The IT industry in Ukraine continues to boom with offshore software development, comprising nearly 8% of the nation’s exports. The future is even more promising for the Ukrainian IT sector, with a projected 64% growth in software exports by the end of 2025. So no wonder that many American and European companies believe that Ukraine is one of the best countries to outsource software development.
Based on the 6-year experience in providing software development services to foreign partners, JatApp has prepared this article for you to better understand how to hire a development team in Ukraine. But before reading our hiring tips, let’s discuss a little bit more why Ukraine is the number one outsourcing destination for many companies worldwide.
What are the benefits of hiring a software development team in Ukraine?
Outsourcing to Ukraine can bring you a large number of benefits. Let’s take a look at the facts that prove this:
- A wide pool of software engineers. As Forbes mentions, Ukraine currently has 192,000 engineers, and more than 36,000 tech specialists graduate each year.
- Solid expertise and skill set. When you want to hire Ukrainian software developers you can rest assured about their level of professionalism thanks to their educational background. According to the Skillvalue report, Ukrainian software engineers took fifth place in the competition for the best talent in the world, and fourth place in Europe.
- No communication issues caused by language barriers. The country’s English proficiency index is 40 out of 100 moving up four ranks since 2020. Today, 80% of Ukrainian coders study English in anticipation of partnering with European and American companies.
- Minimal time zone difference with European countries. Ukraine is only 1-2 hours ahead of European countries, which makes it very easy for Ukrainian programmers to adapt to the schedule of European companies. Moreover, direct flights from Ukrainian cities to most countries in Western Europe take no longer than three hours.
- The growing Ukrainian IT market size makes the country an attractive destination for outsourcing a project. The software research and development market in Ukraine increases nearly five times faster than worldwide, with the United States and Europe being the major clients.
- 68 Ukrainian companies are included in the top 1,000 of the world’s best outsourcing companies. And by the way, one of them is JatApp.
Now that we’ve discussed some major reasons why you should consider Ukraine as your choice for hiring, let’s talk about developer rates in this country.
What are software development rates in Ukraine?
The hourly rate for outsourcing development in Ukraine is $30-80 on average. The costs of Ukrainian software development are significantly lower compared to Canada and many European countries ($45-90). For additional comparison, the average rates of coders in Israel and America are two times higher than in Ukraine, reaching $100-150.
Companies that choose Ukraine for outsourcing not only get reasonable prices, but also end-products of the same high-quality products. According to HackerRank, Ukraine outscored all countries mentioned earlier, ranking 11th in the competition for best software development talent. For your convenience, we’ve made a table to compare Ukraine with other countries based on the engineers’ rates and scores in HackerRank’s rating.
What are the main cities in Ukraine where you can hire a team of developers?
The majority of IT experts and agencies are located in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa with more than half of software companies having offices in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Let’s take a closer look at the diagram below to understand the geography of Ukrainian IT companies.
Geography of registered Ukrainian software companies in percentage
Kyiv
By outsourcing your project to a Kyiv-based tech company, you’ll have access to a large number of talented developers. Ukraine’s capital is a popular destination to study IT-related fields. More specifically, 28% of Ukrainian tech experts graduate from universities in Kyiv. So it’s no surprise that more than 60,000 IT professionals are currently working in Kyiv. It’s twice as many as in the second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Kharkiv
Kharkiv prides itself on having more than 450 IT companies and nearly 30,000 tech specialists. The city’s IT market capacity reaches $803M adding 3% to the nation’s GDP. Choosing this city for outsourcing is a good idea, as local software companies have solid experience in working with foreign customers. More specifically, 95% of sales of Kharkiv-based IT agencies are to foreign clients, 25% of which to Europe and 65% – to the US.
Lviv
Lviv is one of the most actively developing tech destinations in Ukraine. Despite the unfavorable situation caused by Covid-19, the number of IT workers increased by 17% in 2020. Today, software developers from Lviv comprise 12% of the country’s IT talent pool. In the last year, 511 IT companies were operating in this city, which presented a 6% increase compared to 2020.
Odesa
Odesa is also one of the largest tech hubs in Ukraine. As of now, 150 software agencies are operating in the Odesa market. The city is home to more than 11,000 IT experts. Odesa National Polytechnic University alone graduates over a thousand specialists every year. The alumni proved their expertise in numerous International Student Olympiads and Collegiate Contests.
How can you hire a development team?
Once you choose the city to look for software development teams, you need to decide how you’d want to hire them. There are three ways to do so: hire a software development company, cooperate with local recruiters, or opt for freelancers’ services. If you can’t put your finger on what strategy is best for you, here are the pros and cons of each approach.
