Software Outsourcing to Ukraine: Reasons to Hire Ukrainian Developers

Advanced tech infrastructure development, many tech universities, and an incredibly active tech community – these factors are the critical ones making Ukraine the most attractive outsourcing destination for international companies. At the same time, Ukrainian software developers are recognized among the world’s best. That proves the high quality of Ukrainian software development services in the modern information technology industry.

Below, we will analyze the key benefits of IT outsourcing in Ukraine and define the major outsourcing services offered by Ukrainian software development companies. But firstly, we have to talk about the impact of the Russian invasion on the Ukrainian IT market and its current state.

The impact of the war on the Ukrainian IT market

When thinking about software outsourcing, Ukraine has been among the most well-known destinations for a long time. So, does everything change due to the Russian invasion?

On February 24, Russian troops attacked Ukraine, and many bombs and missiles hit different military and civilian infrastructures in all parts of the country. In turn, the start of the war in the heart of Europe forced the United States and European Union to launch drastic sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus.

These sanctions mean the mass exodus of western companies from the Russian market, including the IT industry. Such a situation provoked tech specialists from Russia and Belarus to migrate from their countries since they see no future living in these totalitarian regimes.

Therefore, IT services customers from abroad have started considering competent and affordable replacements and regard Ukrainian software developers as the top among the Eastern European countries. Besides, the Ukrainian outsourcing market has a reputation as a great IT powerhouse since Ukrainian developers contributed to the foundation of such tech giants as PayPal, Whatsapp, and Grammarly.

No doubt, in Ukraine, software outsourcing is quite affected by the Russian invasion. But Ukrainian companies are improving the current situation and demonstrating excellent resilience when it comes to adapting to such new conditions.

Current state of IT industry in Ukraine 2022

Nowadays, the local IT industry is among the most solvent in the Ukrainian business environment. The country’s outsourcing companies pay all taxes on time as usual, although the whole of Ukraine is living under martial law. For instance, many companies available in the local outsourcing market even do that in advance.

Fortunately, almost all organizations in the IT industry in Ukraine have business continuity plans. Thus, they could react immediately after the war’s beginning. Their HR managers play a crucial role in organizing the relocation of Ukrainian software developers and other staff to safer destinations in the country or abroad, especially in Eastern Europe. So, many Ukrainian developers could relocate to the Western part of the country or move to other European countries.

Finally, all tech specialists (both relocated and those who stayed at their homes) continue performing their tasks remotely. The key reason for such a quick adoption to the new obstacles is that the Ukrainian IT industry has been working remotely due to coronavirus restrictions. That is why Ukrainian developers can also demonstrate significant flexibility today. So, if you want to hire software developers in Ukraine, you can be sure that your outsourcing team will maintain the efficient project management and do everything on time.

How Ukrainian IT companies modify their workflow

Many software development companies apply drastic changes to their traditional workflow. For instance, some of them make it possible for their software engineers and other staff to work part-time. Meanwhile, the percentage of these employees fluctuates about 40-45%.

Also, there are some Ukrainian software companies that decided to suspend operations, but they maintain ongoing communication with their team. In this case, each IT company intends to track the movements and whereabouts of its staff. Another popular practice for the modern Ukrainian IT sector is to recruit psychologists who help employees overcome war-related stress.

Ultimately, the relocation is becoming mainstream for numerous Ukrainian IT companies since they intend to overcome the situation. For instance, some software development companies from East and North Ukraine moved their staff to the safer parts of the country or even abroad (especially to Poland). Here, they plan to open their offices. The particular flexibility enables the Ukrainian market to remain afloat during such hard times. So, local outsourcing companies can continue operating and use their expertise for delivering top-notch solutions for customers worldwide.

Benefits of outsourcing software development to Ukraine

In terms of software outsourcing, Ukraine offers many critical advantages. Let’s consider some of them.

