It’s not a coincidence that every day countless foreign companies rely on Polish developers to deliver software essential to their bottom line. If you haven’t discovered the strengths and charms of Poland yet, we prepared a handy and ever-expanding list of reasons why Poland proves so successful in the world of new technologies.
The world of software development outsourcing changes rapidly and so does factors that prove critical in competing for the best and most challenging projects. Therefore, we have decided to gradually update and modify our list of factors that make Poland a great outsourcing destination to make this article always up to date. Wonder why? Check the list below!
1/ A stable and healthy economy
Since the transformation in the 90’ Poland enjoyed uninterrupted growth for 29 years, and between 1990 and 2015, the GDP growth was the biggest one among European and OECD countries – it increased over 7 times! In 2019, Poland experienced an impressive GDP rise of 4,5%. 2020 was an enormous challenge for economies all over the world due to COVID-19 pandemic and the related restrictions that had to be imposed in order to slow down virus spreading. Yet even in these demanding conditions Polish economy proven to be built on solid foundations and the forecasted GDP for 2020 (although it’s showing a shrinkage around 3,6%) is the 4th lowest decrease in the whole Europe. What’s more the forecast for the year to come assumes that in 2021 the growth would come back and will be at around 3,3% making it highly possible rebuild what was lost.
Apart from the GDP, Poland maintained 15th place in “Digital Nation” (being second highest European country) ranking prepared by Tholons.
2/ Highly skilled specialists
Polish software developers are among the world’s best and most qualified. And there are a few good reasons why they’re so highly sought-after developers in the international market.
First, they are among the most experienced in the world in terms of prior coding experience at the time they earn their first professional job. This is important for all companies that wish to outsource ambitious and challenging software projects to equally determined, detail-oriented, and hungry-for-success team members. Additionally, Polish developers are among the youngest in the world to start learning to code – in 2018 Developer Skills Report you can find Poland on 4th place with 7,7% of programmers that start to code at the age of 5-10.
Therefore it’s no surprise why, according to HackerRank, Polish developers rank 3rd in terms of success at popular programming contests and 5th in TopCoder Country Ranking statistics. Of course, what matters here is that they’re happy to use their great skills working on your projects!
3/ Dynamically growing IT market
Polish IT market grows at a stable rate of yearly. In the past few years, it has experienced massive changes, and more and more Polish IT companies are expanding internationally. The IT/ICT markets in 2018 accounted for 8% of Polish GDP. The whole ICT sector grew in 2019 around 2.9%, and the income of the IT sector itself rose around 4,6%. Although we’re still waiting for the data from 2020, further growth is expected.
In fact, software development for almost all industries is one of the driving forces behind the growing IT market in Poland. Another key trend is the fast-paced growth of enterprise-level cloud computing services. Those include both the software, as well as infrastructure. Other important products and services include IoT, cybersecurity, and all their subsectors.
4/ US and EU standards in IP protection and data security
Poland has been serious about IT protection and data security for years. As a member of the European Union, they introduced the notorious GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation. The new set of privacy rules, despite sparking initial controversy, is considered a milestone in the fight for better privacy and data protection of the individuals.
And, thanks to the close ties with the US, Polish companies understand the common requirements of their American partners too, especially when it comes to the protection of their intellectual property, copyright laws, and data security. Even the US Chamber of Commerce in its IP Index 2020 give Poland 70.56 points, out of max 100, acknowledging this country the safest one among popular outsourcing destinations. All of that makes outsourcing to Poland a safe bet.
5/ An extensive pool of IT graduates
Annually, about 70 thousand Poles study Computer Science. Some of the most important academic centres include Krakow (AGH University of Science and Technology and Jagiellonian University) or the capital city of Warsaw (Warsaw University of Technology). Other important IT hubs include Wrocław, Rzeszów, and Katowice – with the latter being just an hour drive away from Kraków.
6/ Proximity to the major European financial centres
If the proximity of major European financial centres such as London, Paris or Frankfurt is important for your business, Poland is arguably the best outsourcing destination in the world to stay close to all of them.
