing year after year, whereas TypeScript is growing at a 10% annual rate and has every chance of landing in the top five or even top three programming languages in the coming year.

Ukraine’s IT industry ranks 1st globally by the number of Unity3D game developers and C++ engineers and 2nd when it comes to JavaScript, Scala, and Magento developers.

In Ukraine, the software outsourcing industry claims the 3rd spot for the number of Node.js, Python, ASP.NET, Ruby, Symfony, and PHP developers.

Ukraine’s engineers are highly-educated, making it relatively easy to hire back-end programmers with enough skills to build high-load systems with complex logic.
When it comes to front-end web developers, Ukraine’s software outsourcing industry takes the 5th spot, and there’s no shortage of Android app developers and iOS developers, either.

What’s more, Ukraine’s tech talent pool has UI/UX designers, business analysts, software testers, infrastructure engineers, DevOps, and many other specialists with world-class professional skills.

Every year, approximately 130,000 engineers graduate from Ukrainian universities, which is more than France, Germany, Poland, and many other west European countries. What’s more, around 75% of developers in Ukraine have a higher education degree, 6.3% have two degrees, and 1.5% possess a Sc.D degree.

By teaching STEM students custom-built tech courses, tech companies play an important role in modernizing the higher education system.

STEM students can now learn statistics and data science, cybersecurity, software engineering, sensor and analytical systems, HR management in government and business, and many other subjects from practicing specialists thanks to the collaboration of LNU and large Ukrainian tech companies.

The European Initiatives Project is aimed at developing tech education in Ukraine and integrating the best practices into the training of young IT experts.  While tech universities generate entry-level tech specialists, the more experienced ones are busy educating themselves: more than 85% of Ukrainian developers read professional literature after working hours.

The volume of IT outsourcing services export in Ukraine has been growing steadily over the last five years: 29.3% in 2018, 31.4% in 2019, and 20.4% during the worldwide pandemic in 2020.

The volume of IT outsourcing services export in Ukraine has been growing steadily over the years: 29.3% in 2018, 31.4% in 2019, and 20.4% during the worldwide pandemic in 2020. However, as Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, things changed. The war impacted every sphere, and the Ukrainian tech industry was no exception. 

The number of software companies in Ukraine grew from 1,050 in 2011 to about 5,000 tech companies in 2022. Nearly 1,400 are startups. Although the majority of businesses (86%) have up to 80 employees, about 11% have 80-200 employees. Some of the top IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine have crossed the 6,000 employee threshold and show signs of continued growth.

So does the versatility of services they offer, including web and mobile development, UI/UX design, quality assurance, and testing, dedicated team building, R&D services, IT consulting, big data and analytics, and more.

Read more: Foreign Companies in Ukraine with R&D Centers

Ukraine is home to 2,000 startups among which you’ll find Grammarly, Reface, Preply, Ajax, Jooble, DepositPhotos, GitLab, and PetCube.

The top 6 reasons to choose IT outsourcing to Ukraine are:

• Best price-to-quality ratio;
• One of the leading outsourcing markets in the whole world (According to Outsourcing journal);
• A large number of highly-educated developers;
• Innovative approach to development;
• Little-to-no time difference with most European destinations;
• High level of English proficiency.

• Best price-to-quality ratio;
• One of the leading outsourcing markets in the whole world (According to Outsourcing journal);
• A large number of highly-educated developers;
• Innovative approach to development;
• Little-to-no time difference with most European destinations;
• High level of English proficiency.

More than 100 Fortune 500 businesses delegate software outsourcing to Ukraine. Additionally, 18 top IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine are featured in the top 100 best outsourcing companies in the world.

Being such a fruitful soil for tech initiatives, Ukraine offers a well-balanced quality/value ratio which attracts the world’s tech giants. Ukraine also boasts more than 110 remote development centers, including Microsoft, Samsung Electronics, Apple, Skype, IBM, Boeing, Ericsson, Siemens, Oracle, Magento, and Wargaming, just to name a few. 

Several of the top tech companies have acquired Ukrainian tech startups. Google has purchased Viewdle, a facial recognition company, Snapchat has acquired Looksery, a real-time facial modification app, and Oracle has bought Maxymiser, a Ukrainian provider of cloud-based software for marketers. ​

Additionally, Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital and one of the country’s major tech hubs, has more investors than Warsaw, Vienna, Oslo, and Copenhagen.

Ukraine’s IT specialists have built strong business relationships with clients from major European countries with venture capital funds such as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, etc.

