# Top-7 reasons to choose software development in Ukraine [2020 Updated]

Software development is an expensive process, mainly due to the high cost of the high-quality specialists work. The hourly rate for developers at top companies in North America and Western Europe has always been and remains quite high. Is there a way to get more while paying the same, and in the best case scenario, save money, but at the same time remain satisfied with the quality result?

There is a solution, and outsourcing is its name. This form of cooperation will help you cope with everything without exceeding the budget and at the same time avoiding the risks of poor quality of the final product, if the development company is selected wisely of course. However, before choosing a company, you first need to decide on the best countries to outsource software development, and from this point Ukraine is the most optimal option (price/quality/result ratio).

Over the past few years, Ukraine has gained unprecedented growth in the high-tech industry. We present to you 7 rock-solid arguments why this country is the best choice in the field of software development.

.1 A large number of Ukrainian software development professionals 2018-2019

Ukraine has a large number of professional specialists, and most of them are fluent in English. Today this country is the fourth in the world among the countries with the largest number of IT employees. According to one of the largest Ukrainian communities of software developers DOU (Developers of Ukraine), in Ukraine there are more than 90,000 IT specialists, and 50,000 of them are software developers.

Additionally, Ukrainian universities graduate more than 38,000 technical specialists annually. In total, 79% of people in Ukraine have a degree, and 57% of technical specialists have STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). According to experts, the number of web developers and mobile developers in Ukraine will exceed 200,000 by 2020. The community of Ukrainian developers is also very active and regularly attends dozens of programming competitions and hackathons.

.2 Optimal software development rates

Economic efficiency is one of the main advantages of outsourcing. And Ukraine is one of the areas where IT service providers offer the highest quality at a reasonable price. The relatively low cost of living and high salaries in the IT industry allow Ukrainian software development companies to attract the best minds, but at the same time, software development prices in comparison with the global market remain quite low.

For comparison: the average hourly rate for a Ukrainian software developer is approximately $ 25–50 per hour, compared to $ 60–100 for a US developer in a 40-hour work week. This is clearly demonstrated on a map with the most attractive regions for software outsourcing.

Good to know: Although the rates in Ukraine are still slightly higher compared to Asian countries, the latter are a very specific region. Attractive prices are explained by high competition in the local labor market and there is a flip side to high demand: you can meet very good specialists just as easily as low-skilled developers who do not meet deadlines. In addition, the time zone of contractors from Asia can be extremely uncomfortable for owners of products from the United States or Europe. Therefore, if you do not want to play Russian roulette and don’t know a proven Asian company, as well as want the contractor to practice the business approach adopted in Western countries, it is better to avoid risks and look for developers elsewhere.

.3 Client-oriented approach of software development companies in Ukraine

Ukrainian software development companies are trying their best to offer clients as much as possible. IT consulting, support, maintenance - in the end, customers get an integrated approach, which saves time and money in order to concentrate on their core business tasks. Foreign clients have the opportunity to save time and costs, since Ukrainian outsourcing companies can cover the entire spectrum of customer needs “under one roof”, and not distribute the team across several countries and time zones. In addition, Ukrainian firms try to act as partners, and not as contractors, offering various options for resolving IT-related issues, as well as using all their experience to prevent erroneous decisions. This customer focus, along with the European mentality, has American and Western European companies doing business with Ukrainians.

Speaking of time zones, the time zone of Ukraine is GMT + 2. It is very convenient for Europe - the working hours are the same. And even for companies from the USA, Ukraine is the best choice compared to the time zones of Russia, India or China.

Also a great bonus is a high level of business English, as well as a constant increase in the number of developers who know this language. This is due to the fact that becoming a software developer without knowing English at least at the intermediate level is very difficult, as all the documentation and specifications are written in this language. Also, the constant need to practice the language in the course of communication with foreign customers, trips to international events and experience exchange programs play their role as well. Project managers, client managers and team leaders have even higher level of English, as this skill is especially important in their work. In addition, large outsourcing companies in Ukraine significantly invest in teaching English and have either full-time teachers or contact with the best language school in the city.

