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The Polish Development Fund (PFR) has recently published a report that explores the Polish ecosystem of startups, scaleups and the investment landscape. The verdict is clear: Poland is becoming one of the most popular tech hot spots in Europe.
The Largest Pool of Developers in CEE
As dealroom.co summarizes in their article about the report, Poland has long been known as a country with a lot of well-educated developer talent. For example, the 2016 HackerRank named Polish developers the 3rd best in the world with a score index of 98/100. In the same ranking, UK and US software experts scored only 78 points.
Currently, Poland has the largest pool of developers in Central and Eastern Europe – over twice as much as Romania, the country in the 2nd place (401,000 vs 139,000). Considering the number of Polish startups and software companies, this hardly comes as a surprise. With nearly 2,500 IT startups and a $1.8B investment value in 2019, the growing number of software experts is a natural consequence.
Fertile Ground for Custom-Software Houses
This talent pool enables Polish software houses to hire specialists in multiple coding languages and technologies. As a result, Poland has become a favoured destination for custom-software development.
At present, Poland is home to over 1,300 software companies that specialize in outsourced software only. Polish software development is widely praised for multiple reasons, e.g. the high quality of the developed solutions, good work habits and strong work ethics.
In the last decade, Poland has been especially popular for extended teams. When talent became hard to find (and keep) in countries like the UK, the US or Germany, Poland became a natural option due to high language skills of Poles and their highly aligned culture. But now, the landscape is evolving.
Wojciech Gurgul, CEO at Xebia
About fifteen years ago, Poland was a popular place for custom software development mainly due to low prices. But since then, Poland’s technological landscape has changed massively, and the cost-factor is now only one of many advantages.
Although extended teams remain a popular option, international companies are often interested in more than just additional developer talent. They're looking for development partners – somebody who will contribute with their expertise and introduce the company to new technologies (like the Cloud or modern development approaches). As a result, Polish software houses are now more and more associated with technological craftsmanship.
Wojciech Gurgul, CEO at Xebia
Polish software development is widely recognized for its quality. For example, the 2016 HackerRank listed Polish Java developers as the best in the world. As a result, bigger and bigger brands decide to seek the services of Polish software houses.
Our own experience confirms this. Among our recent clients were, for example, market leaders like Schmitz Cargobull, Yell or Ringier Axel Springer.
Excellent Communication Makes Building Relationships Easier
Besides quality, Poland has also been praised for accessibility.
Across Europe, there are hundreds of quick direct flights to multiple Polish cities. Intercontinentally, Poland is also easily accessible from the USA or Asia thanks to several direct flights to major Polish cities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mjjhiCdgI8
Industry events strengthen relationships. With a well-communicated flight network, getting from Poland to London (and vice-versa) takes only 2 hours.
And Let’s Not Forget Legal Safety
Legal safety is what makes Poland really stand out.
Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004. A shared legal framework implies that legal security in all member countries must be on a nearly identical level. As a result, companies that decide to develop their software in Poland will enjoy similar protection like in Germany or France.
An excellent example of this shared framework is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which dictates strict guidelines every software development company must follow.
Legal safety is one of the main reasons why some brands prefer to develop their software in Poland rather than in China. Although Asian countries are generally considered to be cheaper, they don’t necessarily offer such a high level of legal protection.
Finally: Relatively Unaffected by the Pandemic
Even with COVID-19, the Polish IT sector remains in stable condition.
Most software companies operate seamlessly throughout the pandemic. The majority of software houses were prepared to work entirely remotely because they possess good technical infrastructures.
What’s even more important, the demand for software solutions is still relatively high due to the shifting market needs and the surge in online operations.
Find Out More
We encourage you to read the entire report, which you can find here:
https://blog.dealroom.co/poland-the-biggest-economy-is-european-techs-fastest-growing-region/
If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to let us know. We’ll be happy to help!