• Tech infrastructure and community. The tech community of Ukrainian developers is incredibly active. Almost every large city has its own IT cluster. That allows gathering around tech professionals, organizations, educational tech institutions, and local authorities to maintain the local tech environment efficiently. At the same time, there are many smaller, specialized communities that focus on data science, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, or different programming languages.
• Tech education. Multiple Ukrainian state universities have established cooperation with local IT clusters. It helps ensure that their curriculum (especially in computer science) corresponds to the newest tech trends and business requirements. Also, it is typical for the IT industry in Ukraine when tech companies provide courses or internship programs to relevant students.
• Quantity and quality. The number of Ukrainian developers and other IT specialists within the local community has already crossed the mark of 200,000 professionals. Probably that is the largest number in Eastern Europe and one of the first in the whole world. Besides, when considering outsourcing, Ukraine offers highly-skilled engineers with an average score index of about 91%. Finally, a language barrier will not be a problem to hire software developers in Ukraine since more than 70% of them speak English appropriately.

• Home of the well-known startups. Some Ukrainian startups are famous around the world. They include PetCube, Gitlab, Grammarly, People.ai, and Earth.ai. These startups founded and built by Ukrainian developers could get into Y Combinator. That makes Ukraine an attractive destination in the modern outsourcing market.
• Outstanding value for money. Besides a large talent pool and high-quality services, cost-effectiveness is also a critical factor to hire software developers in Ukraine. For instance, the average hourly rate of Ukrainian developers is about $25-49$, which is two times lower compared to US engineers. But lower price does not mean lower quality. Ukraine is recognized as number one in Eastern Europe in terms of price/quality.
• No burden related to time zones. Finally, convenient time zones also represent an advantage of outsourcing software development in Ukraine. The country is located in Eastern Europe, and there is a 7-hours difference from the US East Coast. Thus, when you start your working day in the United States, your Ukrainian developers will likely have some results to show you.

What services do IT companies in Ukraine offer?

Today, the local outsourcing companies deliver about 90% of services to different countries worldwide, especially to the USA and Western Europe. Among the most popular services offered by the Ukrainian IT industry are custom software development (web development and mobile development), system integration, cloud migration, modernization of legacy systems, etc. For instance, end-to-end development is typically widely used by enterprises that require a dedicated team to address their existing IT challenges.

In addition, another critical service worth mentioning is IT staff augmentation. It means that you can hire Ukrainian software developers for your team easily. A large number of tech companies and different startups that develop a software product lack appropriate skills and expertise because of many reasons. Thus, if they want to scale up quickly, they can hire experienced developers in Ukraine.

After all, if your company needs any IT service, consider Ukraine, among other countries in Eastern Europe, the best destination with hundreds of great opportunities to find a reliable outsourcing provider.

How to find the right IT outsourcing provider?

When searching for a software development outsourcing company in Ukraine, you can use the following popular approaches:

• Google search;
• Business platforms, including Clutch and GoodFirms;
• Social media reach via relevant professional profiles;
• Networking or your partners’ personal recommendations.

But if you have no free time, you can use these two more efficient methods of IT outsourcing to Ukraine.

1. Contact the CEO or CTO of the web development outsourcing company on LinkedIn or Facebook. Using this way to hire Ukrainian developers is fast enough since you can communicate directly with the top manager. So, there is no need to start by talking to the sales department beforehand. In this case, you should outline your critical project requirements, deadlines, and budget options. That allows you to quickly obtain the answer to whether a software development company will be interested in your product development.
2. Visit different trade shows and conventions available in the IT market. That helps you network with numerous local agents of software companies from all corners of the world. Besides, face-to-face communication allows your company to explain your project requirements and get the necessary contact information from a potential software development partner.

Types of collaboration models

When partnering with a software outsourcing company, Ukraine offers two popular types of collaboration models – a dedicated team and product development. Let’s consider both.

Dedicated team

Organizations that have numerous different requirements and a significant amount of software engineering work to outsource can find a dedicated software development team model the most suitable. That is because this model predicts long-term collaboration. Here, outsourcing companies should provide customers with a full-time development team. Such a team can cooperate with your in-house engineers to complete the necessary project.

If your business aims to outsource the software development process and hire Ukrainian engineers, you can contact Exoft to establish your own dedicated team in Ukraine.

