Hire Developers in Ukraine: How to Do It Right

Ukraine is a popular software outsourcing destination, and its IT industry continues to show a significant growth rate. It means that Ukrainian developers are in great demand internationally, provide clients with quality services for reasonable costs, and have excellent development skills.

Plenty of American and Western European companies are now hiring developers from Ukraine more than ever before. Find out the compelling reasons for increased interest in our article. Enjoy reading!

Why Is Ukraine a Country of Dedicated Developers?

Several reasons make Ukraine a top-notch country in software development. These are an advanced educational system, reasonable rates, high level of English language, convenient geographical location, and right timezone. Let’s look through each point in a more specific way.

Quality STEM Education 

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education in Ukraine is considered one of the strongest in Europe. More than 80% of Ukrainian IT specialists have a tech-related academic degree. There are around 130,000 engineering graduates annually, making Ukraine an excellent talent pool to hire.

Due to the quality STEM education, Ukrainian software developers can operate with various programming languages, technologies, tools, and versatile tech expertise. Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Typescript, C++, C#Go, Kotlin are the top programming languages used by Ukrainian software developers. 

The demand for hiring IT developers from Ukraine is continually increasing as you can hire professionals who specialize in any technology you need for your product development.

Cost-Effective Rates

The rates are driven by the pricing of the country in which you are hiring a specialist. An average hourly rate for a senior developer in the US starts from $80 per hour. In Latin America, the prices range from $30 to $50; in Asia and Africa, the average rates make $20-40. 

In Eastern Europe (where Ukraine is located), an hour of developer’s work will cost $25-50. It depends on the project; however, the rate will make $35 per hour on average. Relatively low development hourly rates in Eastern Europe doesn’t mean low quality. 

It is due to the market conditions. The main factors of price-formation are the project complexity, quantity of engaged specialists, estimated hours, and additional work.

If you decide to hire web developers in Ukraine, you’ll get more financial benefits than hiring, for example, US developers because their cost ranges from $80-200 per hour. 

Proficiency in the English Language 

To establish productive collaboration, both the client and the team must stay on the same page. The development process is impossible if developers can’t understand or describe what they do due to the language barrier.

In particular, 79% of Ukrainian developers have at least an intermediate English level since they mostly communicate with foreign clients. Additionally, many IT companies provide English courses for their employees to increase their English skills.

When companies hire Ukrainian developers, they can be sure of a good knowledge of the English language. 

Сonvenient Time Zone

Time zone proximity simplifies collaboration. Ukraine is one to two hours ahead of most other European countries, making it convenient for nearshoring. The seven- to nine-hour difference with North America (seven hours for the East Coast) enhances better-shared working hours than other popular outsourcing destinations like Vietnam, India, and the Philippines. As the difference in time zones with these countries is bigger, Ukraine’s convenient time zone is beneficial. 

In case of significant differences in time zones, Ukrainian development companies find flexible solutions — they can adapt to the client’s conditions and arrange appointments for a suitable time.

Clear Business Vision

Adherence to business practices and following the rules are the distinguishing features of Ukrainian software developers. Ukrainian full-stack development teams understand clients’ needs and offer smart solutions that match with IT market conditions. When clients hire IT developers from Ukraine, they get a clear business vision and a whole scope of services for reaching that vision. 

Cadabra Studio is a perfect choice if you want to hire software developers in Ukraine. Drop us a line. Along with upscale service, you’ll get customer-centered products suitable for your business.

IT Market in Ukraine

The Ukrainian IT market has had an impressive growth in recent years and has become one of the key sectors contributing to its economy. Based on this, the Ukrainian government has introduced many reforms to support the further development of the IT industry. 

ICT (Information and Communications Technology) became the 3rd largest export service industry, amounting to more than 20% of all Ukrainian service exports. 

The Ukrainian IT market consists of more than 4,000 tech companies and 1,600 IT service companies. More than 100 companies on the Fortune 500 list are the clients of Ukrainian IT firms.

If you want to get more information about effective solutions for your business, schedule a call with Cadabra Studio managers. We’ll analyze your business needs and offer the best specialists to satisfy them. 

Successful Ukrainian Projects  

Real cases are the best verifications of any success. Ukrainian developers have created successful projects that you surely know. 

• Petcube — is a Ukrainian startup that designs and develops hardware and software products for pets and their owners. The company raised $14 million in seed, and now its products are available in 18 countries.

• Grammarly — is an online grammar and spell checking and plagiarism detection platform that everyone knows. It is one of the most successful Ukrainian startups. 

• Clickky — is a full-stack platform for advertisers and publishers that offers programmatic performance and video solutions. It is the largest independent mobile marketing platform in Eastern Europe.

• Preply — is an online educational platform that pairs students with private tutors. Besides the Ukrainian market, the platform entered Russian, Belarusian, and Kazakhstani markets. Later it expanded to Poland, Brazil, the UK, Germany, Spain, and the USA. 

• CruiseBe — is a popular cruise trip planner. Major features are the Interactive deck plans and itinerary aggregator.

• TRIPMYDREAM — is a travel platform that allows its users to find convenient flight and hotel deals. In 2016, it became the best travel startup in the world.

If you want to achieve the same global success as these Ukrainian startups, think about hiring dedicated developers from Ukraine. Where to hire them and how to do it right read in the next passage. 