As a result, the total venture capital investment in Ukrainian startups reached US $258 million in 2017 and US $336.9 million in 2018, and has been growing steadily. Since the beginning of 2022, Ukraine ranks sixth among the countries that have attracted the most venture capital, with an indicator of €246 million.

Above-average salaries and ability to work with foreign tech businesses make the tech industry the most desirable employment destination among Ukrainians. 

While it’s getting more and more complicated to join the tech industry due to growing expectations, the software development industry in Ukraine is currently seeing a powerful influx of talented specialists from related fields.

Tech specialists show the highest rates of work motivation: 92% tech/team leads say that they find their job interesting and challenging and the same is seen among senior PMs, product managers, HR managers, and data science engineers.

Mind that when we speak about tech specialists, we include all kinds of tech professionals: software and infrastructure engineers, quality assurance specialists, project managers, Scrum masters, product managers, business analysts, graphic designers (UI/UX), marketing specialists, content makers, and others.

85% percent of Ukraine’s tech workers report having an intermediate or higher level of English proficiency (9).

The majority of software development and IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine offer free English classes for their employees which increases their English fluency level.

And it really shows in the way tech companies organize their processes, communication, and corporate policies. 

In general, Ukrainian tech companies share Western business culture: despite stereotypes, Ukrainian programmers are diligent problem solvers and great communicators. 

They’re open to discussion, get personally involved in the projects they’re working on, and are interested in facilitating their success.

Middle and senior programmers perform better when given a certain level of independence.

The tech industry in Ukraine got rid of some ineffective aspects such as strict adherence to hierarchy and formalized communication.

The majority of them are headquartered in the EU or the US, which significantly simplifies the process of development outsourcing to Ukraine from a legal standpoint.

Compared to Poland and the Czech Republic, Ukraine offers more competitive rates for programming outsourcing and a much larger tech talent pool to choose talent from.

The average hourly rate for software development is within the $30–60 range, with the average software developer salary being about $4800 per month.​

Admittedly, these rates may seem higher than in some other popular IT outsourcing countries. But they’re still significantly lower than those in Western Europe and North America, where a software engineer of a similar caliber could cost close to $100 per hour or more. The average developer salaries in Ukraine are lower than in neighboring Poland.

The national average salary for a programmer in Ukraine is around $20,500 per year, according to SalaryExpert. According to the same source, the average salary for a programmer in Poland is around $36,300 per year.

Additionally, recent reforms in licensing have dramatically improved the ease of doing business in the country.

Located only an hour ahead of most European countries, Ukrainian programmers share 7 out of 9 business hours with the majority of Western countries.

Just to compare, a tech company from London working with programmers from the Philippines shares only three business hours.Geographic proximity makes Ukraine an incredibly convenient location for nearshoring as it enables smooth communication and workflow between geographically dispersed teams.

However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there are currently no direct flights to and from Ukraine. But don’t fret, your team can and will continue to work efficiently! Daily stand-ups and constant communication is sufficient to ensure that everything is done to meet project deadlines. 

Needless to say, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed a lot. But the level of dedication and persistence of Ukrainian developers remains the same. A study shows that more than 80% of developers are still working full-time, even though about 61% had to leave their homes permanently, and move to safer locations like Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk or elsewhere. 

While the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fearlessly protecting the country and its people from Russian invaders, Ukrainian IT engineers are working hard to provide customers around the world with timely, quality services.

The majority of software developers work in tech companies that provide IT outsourcing services.

Being a part of an IT outsourcing company means that specialists can gain hands-on experience in diverse technologies, industries, and business niches.

By doing so they earn a high level of expertise in a shorter period of time than their colleagues in Silicon Valley or any other world-class tech hub.

In Ukraine, junior programmers usually have 1–2 years of experience, middle tech specialists have 3–4 years, and senior tech professionals have 5+ years of experience.

Despite severe power outages caused by Russian missile strikes, most offices are equipped with generators and Starlinks to ensure a stable internet connection and a comfortable working environment. 

In 20+ years of working with international clients, we’ve repeatedly heard that Ukrainian developers have an exceptional capability of resolving issues and that they are always ready to put extra effort to make things work.

During interviews, many of our clients highlight the fact that working with Ukrainian software developers has significantly improved their performance. A CEO at an IT Company from Germany recommended a Ukraine-based outsource software team on Clutch:

“As a company, we’ve definitely learned, grown, and improved because of their team.”

Ukrainian programmers combine two valuable characteristics — the feeling of personal responsibility for results and the ability to communicate with team members, which makes them so good at reaching goals within deadlines.

“We have been very happy with their performance and they’ve done more than we expected”, says Daniel Taiber, VP R&D at InsFocus.

Interested in hiring software developers with us? Just drop us a line and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

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