Should You Hire Developers in Lithuania?

Anastasia Stefanuk

If you are considering outsourcing or a dedicated development model, it is always challenging to choose the right country to hire dedicated developers. Lithuania is one of the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) that joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 and became a part of the Eurozone in January 2015. According to the Baltic Times, Lithuania might be the most affected country among the CEECs by Brexit because of the big number of Lithuanians actually living in the United Kingdom making 5,4% of the population there. Nevertheless, as Focus Economics states, the economy of Lithuania is quite good. It takes 16th place in the IT skills ranking among EU countries according to the Measuring Information Report.

The State of IT Sector in Lithuania

The IT sector of Lithuania is booming consistently with major growth milestones in FinTech, mobile application development, and cryptocurrency domains. A tiny Baltic state of about 2.8 million people with €45.1 billion GDP has proven as a center of innovation, forward-thinking, and a bright spot for FinTech and IT startups.

Powered by the robust ICT infrastructure, low-cost internet, and tech-savvy manpower, Lithuania has emerged as a new hub for FinTech and software development solutions. FinTech companies grew by more than 40% year over year in 2018.

The country has more than 450 startups and the regional office of 13 out of the top 20 multinational ICT companies like Google, Western Union, IBM, Nasdaq, and others. Startups employ more than 2,500 technical professionals in the country. There are more than 117 FinTech companies that employ over 1,800 technical experts. A large number of IT companies in Lithuania operate for software development and nearshoring Lithuania services for the major European countries.

Information Technologies Development in Lithuania

When it comes down to hiring dedicated developers companies are usually presented with two opportunities – hiring locally or turning to outsourcing. Now outsourcing has plenty of undeniable advantages so it is only understandable that most business owners these days are turning to this option. Usually, recruiters who focus on IT outsourcing are trying to find options that would be both cheap and of high quality. That is when outsourcing to other countries seems like a rational choice. One of the most appealing countries for such reasons is Lithuania that offers a wide range of top-notch specialists who demand comparatively low rates.

One of the developing industries of the country is the information technologies (IT) sector. ZDnet states that the IT sphere in Lithuania is evolving and demonstrates good rates of development. Indeed, 13 of the 20 largest IT firms in the Baltic States are located in Lithuania. Many international companies like Google, Bentley Systems, Nasdaq, AIG, Intermedix opened their offices in Lithuania as well, as ZDnet writes. Considering these facts, you may assume that the idea to hire developers in Lithuania might seem a good one in comparison to hire developers in Estonia, Latvia, or other neighborhood countries.

If you are looking for Lithuania developers for hire, be aware of the most popular IT technologies among their developers. The report by Stack Overflow lists the most popular IT technologies among full stack developers in Lithuania as per January 2020:

• PHP
• .Net
• WordPress
• Ruby
• Node.js
• Java
• Python

Chart showing the penetration of different stacks in CEECs (Source: Stack Overflow 2019)

The report also suggests that Node.js and Node JS development teams become very popular in CEECs with Ukraine taking the 1st place.

Penetration of Node.js in CEECs according to Stack Overflow Research (2019)

Outsourcing in Lithuania and Its IT Cities

The IT outsourcing sector in Lithuania is valued at $60m. Global companies like Fujitsu, AstraZeneca, Omnitel, Swedbank, and Carlsberg group outsource to Lithuania, Clutch informs. However, Lithuania, as well as other Baltic countries, are much more expensive in terms of outsourcing their IT talents and skills in comparison to other post-Soviet countries such as Ukraine or Belarus software outsourcing.

In every country with a well developed IT industry, there are the most popular IT cities with the biggest number of developers working there. In Lithuania, the majority of IT companies are located in Vilnius and Kaunas. The proportion of developers working in the capital city Vilnius makes 64% of IT experts, as StartUp Lithuania writes. So, Vilnius developer is the most popular among foreign employers who are looking for outsourcing software development in Lithuania.

What Countries Outsource Software Development to Lithuania?

According to the Statista information, more than 61.44% of the GDP is shared by the services sector, which includes the FinTech and enterprise and Android app development Lithuania. The role of FinTech and mobile application development is very high in the ICT sector.

Being the most attractive hub for financial-technical solutions, Lithuania is a very attractive destination for both developed and developing countries. China is one of the major countries that have many partner companies in Lithuania. Lithuania offers the gateway opportunity for entire Europe for FinTech businesses. A 16+1 delegation of European countries and China summit in Vilnius displays the interest of China in Lithuania.

The UK, Israel, USA, Germany, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and other European and North American countries are a few important ones to name to outsource their software development to Lithuania. The technological companies from those countries raised the amount of over $570 million in the form of Initial Coin Offering ICO within one year with an increase of over 305% in less than 18 months period.

