What to Expect if You Hire Developers in Egypt?

Anastasia Stefanuk

Content writer

Egypt is one of the promising outsourcing destinations for organizations interested in dedicated IT services. Below, we discuss the Egyptian IT industry status and trends, pros and cons of hiring an Egypt dedicated team, and what alternative outsourcing countries businesses may consider.

Hire Developers in Egypt: Brief Overview of Egyptian IT Services

For any company that considers Egypt as an outsourcing destination option, it’s crucial to analyze the current state of the Egyptian IT sector and what possible perks and pitfalls businesses can encounter if they hire developers in Egypt.

A mention should be made that the software industry in Egypt is still in its first development stage, although steadily growing, thanks to the government support and initiatives aimed at developing the tech sector in the country.

Below you can find the main characteristics of the IT market in Egypt in a nutshell, based on the recent Value Chain Analysis report and CIO article:

• Time zone: GMT+2
• Average Monthly Rate: $1,042
• Biggest tech hubs: Cairo, Asyut, Smart Village, Maadi Park
• Size of the tech talent pool: 212,000
• Popular technologies: Python, SQL, Java 

According to the Global Innovation Index, Egypt ranks 96th among 131 economies reviewed. Also, the country comes 14th among the 29 lower middle-income group economies.The report shows that Egypt performs best in knowledge & technology innovations.

Referencing the Egypt 2.0 Outsourcing Destination Guide 2020 by German Outsourcing Association, the IT sector is the fastest growing one in Egypt, and it is the largest contributor to the country’s GDP growth. The IT industry’s exports grew from $3.26B in 2017 to $4.7B in 2020. The outsourcing industry’s workforce is expected to reach 240,000 FTEs by the end of 2020.

The labor force is young and multilingual, making Egypt a promising outsourcing destination and not a well-established option at the same time. According to the Atalayar article, there are 500,000+ Egyptian graduates annually, and almost half of them have a degree related to IT or BPO. 

It’s worth noting that Egypt comes as an attractive outsourcing destination, thanks to the young and qualified workforce and low rates. According to the Value Chain Analysis IT Outsourcing Sector Egypt report commissioned by CBI, the largest R&D centers that hire developers Egypt include Mentor Graphics, Valeo, IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Vodafone, and Orange, among others. 

The Egyptian government is eager to support the development of the IT sector by implementing digital transformation in government structures, providing tax breaks for prospective IT companies, investing in IoT and big data projects, and opening new technology parks and data centers.

The main downsides to Egypt as an outsourcing destination is its very young IT industry and its location. It’s easy to find Junior app developers in Egypt but comes as a challenge to recruit a Senior Magento expert. Also, taking into account that the Middle East is a politically unstable region, the threat of war drives a number of companies away from Egypt, so you should also consider this fact while looking for software development services South Africa.

Pros & Cons of Hiring Dedicated Development Team in Egypt

Below you can find advantages and disadvantages of hiring a Cairo dedicated team. Let’s start with strong points:

• Growing generation of well-educated, multilingual labor force (the annual pool of 500,000 university graduates, with nearly 50,000 having IT-related degrees, as per VCA report);
• Low and competitive labor costs;
• Accumulated, although limited, IT expertise and technical skills;
• Convenient time zone for most European countries; 
• Geographical proximity to many European and African countries, plus developed transport connections with Asian countries; 
• Strong government support for the IT industry by facilitating procedures and infrastructure;
• Positive changes in tax treatment, introduction of new IP laws, regulatory improvements towards international cooperation.  

However, it’s important to consider the potential threats and pitfalls before companies hire developers in Cairo or any other part of Egypt:

• The IT talent pool is still relatively small and limited to specific IT expertise (for example, you can easily recruit PHP developers in Egypt, but it may be hard to find a Senior Scala programmer);
• Since the IT industry in Egypt is still in its first development stage, there are limited procedures to hire developers in Egypt, and some regulations and well-established workflows are still missing;
• The Middle East is a politically unstable region, and it is probably the main reason why Egypt can be a huge turnoff for the US and European companies.

