Seven reasons to send your next IT project to Poland

It’s common knowledge that demand drives supply. For the past few decades, the demand for IT talent has increased exponentially. At the forefront of fulfilling that demand have been technical majors from countries where IT jobs pay significantly better than other professions.

While many countries are interested in becoming the world’s IT outsourcing destination, few are looking as good as Poland in this respect. Here is what makes it a clear leader.

1. A large IT talent pool

Among CEE (Central and Eastern European) countries, Poland has the second largest number of developers at approximately 300,000 people. The only country with more developers in the region is Russia (it has ~ 100,000 more). However, Russia is not a part of the European Union and has a busy tech market of its own, which means that many of its developers are employed by local companies. Poland, on the other hand, has many export-oriented agencies that provide IT services to American and Western European businesses – the international-to-local IT services ratio is 81% to 19% in Poland.

Computer science is the most popular field of study in Polish universities. According to a recent report by the Polish government, about 20,000 high school graduates enrol in IT studies each year. Hence, one can expect a yearly influx of about 15,000 to 20,000 IT professionals in the country.

2. Great investment climate

Investing in any business in a foreign country comes with its set of risks. A favorable investment climate helps mitigate those risks, though.

According to the World’s Best Countries Index, which ranks countries based on criteria like trade freedom, investment freedom, regulatory efficiency, government spending, among others (372 attributes total), Poland is the 3rd best country in the word to invest in or do business for.

Rank	Country	Total Score
#1	Singapore	86.087
#2	United Kingdom	84.494
#3	Poland	83.368
#4	Indonesia	82.978
#5	India	82.481
#6	Australia	82.305
#7	Philippines	81.564
#8	United States	81.232
#9	Malaysia	81.021
#10	Czech Republic	80.578
Source: CEOWorld Magazine

In another report, the U.S. International Trade Administration calls Poland “the largest single market among the ‘new’ European Union states” and “the biggest net EU funds beneficiary [of the EU budget for 2014 – 2020]among all the member states.” Since Poland has been well-funded in recent years, its economy has demonstrated stable and rapid growth.

3. Great value for money

Let’s be factual and see what numbers support the claim that Polish IT companies provide great value for your money, shall we?

In the global tech market, the US has the biggest number of software developers at 4.3 million people. However, this is mostly thanks to immigration: for example, 59% of the Silicon Valley workforce is born outside of the US. Among European countries, the locations that are most “rich in developers” are Germany (901,000), the UK (850,000), and France (530,000) – in part thanks to highly-skilled immigrants from countries like Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus.

At the same time, developer salaries in above-mentioned countries are some of the world’s highest, affected by the local cost of living and taxes:

Country	Salary	Profession
USA	$113,000/year	Mid-level Java developer
Germany	$65,000/year	Java developer (avg.)
UK	$86,500/year	Mid-level Java developer
France	$55,000/year	Java developer (avg.)
Sources: Glassdoor, Indeed

At the same time, according to Glassdoor, the Java developer’s salary in Poland averages $27,600/year. So we can conclude that Polish developers offer very reasonable rates. Now let’s look at the quality of their work.

Multiple developer rankings have consistently placed Poland in the top 5 based on IT skills and test scores. Based on actual developer skills, Poland has the following ranks among dozens of countries:

#3 according to HackerRank
#5 according to TopCoder
#4 according to SkillValue

4. Cultural fit

While there are certainly some differences, culture- and mentality-wise Poles are not very different from Western Europeans or Americans. Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, many young people began to travel more, living and working in countries like the UK, Germany, and Czech Republic, among others.

According to the U.S. International Trade Administration:

In general, conducting business in Poland is highly compatible with our expectations of doing business in the U.S. Poles are, in general, hard-working and trustworthy.

5. Ease of travel

Logistics-wise, Poland is easily accessible from all major European cities, as well as major airports around the world. Per the above mentioned report by the U.S. International Trade Administration:

Transportation by air to and from Poland is excellent. International carriers fly to Poland many times per day from all over the world, and LOT Polish Airlines has direct flights to Warsaw from Chicago, New York, Newark, Los Angeles and Miami.

Inside the country itself, one can choose from various modes of transportation, including air, road, and railway transport. “Inter-City” express trains can be used for travelling to different parts of the country, and there are regular flights between major cities.

6. Minimal risk to health or safety

If you decide to travel to Poland to meet the team or sign a contract, you won’t have to factor in extreme weather conditions, rare exotic diseases, or crime hazards. Poland is extremely safe compared to many other popular IT outsourcing destinations.

You should still stay vigilant and alert when traveling anywhere, but, if Paris, London or Berlin don’t make you feel particularly anxious, Warsaw shouldn’t either.

7. Good English language skills

Like we said at the start of this article, demand drives supply. While the flow of international capital into Poland has been increasing, so has the drive to speak English, especially among younger people.

The EF English Proficiency Index, a reputable system for evaluating one’s level of English, places Poland in the High Proficiency column, ranking it #16 out of 100 countries based on how well its natives know the English language.

why outsource software development to Poland

In conclusion – About ObjectStyle Poland

In 2018, ObjectStyle opened an office in Warsaw, Poland’s capital city.

The company has easy access to Poland’s 300,000-people strong IT talent pool, plus we can tap into the 6,000,000 developers in the rest of Europe (we’ve been successfully hiring in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia and have employees based elsewhere in Europe).