Its geographical location in the heart of Europe means that you can reach Krakow by plane in an hour from Vienna, under two hours from Berlin, Brussels, Zurich, and Paris, and 2 hours and a half from London. In fact, during the times before COVID-19 it was not unusual for our partners to come to Krakow in the morning and depart to their European location on the same day – and we hope that this would be possible once again so we could meet face to face.
7/ Experience with Fintech projects
Fintech owners know the benefits of remaining within the European market and the importance of staying in compliance with the EU’s regulations. Keeping all your operations in the EU while enjoying the affordable costs of growing your business is only one side of the coin though. Developing this kind of projects requires extensive experience in order to make it bug free and most importantly – safe for the users. Polish developers spend hours working on fintech project and outsourcing it to them is the best choice to bring you fintech idea to life. To support this thesis, we will show you some numbers. Poland was estimated to be the biggest FinTech market in CEE sector with an estimated value of €856 million.
8/ Cultural and work ethics similarity
Apart from the technical skills and experience of the developers you choose, there’s one important element that’s often overlooked. The similarities that allow to fully understand each other.
The way Polish people work and manage their organizations is very similar to what you can experience in the countries that tend to outsource their software development abroad the most such as the UK, the US, Germany or France. What’s more, it’s not only about business. Poles do not differ at all from citizens of the Western countries outside work too. After the contract negotiations/business meeting go out to dinner with them or just have a pint – you’ll see it for yourself. These two are a big part of what makes the cooperation and communication a breeze in project outsourced to Poland.
9/ The ease of nearshoring
If you’re based in Western Europe, outsourcing to Poland will feel like working with a local partner who you can easily reach in just a few hours driving (or, as we mentioned above, in an hour or two if you choose a plane!). In fact, the ease of travelling will make visiting your Polish partners quick and easy, allowing you to have much better control over the implementation of your project. Being so close to the developers, you can reach them much easier, establishing a much stronger relationship with your nearshore team.
10/ The best value for money in software development
Simply speaking, in Poland, you get more bang for your buck.
Why? First, Poland offers much lower labour costs compared to the countries that are usually the most interested in outsourcing software development. But affordability is just one of the core conditions of a great software development outsourcing destination.
Every business owner or project manager knows that outsourcing isn’t just about choosing the lowest priced alternative. What matters is the value that you can get for the money invested. In the end, you want your project to be delivered on time and expect high-quality work done by a team of people who know their craft.
11/ High-quality tech infrastructure
Poland is classified as a developed country and offers a highly advanced economy with excellent IT infrastructure, amazing mobile Internet (and one of the cheapest in the world) and a stable and fast broadband connection – in 2018 Polish project of building a broadband network in Poland took first place in the European Broadband Awards. Additionally, Poland is one of the leaders in the development of IT infrastructure for science – especially when it comes to advanced research.
12/ More-than-solid English skills
Polish people in general, and university-educated Polish software developers in particular, speak English really well – a factor much appreciated by companies interested in outsourcing. Poland ranks 16th out of 100 countries in the English Proficiency Index, with high proficiency mark – the second highest mark a country can get.
In fact, many Polish software developers spend their whole careers working exclusively on projects for foreign clients, which often means working in an international environment.
13/ The popularity of Agile approach and methodologies
If you search for a team skilled in Agile methodologies, you will not be disappointed. Polish teams are well-versed in Agile and the country is also home to some of the most important Agile events such as the ACE! Conference or AgileByExample – event considered as 10th best agile conference in the world.
This makes cooperating with Polish teams easier and the whole software development process a lot more transparent. The latter being one of the keys for those software development clients who want to stay in control of the project and value professional but modern approach to project management.
14/ Krakow!
Poland itself is an excellent choice for software development outsourcing. But the city of Krakow, which is one of the top tech hubs not just in Poland, but the whole CEE region, adds a lot of its unique value and charm to the cause. You can why Krakow is a great software outsourcing destination in its own rights here.
