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
Ukraine is another East European country that offers excellent outsourcing opportunities for international partners. There is a great talent pool of high-quality SW engineers with an international reputation. Ukraine offers the same advantages, so let’s compare Belarus software outsourcing with Ukraine.
| Ukraine | Belarus | |
| The number of IT specialists | 200,000 | 34,000 (by 2017), today the number is around 48,000 |
| Main IT hubs | Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa | Minsk, Gomel, Grodno, Brest |
| Number of software development companies | 4000 | about 1000 |
| International companies working with these countries | Microsoft, Samsung, Skype, Boeing, Siemens, IBM, eBay | Microsoft, Google, IBM, Facebook, eBay, Expedia |
| Number of ICT graduates | 16,000 per year | 4,000 per year |
Ukraine and Belarus Software Outsourcing: Comparison Table
| Belarus | Ukraine | |
| Time zones overlap | GMT+3 | GMT+2 |
| Size of a tech talent pool | 48,000 | 200,000 |
| English proficiency | Good, 40th worldwide | Good, 44th worldwide |
| Education level | Higher education, BA and MA | Higher education, BA and MA |
| Cultural similarity | Similar to Europe | Similar to Europe |
| Data safety and insurance | Not GDPR compliant | GDPR compliant |
| Quality to price correspondence | Decent, 41st according to TopCoder, not in the HackerRank list | High, 14th according to TopCoder, 11th by HackerRank |
| Ease of doing business | Not always easy because of legislation, taxes, and political instability | Easy |
| Risks | Decent risks to the political situation | Low |
To Sum Up
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.
