CEE region is known worldwide for its rapid development of the IT sector. The country that’s been leading in popularity in the last years is definitely Poland. Many Scandinavian IT companies noticed that doing business here comes with great benefits. Why is it worth investing in hiring Polish IT specialists and which well-known Scandinavian firms have decided to make that move?
Keep on reading to find out!
Why do Scandinavian companies invest in Poland?
Cost to quality ratio
If you want to receive a high-quality service in return for low costs, choosing a Polish programmer seems to be the most sensible solution. The list of the most sought-after IT Professionals on the Polish market includes Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer, Frontend Developer, Fullstack Developer, DevOps Engineer, Mobile Developer and Data Scientist. Their average minimum and maximum monthly salary ranges are presented in the table below. Salaries of IT specialists with other experience levels are mentioned in our report.
Based on data from 3 well-known sources, i.e. glassdoor, PayScale and SalaryExpert, it’s possible to compare the average annual salary rate of software developers in Poland and Scandinavian countries. So for example, let’s have a look at Denmark, where programmers earn an average of €83,978 per year. In turn, a Polish programmer earns an average of €39,688 per year. The relation is around 2:1, so it means that you can hire two Polish programmers for the cost of one Danish programmer.
Broad talent pool
When thinking of starting a business in a new country, it’s important to look for a place where you can have access to a wide talent pool of IT experts and have a chance to choose from many available candidates.
Based on Stack Overflow data, there are roughly 1 million software developers across Central & Eastern Europe. One-quarter of them comes from Poland, where there are over 250 000 developers!
In comparison to Scandinavian countries – in Sweden there are around 180 000 developers, in Denmark 95 000, in Finland 90 000, and in Norway 77 000.
Advanced skill set
Polish developers are 3rd in terms of being the best in programming in the world. In the same ranking (HackerRank), Poles took first place in performing tasks in Java.
Are you curious how the Scandinavian countries performed in the same ranking?
- Finland came in 15th place
- Sweden came in 25th place
- Denmark came in 34th place
- Norway came in 36th place
In Poland, Java is also the second most widely used coding language alongside JavaScript. Below you can see a brief overview of the most popular technologies used in Poland.
Polish software developers are also highly qualified, partially because they start young. 8% of programmers (according to Developer Skills Report) started creating their first projects at the age of 5-10, which is the 4th best result in the world. Every year around 18,000 people graduate from ICT-related studies. Additionally, 90% of programmers in Poland have a university degree. It’s worth mentioning that many programmers graduate from faculties such as physics or mathematics, so they have very comprehensive knowledge.
Let’s not forget about English language skills, which are also crucial and influence the quality of work. 20% of the world speaks English and it is by far a universal language of the IT industry. When it comes to communication with Polish employees, this should not be a cause for concern. Poland is 16th out of 100 countries in terms of knowledge of the English language.
Geographical and cultural proximity
Although Poles and Scandinavians have different cultures, they both share the European mindset, so there shouldn’t be any major communication issues. It is also worth remembering that ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to generate above-average revenues. So by employing developers that come from different countries the internationality in the office can be expanded.
Working in a multicultural team teaches a lot about interpersonal relations, but also adds a knowledge value – e.g. the Scandinavian team members can get to know some of the Slavic traditions.
Moreover, if your company is located in Scandinavia and you would like to meet with the Polish developer face-to-face then it’s not a problem – all it takes is a short flight and your employee can be physically present in the company. However, with today’s norm of remote work, employing a Polish IT specialist is easier than ever. No time-zone differences also make the cooperation smoother.
Which Scandinavian IT Companies hire Polish developers?
Many Scandinavian companies, such as KMD and Danske Bank, decided to invest in Poland. There’s also Volvo Group, which employs more than 700 IT professionals in Wrocław. Ericsson employs about 2,000 radio technology engineers in Poland in R&D centers in Łódź and Kraków. This makes Poland one of the largest research and development centres in the field of radio technologies, which is second only to Sweden. Nokia employs over 1.000 IT professionals in Wrocław, e.g. specialized in C++. Skanska employs dozens of Polish contractors specialized in .NET framework. Assa Abloy Group has an R&D unit near Kraków where they employ experts on e.g. Embedded Systems. And there’s also Fortum, which entered the Polish market in 2003. Their R&D team in Wrocław focuses on IoT and smart-home solutions.
Which Polish cities are the best for doing business?
Poland was ranked 7th in terms of mature and most attractive locations for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the Cushman & Wakefield ranking. At the end of 2020, Poland was the 3rd preferred location in Europe for foreign investments. It attracts investors with good economic indicators and a stable economic situation, but also with fast-growing office facilities with affordable rent rates, as well as young, well-educated staff.
More than 700 business centers employ about 150,000 tech experts in the IT industry in Poland. 55% of all tech professionals in Poland live in Warsaw, Kraków or Wrocław.
Warsaw is notable for the number of Machine Learning specialists, Kraków stands out in the field of Java or Ruby technologies, Wrocław is distinct for the number of C++ Developers.
If you want to learn more about how to best employ Polish software developers for your company, feel encouraged to contact us.