.4 Large amount of IT startups in Ukraine

Another point in favor of Ukraine is a large number of IT startups. According to AngelList statistics, nowadays in Ukraine there are about 1,600 technology startups with an average valuation of $ 2.5 million, as well as almost 3,000 investors. For comparison, in Canada, these indicators include about 600 startups and a somewhat over 500 investors. This indicates not only Ukraine’s readiness to cooperate with start-ups, but also a developed IT infrastructure, as well as the ability of Ukrainian developers to create high-quality software products, as Ukrainian companies are recruiting local specialists. Industry giants have already realized the promise of IT startups developed by Ukrainians. For example, last year Amazon bought a startup called Ring with an R&D office in Ukraine. Another example is the Looksery startup, which was founded in Ukraine and acquired by Snapchat. In addition, such well-known companies as Grammarly, Petcube, People.ai, MacPaw also originated in Ukraine and are used by customers from all over the world.

.5 Reliability of Ukrainian software development companies

Ukrainian software development companies are truly reliable in doing business. This is due to an understanding of the business reputation importance. In addition, Ukrainian firms for the most part sing a contract, and therefore also bear legal responsibility to the customer. At the same time, it is common for them to sign agreements drawn up on internationally recognized standards, use official data protection laws, and sign non-disclosure agreements. Also, good Ukrainian software development companies store data on European and American servers, as they are more secure and reliable. Access rights to the data are usually also separately specified in the contract.

.6 Ukrainian troubleshooters in action

Another important distinguishing feature of Ukrainian developers is their readiness for troubleshooting. Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, which implies a systematic, mediated by a certain logic, search for the source of the problem with the goal of solving it. Let’s be realistic, problems appear, often it is quite unpredictable, but their most quick and high-quality solution is a peculiar feature of Ukrainian programmers. As the practice of working with Ukrainian firms shows, developers often act not only as coders, but also offer their own solutions, participate in brainstorms with the customer to solve problems and are involved in IT planning. One of the confirmations of this fact is the chart below:

As you can see, the salary of a software developer in Ukraine is the highest, even higher than in Poland, the Czech Republic and other developed countries. This is due to the fact that customers are willing to pay for additional expertise, involvement in the project and detailed proposals from developers. Thus, the work of a software engineer is one of the highest paid in Ukraine, which is a huge motivator for the fastest and highest quality solution to possible problems of a client.

.7 Experience of other companies

If you read up to this place, you are probably looking for more evidence. Let's do it this way: Skype, Deutsche Bank, Apple, Bosch, Ebay, Dell, Microsoft, IBM, Siemens and Huawei are global companies that already use the Ukrainian experience in IT services and have opened their R&D centers in this country. Additionally, the United States considers Ukraine the largest R&D partner (about 45% of participating companies), followed by EU countries and Israel.

Have already mentioned that Cisco, Atlassian, Travelport, OpenText, Fluke Corporation and many other global firms are working with Ukrainian software vendors to implement their digital solutions? Yes, they also trust Ukrainian developers, and this is a great sign of quality. Finally, we reinforce everything written above with a graph showing the main consumers of Ukrainian IT outsourcing.

As you can see, doing business with Ukrainian software development companies is an excellent business prospect. They work for the result, offer more than was originally required and are aimed at long-term business relationships. We already wrote above that the number of software development companies in Ukraine is large. To select the most optimal, study rating sources such as Clutch and DOU, in particular, their sections with TOP companies. Otherwise read our material “How to Choose a Software Development Company”, which describes a clear algorithm of actions.

General state of custom software development in Ukraine in 2020

Why is the IT market in Ukraine so attractive in 2020, and why do foreign investors pay close attention to this country? First, an important factor was the impressive growth of the software development market, which is confirmed by statistics from the World Bank, PwC, the IT-Ukraine Association and the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. In addition, the political stabilization of the country and the course towards innovation outlined by the new government played an important role.

A number of important factors speak about the growth of the custom software development industry in Ukraine:

• Software development is the third largest sector of the Ukrainian economy in export services (more than 20% of the total volume of exported services);
• the state takes the 20th place among the most attractive jurisdictions for outsourcing software development;
• more than 100 Fortune 500 companies are clients of Ukrainian IT firms; At the moment, the number of working IT professionals in the country reaches 185 thousand people.

Top 5 software companies in Ukraine

According to the rating of the portal Clutch.co, the Top 5 companies in Ukraine include the following software development companies.