After all, the particular model is a perfect option for companies:

• with tight deadlines;
• startups aiming to scale quickly;
• that require managed offshore IT professionals.

Product development

Using the product development approach is the best choice for organizations that want to develop their own software solutions. This model serves as a full-cycle software product development services model that includes market research, business analysis, the development process, and launching. It is mostly suitable for companies that:

• Have no appropriate tech team or tech stack;
• Launch their products;
• Require digital transformation.

Outsourcing rates in Ukraine

If your organization wants to outsource software development, Ukraine is also a perfect option due to the average hourly rate of local tech specialists like developers, software testers, or product managers. But of course, no company in the software development industry will tell you about the exact costs of their services. After all, the cost necessary to hire Ukrainian software developers can depend on these factors:

• Your project’s scope and complexity;
• The selected technology stack and platforms;
• The size and seniority level of your team;
• The defined time to market.

So, how can you obtain an accurate estimation related to your project cost? Before outsourcing to Ukraine, your organization should collect all the necessary data about project objectives, requirements, and budget. But with reliable project outsourcing, you should not worry about collecting the requirements. That is because many outsourcing companies in Ukraine will offer your company to undergo a business analysis stage, also known as the discovery phase.

Such a discovery phase serves as the time spent by your company with your software vendor to formalize the requirements for your future software product. You can regard that as a guarantee of receiving the most accurate specification, which ensures the smooth design, development, and testing processes. Also, it is a guarantee that your organization will get what it expects.

So, what are the actual salaries of developers in Ukraine? After conducting the relevant research, we can provide you with such numbers:

• Junior software developer: $300-1000 per month
• Middle software developer: $2300-3300 per month
• Senior software developer: $3600-5000 per month
• Team/tech lead - $4200-5800
• System architect - $5200-7500

Ultimately, hiring developers in Ukraine appears at least twice as low compared to the United States, for example.

Why outsourcing to Exoft?

When talking about outsourcing software companies, Ukraine offers plenty of options. Exoft is among the leading software firms providing excellent outsourcing services to satisfy your business demands.

Since 2013, we have enriched our experience by building custom software development systems of various types and levels of complexity. The Exoft team is mostly focused on the back-end, front-end, and mobile app development. Moreover, our company offers quality assurance (QA) services that help detect each bug before getting the system to users. Meanwhile, our support team contains business analysts, UI/UX design specialists, and a project manager. They will make web and mobile development processes easier.

Apart from providing custom software development services, Exoft offers IT staffing. So, your organization can regard us as an outsourcing partner to hire Ukrainian software developers.

Among the other valuable benefits of building your software product with Exoft are:

• Strong expertise. The Exoft team consists of professional tech specialists fully dedicated to the tasks they perform. We apply the best available practices and industry trends and ensure constant improvement.
• Comprehensive approach. Exoft offers the best possible software solutions. To do that, we analyze customers’ business goals and the major product’s idea before starting developing the code.
• Client-centric approach. Our development team considers customer satisfaction the top priority. Thus, we always aim to exceed previous expectations in multiple ways.
• Flexible cooperation model. Exoft adapts each process depending on your project requirements. That allows customers to select a cooperation model of development outsourcing that will match their budget options.
• Fair pricing. We provide outstanding web and mobile app development services at an affordable price. So, Exoft will increase your project’s cost-effectiveness.
• Transparency. When outsourcing software development, Ukraine is the most trustworthy Eastern European destination. At Exoft, we consider trust the basis for success. That is why our customers have constant access to their software engineering projects.

Summary

To conclude, when it comes to software development outsourcing, Ukraine is among the most reliable destinations across the world. Regardless of the Russian-Ukrainian war, many global businesses recognize the potential of making investments in the country’s tech industry. The relatively low cost of living, the appropriate legal rules, and efficient data protection encourage organizations to regard Ukraine as an attractive outsourcing and offshoring destination.

So, if your company aims to hire Ukrainian developers for your project, let’s contact Exoft and discuss possible options.