Ways of Hiring Out Ukrainian Developers

There are two ways to hire dedicated developers in Ukraine — outsourcing and outstaffing models. What is the best option? 

Outsourcing Model

IT outsourcing providers are the largest part of the Ukrainian IT service market. Outsourcing companies employ more than 60% of all engineers who live in Ukraine. What does the outsourcing model mean?

Outsourcing is a type of arrangement. The terms and conditions of outsourcing imply that one company hires another company to plan or do a specific project. Development companies are outsourced to create the software from scratch, starting from design to deployment and release. 

The pros of the outsourcing model are: 

• access to the pool of world IT experts;

• flexibility in management;

• reduced costs;

• high level of performance.

The cons of the outsourcing model are: 

• lack of control over some policies and procedures;

• security risks;

• differences in business approaches. 

You can minimize the risks by choosing the right service provider, setting the rules, and signing an NDA.

Outstaffing Model

Outstaffing is a type of cooperation model of offshoring development when you hire developers that are officially employed by another Ukrainian company (outsourcing agency). The latter agency is responsible for salaries, equipment granted to a worker, while a client company provides a worker with tasks. 

As an employer, within the outstaffing model, you can have a remote team without opening a new company branch or a remote development office. You don’t need to hire recruiters, lawyers, accountants, and managers — they’re already a part of an outstaffing team. 

The pros of the outstaffing model are: 

• ability to hire professionals for a medium price;

• flexible hiring model;

• full control over the development process;

• lower cost compared to hiring a local developer. 

The cons of the outstaffing model are:

• the lack of communication channels may result in the misunderstanding between a team and employer;

• all delivery concerns are under the control of the client and their team;

• tech expertise on the client’s side. 

Steps On How To Find Software Developers in Ukraine

If you hire developers in Ukraine for the first time, there are some essential steps for you to consider. Even if you know how to do that, check our list of recommended steps to revise the procedure or learn something new. 

#1. Come Up With a Project Description 

The more detailed the project description you create, the more successful product you’ll release. Think about your project’s strong and weak sides, its revenue models, and the problems it will solve. A detailed project description also helps future developers to get acquainted with your project idea quickly. 

#2. Hire a Development Team From Ukraine

You can use such platforms as Upwork Ukraine, Clutch.co, 99firms, or DesignRush and filter the search by country, development areas, rate, and company’s size. Then round up the list of companies you liked up to 5 and analyze their portfolio and read reviews about them. 

#3. Think of the Team Structure You Need for the Project

In this step, you have to create a list of specialists you need. In case you want to create a project from scratch, you will need a full-fledged development team. Also, choose the model of hiring (outsource or outstaff).

#4. Conduct the Interview 

Interviewing helps you to decide what the company meets your expectations. We recommend holding a meeting with business development managers to discuss all project details and coordinate project-related issues. So, choose wisely.

#5. Sign an NDA and Start the Cooperation

The contract and NDA (non-disclosure agreement) protect you from possible problems and ensure reliable cooperation. Before starting the project, ask a team for scheduled meetings and agree to monitor how the process goes. 

If you’re looking for detailed information and tips on hiring app developers, read our article on the blog. In case you have some questions or need a consultation, reach out to our team. You’ll get a quick response and assistance from the managers.

Who Chooses Ukraine as a Software Development Partner?

Ukraine is home to 100+ Research and Development (R&D) offices of market-leading companies across a wide range of industries. They include Boeing, Huawei, Siemens, Apple, Microsoft, Deutsche Bank, Skype, eBay, and many others. The USA has the largest share of partnerships in Ukraine. It equals about 45% of companies. 

Countries from Western Europe, Asia, and North America choose Ukraine as a software development partner.

In comparison, you can also check the list of Top San Francisco Software Development Companies Here to make conclusions about Ukrainian developers and their benefits.

Benefits of Working With Cadabra Studio

Cadabra Studio is a development and UI/UX design company with more than 5 years of experience in successful cooperation with companies worldwide. We’re a dedicated team of developers and designers that adhere to high standards of service and work.

By cooperating with us, you’ll be comfortably managing your team and the project workflow. Whether you’re searching for one software developer or an entire cross-functional team, you can always rely on us. 

There are 3 steps to hire developers at Cadabra Studio:

• Contact our managers and tell us about your needs;

• Schedule an interview and discuss everything you want to know;

• Start working with our developers.

The benefits of hiring Cadabra Studio are:

• High level of proficiency;

• Transparent cooperation;

• Affordable rates;

• Client-oriented approach.

Check our portfolio to see the quality of our work. And there are even more projects and concepts on our Dribbble and Behance profiles.

With Cadabra Studio, you can develop and design competitive digital products and improve your business. We create complex things to be simple. And we do it with purpose.

Conclusion

Ukrainian development teams are good at business communication, have proficient specialists and competitive prices. Most of them provide software development services to customers all over the world. 

Clients appreciate the business approach and premier service, so hire Ukrainian developers that are reliable and highly-skilled. The process of hiring the developers from Ukraine isn’t complicated but requires some preparations. Our guide aims to make it easy. 

Follow our recommendations, and you’ll hire the best software developers in Ukraine. If there are some questions left, contact Cadabra Studio, in case you need expert consultation.