Tech companies and enterprises across the globe see Central and Eastern Europe as a well-established region for team augmentation. There are three countries that house the largest number of professional IT specialists: Poland, Ukraine, and Romania.
As the country with the largest tech talent pool, Poland has become an R&D hub for business giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Moreover, major companies, such as Unity Technologies, PayPal, and others opt for outsourcing software development as well as team augmentation in Poland. Does it mean that they allure the best talent?
Should you choose Poland as a software development outsourcing spot? Are there any other attractive destinations for team augmentation in Eastern Europe? In today's article, we will answer these and other questions to help you discover more about Poland as one of the top IT outsourcing locations in Eastern Europe along with Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Belarus.
Why choose Poland for team augmentation?
Outsourcing and team augmentation in Poland enable digital transformation for many global businesses, so it is more than merely a cost-saving option.
Let’s view the benefits of team augmentation in Poland in more detail.
- The significant number of software engineers in Poland: almost 300,000 professionals are engaged in the tech sector. However, the majority of them are employed in Staff Selection Commission (SSC) / Global Business Services (GBS), and Business Processes Outsourcing (BPO) [1].
- The country was ranked 9th in Tholons Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations.
- The economic and political stability of the country attracts investments that lead to further development. Thus, the business environment is very favorable for software engineering in Poland.
- 500+ IT companies operating in the Polish IT market, which offer staff augmentation services.
- Around 15,000 IT graduates enter the Polish software development market each year, which leads to constant progress in software engineering in Poland.
Software engineering in Poland: Major IT hubs
There are five main IT hubs in Poland: Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan, and Tri-City. Krakow and Warsaw were ranked among top cities for scale-ups in the European Digital City Index.
Moreover, the tech industry in Lublin, Szczecin, and Rzeszów have the highest share in the employment structure (at least 45% in each city). But let’s concentrate more on the tech hubs listed at the beginning, as they are the most favorable in terms of outsourcing software engineering to Poland.
Warsaw as a bustling IT outsourcing hub
The most significant number (238) of R&D centers in Poland is located in Warsaw. With a total of 85,000 IT specialists, as well as the developed infrastructure, the capital of Poland, attracts businesses from the USA and Western Europe that look for team augmentation in Poland.
Also, the city takes its place (38th out of 60) in the ranking of the most favorable cities for startups and scale-ups. All these factors contribute to the development of software engineering in this city.
Krakow as a popular IT outsourcing hub
Krakow keeps leading positions in the number of jobs in the sector and remains one of the most appealing destinations for software development outsourcing in Poland. The business services centers in Krakow have 70,000 employees. So the city has an almost 25% share in the employment structure in the industry in Poland.
Every fifth inhabitant of the city is a student, due to the presence of excellent universities, such as Jagiellonian University. As a result, 5000+ ICT graduates enter the tech market annually. The constant talent inflow makes Krakow especially attractive for businesses that opt for team augmentation in Poland.
Wroclaw as a lucrative IT outsourcing hub
The tech sector has created more than 47,500 jobs in Wroclaw. Apart from this, 169 business services centres are located here, which makes the city the third in Poland by the number of such centres. What is peculiar about this hub - it is known for its cooperation with the local universities, which leads to an annual talent inflow of 1400 ICT graduates. Many businesses from the USA (which choose to employ 38% of the tech sector’s workforce) view this city as a lucrative IT outsourcing spot in Poland.
Poznan as a vibrant IT outsourcing hub
This city is another location where you can find over 100 R&D centres, eight of which were built in 2018-2019. This city has experienced the most significant growth in jobs in business services centres. Poznan is also known as a place with the healthiest business environment, which makes the city an attractive spot for software engineering in Poland. Moreover, there are 24 colleges and universities located here that ensure constant talent inflow.
Tri-City as an alluring IT outsourcing hub
Tri-City or combined area of Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot boasts 146 R&D centres. The tech sphere has the most significant share in the employment structure, namely 44%. This spot is a leader in the availability of modern office spaces. Besides, 20 universities graduate more than 20,000 students annually which contributes to the development of software engineering in Poland.
Overview of software engineering in Poland
The tech industry is flourishing in Poland due to many factors. The first one is the presence of such business giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, which have Polish R&D centres and attract the best talent. However, it is a problem for IT outsourcing companies, as they have to compete for talent a lot, as those giants allure the best professionals.
There are 500+ software development companies in this country, according to Clutch.co. However, few of them are listed in the Global Outsourcing 100 by IAOP in 2019. By contrast, in Ukraine, 18 tech companies had made it to the annual ranking of the best suppliers of IT services in the world by IAOP in 2019.
Some of Polish software engineering providers are European companies with development centers or offices in Poland. An example of such firms is N-iX - a Ukrainian company, headquartered in Lviv, but with offices in Krakow, Poland and other major cities across the globe including Sofia, Bulgaria; Valletta, Malta; Malmo, Sweden; and St. Petersburg, FL, USA. N-iX provides software development services to clients all over the world and has over 1,000 tech experts on board. The company offers a wide range of services including Software Product Development, Big Data, Data Science, BI, Cloud Solutions, VR solutions, IoT development, and more.
Also, the SkillValue report states that Polish software engineers are among top 10 the most skilled professionals in the world (along with Ukraine & Hungary).
Infrastructure for software engineering in Poland
Poland boasts political and economic stability due to its membership in the EU. This fact also attracts new investment, which makes the business environment of the country healthy and appealing. Also, new investments are to create a total of over 10,000 IT jobs, according to the ABSL report.
From the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2019, 91 new business centres emerged, which created even more employment opportunities for new talent. The total number of jobs available has increased by 43% since 2016. So software engineering in Poland is a very promising sphere.
If you opt for team augmentation in Poland - the ability to easily arrange business trips is critical for your success. The good thing is that there are 18 airports in Poland. So the transportation system is also very developed.
Software engineering in Poland: Tech education
Poland can boast of a highly-educated workforce. The National Science Board's Science & Engineering Indicators 2018 report states that 43% of citizens in Poland aged 25-34 have university degrees.
According to the EF English Proficiency Index 2019, Poland is a country with very high English proficiency. It was ranked 11th in the world, getting ahead of other Eastern European countries.
The country has a strong higher education system with a particular focus on science, engineering, and mathematics. The Central Statistical Office in Poland reports that the number of IT students in the 2017/2018 academic year was 70,000. Over 15,000 tech graduates enter the Polish IT market annually. Gdansk University of Technology, Jagiellonian University, the University of Silesia in Katowice, Warsaw University of Technology are the universities that graduate most ICT professionals.
Wrap-up
Poland is among the most attractive destinations for team augmentation in Eastern Europe along with Ukraine and Bulgaria. It offers a wide range of benefits: from skilled talent to cost-effectiveness, and easy-to-get location with well-developed infrastructure.
If you are wondering whether to set up a software development team in Poland, contact us and we will answer all of your questions.
We hope our research will help you settle on the location where you could find a reliable partner.
References:
- BUSINESS SERVICES SECTOR IN POLAND 2019 by ABSL
- Top IT outsourcing destinations of Eastern Europe: Market report by N-iX
- European Digital City Index
