Offshore Software Development Belarus vs Eastern European Destinations

Eastern Europe is becoming one of the top IT outsourcing destinations. Businesses all over the world chose to hire developers in Latvia, Ukraine, and Belarus. To understand why offshore software development Belarus is trending, let’s have an IT market overview.

Software development Belarus is in rapid development; local IT service export increased by 150% in 2017-2019. Software development in Belarus contributes about 50% of the country’s GDP growth.

The ICT sector employed about 85,000 professionals in 2017. And about 34,000 of them worked in software development. 

Belarus custom software development has a good reputation worldwide. The local IT market is known to be the birthplace of Viber and World of Tanks.

The popular languages among software developers in Belarus are:

  • Java;
  • JavaScript;
  • C#;
  • C++;
  • PHP;
  • Python, etc.

Offshore software development Belarus follows the same trends in terms of technologies as other countries, focusing on AI, Big Data, and cloud solutions.

Pros and Cons of Belarus Software Outsourcing

Like any other country, outsourcing software development to Belarus has its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s start with the positive features;

  • The IT sector is full of startups, it is growing at great speed;
  • Belarus software outsourcing is powered by qualified education and a growing number of graduates. There are about 4,000 ICT graduates per year;
  • Software development outsourcing to Belarus is convenient for EU countries because of the similar time zones and easy traveling opportunities.
  • It is cheaper than hiring in-house specialists in the EU or US. Software outsourcing Belarus is much more affordable in terms of salary rates.
  • Software development companies in Belarus have similar work ethics and developers have good knowledge of English.

Now, let’s list the cons of offshore software development Belarus:

  • Belarus has convoluted and strict legislation as well as taxes for foreigners. For example, paying for foreign websites adds 35% tax for foreigners, which adds up to the cost of development services;
  • There is an unstable political situation now regarding the election and protests that resulted in issues with an internet connection, arrests of protesters, and locked borders;
  • The number of IT professionals is lower than in neighboring Ukraine, which makes finding a software development company in Minsk, Belarus a bit harder.
  • Belarus was highly criticized for its response to COVID-19, as president Lukashenko decided to not take any actions against it.

Offshore Software Development Belarus vs Ukraine

UkraineBelarus
The number of IT specialists200,00034,000 (by 2017), today the number is around 48,000
Main IT hubsKyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, OdesaMinsk, Gomel, Grodno, Brest
Number of software development companies4000 about 1000
International companies working with these countriesMicrosoft, Samsung, Skype, Boeing, Siemens, IBM, eBayMicrosoft, Google, IBM, Facebook, eBay, Expedia
Number of ICT graduates16,000 per year4,000 per year
 BelarusUkraine
Time zones overlapGMT+3GMT+2
Size of a tech talent pool48,000200,000
English proficiencyGood, 40th worldwideGood, 44th worldwide
Education levelHigher education, BA and MAHigher education, BA and MA
Cultural similaritySimilar to EuropeSimilar to Europe
Data safety and insuranceNot GDPR compliantGDPR compliant
Quality to price correspondenceDecent, 41st according to TopCoder, not in the HackerRank listHigh, 14th according to TopCoder, 11th by HackerRank
Ease of doing businessNot always easy because of legislation, taxes, and political instabilityEasy
RisksDecent risks to the political situationLow

Ukraine has a much wider talent pool and local developers have a better reputation for quality services. There are fewer risks regarding the political situation. The tax laws are also simplified for IT specialists and they work as individual entrepreneurs that are subjected only to 5% income tax.

Overall, the choice depends on the goals and requirements of the company. But it is easier and more secure to find a high-profile team in Ukraine. Another benefit is that Ukraine is GDPR compliant, which is essential for all companies operating in the EU territory.

Mobilunity – Reliable Ukrainian Vendor

If you decide to outsource IT services to Ukraine, the next step is to find a credible partner. Mobilunity is exactly what you need, as we’ve been providing outstaffing service for more than a decade.

Mobilunity has an excellent team of professionals that will give possibility to hire offshore Ukrainian developers. We can find a perfect team exactly for your project, whatever it is.

We have more than 40 happy international customers and hundreds of released products. And we know how to power up your company with the best dedicated developers team.

Are you ready to bring your business to success? Hire top-notch developers today!

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