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Battle of the Dev Firms (Part III) - Central Eastern Europe vs. the Philippines

Veteran enterprises and ambitious startups alike are looking to proprietary software to succeed in what’s been an unpredictable year. However, with the difficulty of sourcing talented developers and the challenges of product management, businesses are choosing to work with outside development firms for their software needs. In fact, nearly half of CIOs say that they’re more likely to use outsourcing suppliers for their IT projects than they were five years ago.

Whether you’re near-shoring or off-shoring for your next software development project, there are some pivotal questions to ask — and decisions to be made — when it’s time to invest in your digital infrastructure and partner with an outside development firm. Ask yourself the following:

• What regions offer the best developers?
• How should you choose between near-shoring and off-shoring?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

In our third installment of this series, we’re discussing off-shoring in the Philippines versus off-shoring in Central Eastern Europe — Poland, in particular. We’ll also help you understand where VentureDevs fits in and how we can help your team.

• Top global tech talent — Polish developers rank 3rd in the world
• Polish IT market growth is up from 5% to 10% year-over-year
• Strong English skills — Poland ranks 11th out of 100 countries and received a “very high proficiency rating”
• Similar legal frameworks and cultural values
• Competitive pricing compared to onshore development firms

• Strong English skills — the Philippines ranks 20th out of 100 countries and received a “high proficiency rating”
• IT development is one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing sectors in the country
• Cultural and legal similarities with the US due to decades of shared history

• Different time zones can be challenging if firms don’t make their teams available for clients in other parts of the world
• Surplus of Polish development firms may make it hard to find the right one — but we can point you in the right direction ;)

• Time change can be a massive operational hurdle — e.g., Manila is 15 hours ahead of California-based companies
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• You can get higher quality, cost-effective results from CEE compared to onshore options — and more reliability than cheaper regions such as Asia
• Massive pool of world’s top software developers — more than 254,000 in Poland — means that nearshoring or offshoring won’t compromise developer skills

• Stable national economy and history of outsourcing suggests long-term partnerships can be made — the sector is projected to reach $40 billion in market value by 2022
• Friendly legal system for companies looking to outsource work makes contracting development firms easy — e.g., legal risks are commonly transferred to the Filipino outsourcing provider

• European IT market is highly competitive — retaining top talent could be challenging
• Time zones don’t overlap extensively — although this means that Eastern European teams can work on projects around the clock
• Variation in quality depending on firm and country (i.e. Poland, Ukraine, Belarus)

• Unpredictable weather can damage national infrastructure and delay project delivery — the country suffers from twelve typhoons every year
• Numerous bank holidays can slow development work — the Philippines has twice as many non-working days as the US

Ultimately, the best software development firm for your business depends on your unique needs and particular software goals. While Filipino dev firms do offer their own unique strengths and opportunities, it’s important to take a comprehensive view of the development ecosystem when comparing the two regions.

As explained above, HackerRank gives the Philippines an unsatisfying score of 63.8, which slots it into 46th place internationally. Meanwhile, Poland scores an impressive 98.0, coming in 3rd. While Filipino development firms may boast cheaper prices compared with other popular development regions, businesses need to take total costs into account.

For example, if a Filipino firm quotes a lower price to develop your enterprise software but the quality of work is subpar, you’ll likely need to commission another developer to fix it — or start entirely from scratch. That’s going to run up your project costs over time, meaning that it’s more pragmatic to invest in higher quality work the first time around.

With competitive pricing, skilled talent, and a burgeoning tech scene, Central Eastern Europe is emerging as a leading hub of software development talent. No wonder it’s an increasingly popular development market for US-based firms looking for cost-effective software development solutions and Western European companies on the hunt for convenient and reliable near-shore options.

To learn more about working with the region’s premier tech professionals, reach out to VentureDevs today and ask about our product development and team augmentation services.