Alternative Options to Hiring Dedicated Development Team in Egypt

Besides finding an Egypt developer for hire, there are alternatives for the businesses looking for dedicated development teams. The most popular outsourcing destinations include the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe. Let’s take a look at the specifics of each region as an alternative for companies eager to hire an engineering team in Egypt, and what are the strong and weak points of each destination.

Nowadays, more and more businesses choose to work with Eastern European programmers, even if initially, they planned to hire Egyptian developers. Among Eastern European countries, Ukraine is known as a country of choice for software development outsourcing, and the IT expertise of Ukrainian coders is recognized worldwide. Let’s take a look why Ukraine can be considered as a good alternative to software or mobile app developers for hire in Egypt.

Ukraine as a Software Development Outsourcing Haven

Ukraine is a beneficial alternative for the US, Canada, and European businesses considering hiring a remote dedicated development team in Egypt.

Nowadays, Ukraine is gaining momentum as an outsourcing hub precisely because of the following points:

• A large IT talent pool (200,000 IT experts, according to The Tech Ukraine report);
• Highly educated, rapidly growing labor force (400,000+ graduates annually, 14+ million people with higher education, according to the latest KPMG report);
• 500+ outsourcing companies and 100+ global R&D centres are already operating here,  including companies from Fortune 500;
• High level of IT proficiency and good reputation of Ukrainian IT experts, according to Mobilunity clients’ feedback;
• Convenient location and well-developed transport infrastructure for companies with European headquarters;
• Comfortable time zone difference for European and US businesses;
• Relatively stable political situation;
• Ukraine complies with GDPR regulations, and it is possible to receive legal consultancy tailored to the needs of a specific country;
• Ukraine shares European values and has similar business culture.

Makes sense that a number of businesses evaluating whether to hire the best Python programmers in Egypt or consider alternative options get interested in Ukrainian experts. If you are considering recruiting C# developers & programmers in Egypt or working with dedicated coders from another country, Ukraine is a worthy alternative to take into consideration.

Some of the main characteristics of the Ukrainian IT market to examine include:

• Average monthly salary of a middle-level developer: $2,000 (source – Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets)
• Time zone: GMT +2
• Biggest Tech Hubs: Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Dnipro.
• Size of Tech Talent Pool: up to 200,000.
• Popular Languages: JavaSсripт, PHP, Java, and Python.

Hire Developers in Egypt Vs Ukraine: Comparison

A comparison of Egypt and Ukraine as dedicated teams outsourcing destinations is summarized in the table below. If you are interested in hiring dedicated software teams from Egypt or alternative destinations, this comparison should come in handy.

As you can see, both countries have some perks and pitfalls, and the country of choice to hire a software development team depends on your business needs, projects specifics, and expertise expectations.

For example, Ukrainian IT experts are known for their world-class programming skills, dedicated approach to work, and innovative solutions. It’s easier to do business in Ukraine compared to recruiting and managing Egypt dedicated developers. However, Egypt developers for hire also have a good command of English, and it is possible to hire the IT workforce here at more affordable rates. Depending on the scope of your project and requirements to the dedicated team, you can choose the optimal location for sourcing the IT experts and establishing reliable cooperation.

Whether you decide to hire developers in UAE, hire Magento programmers or dedicated programmers Egypt, recruit Ukrainian programmers, it’s essential to find a reliable local vendor. By working with a credible IT partner, you can hire a dedicated development team in Egypt or any other location as per your company’s requirements.

Mobilunity as a Reliable Ukrainian IT Vendor

If you are looking for a reliable dedicated teams provider, we at Mobilunity can help you to hire a top-level software development team ready to dive into your business specifics. Whether you are at the start of your project or need an expert-level solution to take your business to a brand new level, here you can find the experts needed.

Therefore, if you are considering hiring offshore development team Egypt and got interested in Ukrainian specialists, Mobilunity is the credible ukrainian vendor to consider.

Being on the global IT outsourcing market, Mobilunity experts know how to source and recruit IT professionals with relevant experience and strong skill set. Contact Mobilunity representatives today and get a dedicated team of Ukrainian IT experts working on your project shortly.

Want to hire developers in Egypt and explore beneficial alternatives? Get in touch with Mobilunity representatives and hire the best IT experts from Ukraine!