The Popularity of Mobile App Development in Lithuania

Mobile applications and games development is one of the cruising domains in the software development sector of Lithuania. There was a double-digit increase in Lithuania software developer salary during the past 3 years. The major driver of this huge increase was the increasing demand for skilled and experienced developers in the marketplace. To cater to this consistently growing demand for the android mobile app developer Lithuania professionals, the government has increased over 50% IT funding for education.

Many new startups have emerged in the marketplace to cater to the increased demand for mobile application and gaming application outsourcing business opportunities. The capital of Lithuania Vilnius is the largest IT hub of the country, therefore app development Vilnius becomes more and more popular. Huge demand for mobile app developer Vilnius is consistently emerging in the city.

As compared to 2018, over 37% more software development jobs were available in 2019 in Lithuania, especially in the field of mobile apps and game development. Full-stack, back-end, and JavaScript development are the top three major categories in demand in the country. App development Lithuania also occupies an important place in the domestic IT industry. App development company Vilnius can create a wide selection of mobile applications from Android to iOS. The other popular domains of software development in the city include FinTech, Cybersecurity, and BPO.

Why Do Companies Outsource Software Development to Lithuania?

Lithuania is one of the highly vibrant technology hubs in Europe. It exports high-quality software to major destinations in Europe, North America, and Australia. The major drivers for Lithuania becoming the hub of outsourcing include:

• High-quality software development
• Ranks 2nd for the highest quality to cost ratio in Europe
• A huge and talented pool of software developers and IT specialists
• The world-class ICT education system
• Western-type work culture
• High proficiency of English language
• Knowledge of multiple languages
• Expertise in multi-discipline programming
• Professional grade management teams
• Great work ethics and professional attitude
• Creative and out of the box thinking
• Robust IT infrastructure
• One of the highest rate of internet services
• Dedicated teams with the problem-solving approach

There is one more country in Eastern Europe that can offer high quality IT services at affordable costs. It is Ukraine. This country has about 200 000 IT professionals against 40 000  in Lithuania. The cost of living in Ukraine is low – less than $1000. Therefore expenses on software development don’t take a lot in this country.

So, Ukraine offers the same benefits with a higher number of IT specialists at the market and a lower cost of living.

What You Should Know Before You Decide to Hire a Lithuania Dedicated Team

If you are hesitating about the idea to hire developers in Vilnius, the cost of their services will help you to consider this idea and decide whether it is a good decision. There are 27,000 software developers in Lithuania. However, as Ru.Delfi writes the Lithuanian IT sector faces a problem concerning the developers’ pool because IT experts prefer to be employed abroad and are leaving the country. So while you are trying to figure out how to start a remote Vilnius dedicated team, there are a few things you need to learn about first. While looking for a team of dedicated developers, especially a remote one, you need to do a little research on the country’s economics, the one, that you are planning to outsource your team from. The thing is that most Eastern European countries are offering excellent specialists for affordable prices and a lot of entrepreneurs seem to feel strange about it, believing that lower prices mean lower service quality. Luckily, it is not the case when it comes down to hiring developers in Eastern Europe.

* Ukrainian salaries are provided based on Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets. All salaries are net and do not include the service fee (in case of hiring on a dedicated team model). The salaries are provided for comparison purposes and could be not entirely accurate. Contact us to know the exact cost of hiring a developer corresponding to the required parameters.

For example, Ukraine has the lowest cost of living in Europe – less than $1,000. Therefore the salaries of software developers are not too high and you can save if you choose the Ukrainian dedicated development team.

But of course, the salary level also depends on the skillset of developers and the city of work. Usually, the salaries in the capital and other big cities can be significantly higher than on average in the country. So, we compared the next 3 popular technologies: PHP, .Net, and JavaScript in the 2 capitals – Vilnius, Lithuania, and Kyiv, Ukraine. In Vilnius, a middle developer with PHP skills can make $3,500 per month. A middle .Net developer – $2,500. A JavaScript developer in Vilnius can earn up to $2,500/month as well. How the salaries in Kyiv differ? A programmer who knows PHP on the middle level makes on average $2,500 here. A software developer with .Net skills has from $2,000/month in Kyiv. And JavaScript developer – from $2,000 as well. As we can see, Ukrainian developers can offer software development services for a good price, and you can be sure the quality will be at the same level.

You can read more on the salaries of Ukraine developer in our research.

Doubt If You Should Hire Developers in Vilnius? Mobilunity Is the Best Choice

If you are looking for a Vilnius dedicated team for your new IT project, be prepared for higher time and money expenditures. If you want to hire net programmer or other talented web developers for hire, check out Mobilunity. Mobilunity was created in 2010 in Kyiv, Ukraine and since then it has been working with lots of clients from all around the world. The IT outstaffing model of work allows building the dedicated development teams according to all the client’s requirements. Ukrainian developers are well-educated professionals who always looking for new experiences and interesting projects. Mobilunity can provide you with developers who are ideally suited to your project. We offer flexible rates and high-quality options for your business that would be convenient and affordable.

Contact Mobilunity and find out more about hiring a dedicated team of web developers from Ukraine!