15/ Probably the best time zone for business
Poland is in the same time zone as Germany or France and there’s just one-hour difference between Poland and the UK. Additionally, thanks to being situated “in the middle”, it’s possible for Polish developers to reach their partners from the Middle East, Asia, the US, and even Australia during their working hours.
Compared to Asia, which is 6 hours away from most European Markets and “suffers” from at least a 12-hour difference with the US, the Polish time zone looks like a dream when it comes to outsourcing software development.
16/ We’re part of the European Union
If your company is based in one of the member states, the paperwork required to make the partnership a successful one is minimized. Many of the trade barriers have been removed, and both the Polish government and the EU politicians work hard to make business partnerships between companies based in different EU member states even more efficient and simple. All these positive changes and minimized bureaucracy allows you to focus on what’s important – growing your business, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
17/ You maybe be using Polish software without knowing it.
Over the years many Polish products have become more than popular all over the world. The first thing that may come to your mind is award-winning Witcher series. Yet that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Poland is a place where innovations thrive, and entrepreneurs can make their visions come to live. In 2017 World Bank ranked Poland as 3rd best startup hub in the world. In the education market, Brainly helps over 150 million users share their knowledge and help each other, and in the finance industry (and it’s worth noting that the Polish online banking system offers one of the most innovative cloud solutions in the world ) Billon plans to disrupt the way we transfer payments. The technology used by this blockchain-based startup to store and transfer regulated currencies has achieved the speed of transactions compared with contactless payment cards.
Naturally, the list could go on and on… but instead of boring you with all the already-developed solutions, we encourage you to hire Polish developers to work on YOUR project!
18/ Polish people know how to “kombinować”
One of the reasons why Polish developers prove so skilled and inventive in their work is that Polish people are considered to be born with the ability to find unique solutions and crazy workarounds to solve just about any problem.
Due to various political and economic hardships of the past, that “skill” of finding unique ways of solving (often seemingly unsolvable) problems has become something of a national speciality in Poland. We even have a special word for it “kombinowac” which can’t really be translated directly into any other language! To be honest – if you will have a chance to see it happening you would immediately understand what “kombinowac” means ?
19/ “Go big or go home” mindset.
What makes Polish people so effective is, apart from the skills and experience, their mindset. As Master Yoda said, “do or do not – there is no try”. Rather than wondering if something can be done or if the deadlines can be met after Poles decide to do something, they are confident that it will be done. Great example of this kind of attitude are Polish athletes. Robert Lewandowski with his almost magical control of the ball, Marcin Gortat scoring tons of points for his NBA team, Iga Świątek playing tennis so smart and agile that she become youngest French Open winner since 1992 or Adam Małysz – man who won everything that could be won in ski jumping, and now is followed by several great athletes dominating multiple contests. And that’s just to name a few. That’s the attitude you need to get every job done – and you can easily find it in Poland.
20/ Software Mind!
While it is not necessarily too humble of us, we couldn’t help but add Software Mind, our very own software company, to this list. After all, located in Krakow, with dozens of successfully delivered projects and some of the most skilled Polish developers on board, we are in the very middle of what makes Poland such an attractive outsourcing destination!
Software Mind is a Polish software company known for delivering top-of-the-line software development outsourcing services. Our philosophy is simple – we combine the skills of top Polish software developers with the experience that we accumulated delivering outsourced projects efficiently over the years of working with foreign clients.
You can learn more about our unique approach to outsourcing by getting familiar with our Outsourcing Toolbox. And if you already have a project in mind, just contact us and let us know. Perhaps, we are the ones that can help you turn it into a wonderful product?
About the authorSoftware Mind
Software Mind provides companies with autonomous development teams who manage software life cycles from ideation to release and beyond. For over 20 years we’ve been enriching organizations with the talent they need to boost scalability, drive dynamic growth and bring disruptive ideas to life. Our top-notch engineering teams combine ownership with leading technologies, including cloud, AI, data science and embedded software to accelerate digital transformations and boost software delivery. A culture that embraces openness, craves more and acts with respect enables our bold and passionate people to create evolutive solutions that support scale-ups, unicorns and enterprise-level companies around the world.
