Poland: World-Class Developers Within Arm’s Reach.

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Jul 21, 2017 · 4 min read

If Poland doesn’t come to your mind when thinking about outsourcing your company’s IT needs, you might be missing out on a nation known for having some of the best developers in the world. Currently among the top countries in coding competitions and other developer rankings, Poland has experienced a rapid growth of its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. High quality of service, combined with low costs and great cultural compatibility, makes Poland one of the best choices when searching for IT professionals.

According to the Polish Ministry of Economic Development (MED), the ICT sector currently accounts for around 8% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and continues to grow. “More than 50% of start-ups are established in the ICT sector. The number of Polish enterprises in the sector increases in the average annual rate of 10.1%”, said Tadeusz Kościński, the Undersecretary of State at the MED.

A recently published report regarding the growth projections for the Polish ICT sector by 2025 lists IT initiatives as one of the main economic driving forces, projecting more investments to solidify Poland as a European reference in the tech industry. Such optimism is based on a big influx of foreign companies opening branches on the Polish ground and an increased interest in IT among young Poles.

More than 850 shared service centres operate in the country, employing more than 193,000 workers, of whom 37% are IT specialists. However, authorities emphasise that Poland is also being the breeding ground for companies that are reaching global success. “Groups such as Asseco or Comarch are recognised not only in the European market, but also globally. It is worth to remember about companies such as CD Projekt, the makers of “The Witcher” — a global leader in the gaming market, one of many Polish companies taking global markets by storm. They include 3D printers manufacturers, which will play a significant role in the industrial revolution 4.0 happening right now”, explained Ireneusz Piecuch, the President of the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications (PIIT).

Climbing the ranks

Parallel to the market growth, Poland is also among the leaders of various rankings and IT competitions. The country currently holds the 5th position on TopCoder, a known website that promotes programming challenges. In 2016, HackerRank, another competitive platform, listed Poles in the 3rd place overall, with an average of 98,0 scoring index in all of the challenges. When sorted by domain, Polish developers lead statistics in Java challenges, took the second place in Algorithms and Python, ranked 4th in Shell and 5th in Ruby. Poland has also had success in events such as the Imagine Cup, Facebook Hacker Cup, Google Code Jam and the Central European Programming Contest, and the numbers of participants are expected to grow as more students seek enrolment in technical universities.

According to the PIIT, around 76,000 people were enrolled in IT programs in Poland in 2015. Moreover, in the following year, the average number of candidates per place at universities of technology was of 4, compared to 3.5 at standard universities and universities of economics. Additionally, the Polish government is about to introduce coding classes in all levels of education. As stated by the Ministry of National Education, starting in September 2017, students will learn the basics of IT starting from the first grade of primary school. The program is the result of a joint project by three ministries and will be carried out by computer science teachers.

High quality at lower cost

Polish developers also have a financial advantage over the competition: Poland has one of the lowest labour costs in the European Union. Eurostat shows that the average labour cost in the EU in 2016 was 29,8 EUR/hour, while in Poland it registered 8,6 EUR/hour. Also according to the MED, the average salary in the Polish ICT sector was 1,043 EUR in 2014. A big contrast when compared to the average ICT salary of 4,698 EUR in UK, as noted by a Tech Nation report from last year. Although Poland is the 6th country in Europe in terms of employment in the ICT sector, its salaries add up to only 8,06% of salaries in the British tech sector.

Other factors put Polish developers as the go-to option when outsourcing IT needs. The country ranks 10th among 72 nations on EF’s English Proficiency index. High level of English proficiency and ability to communicate properly are extremely important factors when looking for efficient processes and product quality.

Poland is also in a strategic geographical location, in the same time zone of most European countries and only one hour ahead of the UK — another factor that facilitates team work and coordinating processes. There’s virtually no cultural gap between Poland and other Central and Western European countries, which usually also provides a great fit when working on a multicultural and dynamic environment.

If you are considering IT outsourcing — contact us through our website! :)

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