.1 DOOR3

The Ukrainian company DOOR3 develops and creates corporate business applications for the web environment, social networks and mobile devices. The company's specialists offer expertise in digital strategy, user experience and design, cross-platform application development and quality control. In addition to the office in Kiev, this software development company also has an office in New York.

.2 Intellectsoft

Intellectsoft is one of the top software development companies in Ukraine. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 2007, the company operates several offices and engineering centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Northern Region and Eastern Europe. The company's strategy is largely focused on developing its own platforms. Among the clients of this software development company are world famous brands such as Universal Pictures, Jaguar Motors, Qualcomm, Ernst & Young, Clinique, Bombardier, the London Stock Exchange, Harley-Davidson and many others.

.3 Infopulse

Infopulse (also known as Infopulse Ukraine LLC) is an international software development, IT Operations and IT outsourcing company headquartered in Kiev, Ukraine, founded in 1991. As of September 2019, the company has more than 2,000 specialists and several software development centers, sales centers and branches in 10 countries of Western and Eastern Europe. The company aims at a long-term partnership and has good reviews on rating resources.

.4 Intellias

Ukrainian IT company with offices in Lviv, Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Ivano-Frankivsk, as well as representative offices in Berlin and Krakow.

This company was founded in 2002 and has more than 17 years of experience in successful cooperation with leading European and North American technology companies. Key business areas include Automotive, DevOps & Cloud, Mobile App Development, Data Science & Big Data, IoT & Embedded, as well as platform development.

.5 Django stars

Founded in 2008, Django Stars has positioned itself as a technical partner for software development and digital transformation of companies. The company places a great emphasis on cooperation with startups on its information resources. The main areas of work announced are web development, mobile application development, cryptocurrency/blockchain, Data Science, UI/UX Design, DevOps, as well as quality control.

Top 5 software companies in Kiev

It is logical to assume that the main offices of a large number of top Ukrainian software development companies are concentrated in the capital of the country - Kiev. Thus, some of the above companies that are top in Ukraine are also top in Kiev, however we will not repeat ourselves in order to ensure maximum diversity.

.1 Ciklum

Kiev IT company that creates software and provides services and solutions in various fields of business and technology. More than 3,000 IT-specialists of the company work directly with world-famous customers in development centers in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Spain. In addition, at the time of 2020, the company opened 24 offices, and the number of its customers exceeded 1200.

.2 Developex

Developex was founded in August 2001 in Kiev, Ukraine, by a team with extensive experience in the field of information technology. According to the data provided by the company, it has more than one hundred successfully completed projects of various sizes and more than 260 professionals in the team. This company has established business relations with many firms around the world, including such countries as Canada, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

.3 Diceus

Diceus has been providing technology consulting, digital transformation and enterprise software development services since 2011. The firm has experience in a wide range of industries, including banking, insurance, medical, government, robotics, the environment and aerospace sectors, with SDLC's standards-proven process to deliver enterprise-level solutions that help leading organizations from Europe, North America, the UK and the Middle East.

.4 EltexSoft

EltexSoft is a Kiev team of experts in the development, design and software architecture. The main areas of work are the development of web applications and mobile applications, as well as UI/UX and branding. The company was founded in 2015 and is highly regarded by leading global brands and startups for their efforts, skills and experience in product development.

.5 Luxoft

Luxoft, a DXC Technology Company is a global digital strategy and software development company with a worldwide customer base. Luxoft serves its customers in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Initially, the company was based in Kiev, however, the company’s headquarters are currently located in Zug, Switzerland. Luxoft provides services and creates technological solutions in industries such as automotive, financial services, travel and hospitality, healthcare, biotechnology, media and telecommunications. According to the company, the number of its employees totals about 13 thousand people.

Important: Although the number of top software development companies in Kiev is really large, do not hesitate to write off other Ukrainian cities. In particular, many really good software development firms are located in other large cities of Ukraine, such as Lviv and Kharkiv, as well as regional centers, for example, Khmelnytskyi or Ivano-Frankivsk. This trend is due to the fact that the cost of real estate and living in the capital is traditionally higher, but for Ukrainian software development companies aimed primarily at working with foreign partners, this is an unreasonable expense that can be avoided by opening offices in the regions.