Software development company
A software development agency will find the most suitable candidates and arrange an interview for you to decide whether candidates fit your project requirements or not. What’s more, by collaborating with the software development vendor, you get dedicated developers only, which means that engineers will be fully committed to your project and will become your in-house team working remotely.
Pros:
- The team members are fully dedicated to your goals with no distractions to other projects. As an example, JatApp assists with hiring a software development team according to your business needs. Our company will find developers with a deep understanding of your project requirements and objectives.
- A software agency will tackle all administrative hassles, like equipment purchase, office rent, payroll services, employees’ medical insurance, and more, while you can focus on your core business objectives.
- You are encouraged to take part in the recruitment process to choose the most suitable candidates for your project;
- You can manage your newly recruited team as your in-house tech experts;
- Your staff can easily scale up or down depending on your needs at the moment. Let’s take one of JatApp’s recent clients as an example. With the help of our company, the startup from Israel was able to quickly hire a development team in Ukraine. Three Ukrainian front-end developers assisted in building the flagship product that attracted the first consumers in just a couple of months.
Cons:
- Any change to a project needs to be discussed in advance with the software agency.
Local recruiters
Local recruiters act as mediators between coders and clients, helping the latter to assemble a software development team. Unlike an agency, local recruiters assist only during the recruitment stage and do not get involved in team management or the development process.
Pros:
- Local recruiters have access to the country’s talent pool.
- Working with recruiters can save you much time, as you don’t need to search for the right talent by yourself.
Cons:
- Choosing this hiring approach is riskier than partnering with a software development agency. Unlike working with development vendors, there is less available information related to the work of local recruiters, which can make it difficult to assess their reliability.
Freelancers
Collaborating with freelancers is another option if you want to hand-pick software engineers by yourself. Freelance programmers usually work from a co-working space or from home.
Pros:
- Working with freelancers is a less costly option than partnering with a software company or local recruiters;
- You can easily find developers on freelance websites like Toptal or Upwork.
- You’re also free from administrative duties, such as taxes, renting office space, equipment, and so on.
Cons:
- You’ll need to find each engineer by yourself in order to form a team;
- Freelance workers usually do not commit to a single project and therefore can work in parallel for other companies.
- The quality of the final product is not guaranteed and depends on the reliability of each freelancer.
How can I choose a reliable software development company?
Read reviews and ratings
Before partnering with vendors, read what other clients say about the work with them on the Internet. Such websites as Clutch contain detailed reviews to help you to find a reputable partner. When checking reviews, pay attention to the vendor’s years of experience, types of clients, quality of final product, cost, willingness to refer, and such.
Clutch functionality
It’s always a good idea to choose service providers with a higher rating. JatApp, for instance, has a five-star rating on Clutch based on our customers’ reviews.
Take a closer look at the company’s portfolio
A portfolio gives you a better idea of what kind of projects the company has completed. Checking the recent case studies will also help you better understand how the agency handles challenges and what technologies the company has used.
However, don’t get discouraged if a relevant case is missing. Many software providers are not allowed to share any information about the clients’ products due to NDA restrictions.
JatApp’s portfolio page
Check what services the vendor offers
Another important aspect to consider is the types of software services that the vendor provides. For example, if you need your product developed from scratch, it’s better to make sure that the provider you’ve selected is capable of delivering such a service. Depending on your project requirements, you may need to know whether the company has experience with specific technologies and solutions, like, for example, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and such. JatApp, for example, is a full-cycle software agency that has solid expertise in mobile and web development, big data and blockchain solutions, software development powered by AI, backend services, and IoT software engineering.
An example of JatApp’s development services
Why hire a team in JatApp?
As you might have understood already, when you decide to opt for outsourcing to Ukraine, you’ll need to find a local partner to hire a talented team whom you can trust. Cooperating with JatApp is an efficient way to recruit highly skilful web and mobile offshore developers from Ukraine. Here are some benefits you will get by collaborating with us:
- JatApp can provide you with the dedicated software development team selected exclusively for your unique needs and goals;
- Our company thoroughly chooses the best talents and you have the final word on what candidates will form your team.
- With our agency, you will have complete control over the development process and will be able to manage the outsourcing team as your in-house engineers.
- Outsourcing to JatApp is cost-effective, furthermore, you can save up to 60% compared to the markets in Western Europe and North America.
- With us, you can reduce the product’s time to market up to 50%;
- Our teams develop products that are of high quality. Many of our projects had a return on investment only within 7 months after release.
- Our software agency offers you the option of hiring software developers as your in-house employees after 12 months of collaboration with us. In this way, you’ll recruit specialists, who are already familiar with your business without the need to spend extra time and money on searching for new talents again.
Send us a note and we’ll get back to you shortly to discuss your project details.
