The American dream: why should US companies outsource to Poland?

American companies outsource their software development to Poland for various reasons – to save money, quickly extend their teams to stay flexible, or simply to find exceptional developers that will help turn their ideas into brilliant products. The last argument seems to be especially important for American customers. And that is precisely why they tend to be happy with the results. Because Poland provides access to skilled, experienced and ambitious developers that like challenging projects and know how to collaborate efficiently.

For American companies interested in outsourcing their software development work, there are few places that make as much sense as Poland. There are many reasons why this is the case. But before we get to Poland, let’s talk a bit about the U.S. first.

U.S. – a great nation in need of… great quality

The need to save money is one of the most commonly used (and abused) arguments for software development outsourcing. However, there are many companies that understand that very low upfront rates often indicate poor quality and the cost of making up for it may render the initial savings completely meaningless. Besides, innovative companies and startups that develop complex products are willing and able to pay more for quality software development. It just so happens that there is no shortage of such businesses in the U.S.

To keep both the Silicon Valley and the entire American innovation economy alive, the country needs much more software developers than there are available in the local market.

What American companies that visit Poland quickly realize is that here they can find exactly the kind of developers they need.

Poland – a nation of great software developers

Much like other developed countries, Poland is a place full of educated people – the percentage of people with tertiary education stands at 43.5 as of 2016 and is higher than the average for OECD countries[1].

Polish students choose computer science and other engineering majors at a rate higher than most of these countries and they prove very capable at what they do. According to HackerRank, Polish developers rank 3^rd in the world at popular programming contests[2]. One of the most recent and most popular examples of it is the success of the Need For C team during the first edition of the international Hello World Open tournament in Helsinki, Finland[3]. What’s more, since Poland’s interest in computer science is hardly anything new, Polish developers tend to be very experienced – they are among the most experienced developers in terms of prior coding practice at the beginning of their professional career, indicating a culture that immerses students in programming since a very young age[4].

Case in point – there are many fine developers in Poland that speak English well. So it’s only natural that they would search for more opportunities outside of Poland. The Polish startup ecosystem is getting more and more vibrant (especially in Krakow and the capital city of Warsaw), but still far from being big enough to make full use of them. Therefore, they are notably eager to expand their search for interesting projects, shaping their abilities (including soft skills) accordingly.

Nimble software development companies such as Software Mind are a chance for all those talented Polish developers to really find challenging and exciting projects – by partnering with ambitious companies from all over the world.

Two nations separated by… mostly ocean

To put it (perhaps a little overly) simply, Poland has to offer exactly what American companies need – quality and ambitious software developers. But there are a lot more good reasons for why cooperation between American and Polish companies in software development simply makes sense.

One factor that is very often underestimated are cultural differences. In terms of work culture and the manner of “doing things”, Poland is more like typical outsourcers, such as the U.S., rather than like typical outsourcing destinations[5].

What’s more, Polish people in general, and software developers in particular, tend to speak English really well. The English Proficiency Index places Poland 11^th out of 80 countries, indicating high proficiency[6].

To top it off, Poland and the U.S. enjoy a fairly bearable, for outsourcing standards, time difference – depending on the location, it may be even just 6 hours, which is completely manageable.

Read also: Why choose Poland for IT Outsourcing

The case for Agile

As convenient as decent English or acceptable time differences are, these are all superficial factors that alone don’t ensure smooth cooperation in outsourced projects.

What really makes cooperating with Polish developers a breeze is that most of them get and appreciate the benefits of working in agile environments, which, on top of popular Agile events, may have something to do with the natural habit and propensity of Polish people to improvise and modify the plan as circumstances change.

One thing is for sure – you are not going to have any difficulties finding Polish software developers for whom an agile team feels like home.

Best value for money in software development outsourcing

We covered a lot of ground and virtually made a full circle – going back to the issue money.

This is something of an open secret for companies that already experienced software development outsourcing, but the truly best way to save money on outsourcing is not to pick the cheapest alternative, but the one that provides the best value for each dollar. This measurement takes into consideration the quality of the final product and the hidden costs of having to deal with the aftermath of unskilled developers reigning supreme over your project. If you want to learn more about how the value for money Polish developers provide stacks up against other destinations, read this article.

Software Mind is a Polish software house with the aim to turn the latent potential of Polish software developers into a powerful and yet nimble outsourcing machine. To that end, we hire the best talents and provide them with all the knowledge of how to make outsourcing work we have accumulated over the years. You can read more about our approach by getting familiar with the Software Outsourcing Toolbox of ours. Or you can simply contact us and let us know about your next exciting project.