By the end of 2022, the pros and cons of global software development and remote work, in general, seem very relevant and spur ongoing debate in many organizations — MWDN is no exception.
Just like any other firm, back in 2020, we remember ourselves mostly unprepared to embrace the rapid transition to digital communication and change our way of working. But it wasn’t long until we discovered some obvious benefits for our business that, in a way, made us stick our heads out of the sand.
Global challenges akin to COVID continue to disrupt the business environment, showing us probably the main point of the changes we undergo – how important the flexibility of communication is.
This year, facing another geopolitical crisis – war in Ukraine (the top outsourcing destination in the world), we got another proof of how raising digital culture and establishing flexible communication within both – your organization and your native country Advances in technology and transportation are driving businesses to become more interconnected around the world, and a phenomenon also known as “globalization or distributed development” eventually pays off.
We decided to share our perspective on how the shift to remote mode affects software development globally and what helps specialists in Ukraine establish a smooth and uninterrupted work process in wartime.
Global Software Development in 2022
Almost three years of uncertainty related to the COVID pandemic changed our perspective on life and work and spurred demand for distributed development and a more flexible work environment.
These days, software developers are in demand globally. Worldwide, there are approximately 26.9 million software developers. The USA is the home to the highest number of software developers, which equals 4.3 million. Among others are the UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, and Poland. However, it’s worth mentioning that the majority of them work differently compared to the established pre-covid routine. According to Findstack, 16% of businesses work entirely remotely. Approximately 62% of workers between the ages of 22 and 65 report doing some of their work from home.
The distribution of software developers across different countries of the world | Source: GitHub
One of the results of this phenomenon is that 83% of hiring managers said their teams or departments have been more effective since going remote. Currently, organizations and companies around the world are opening offices around the world and creating a “globalized” team, and some aspects of the software development team are changing to meet the challenges of today’s market.
Both software developers and business owners now have more options than ever in choosing where to live and work. The global employee relocation management market is currently estimated to be worth around $31.5 billion and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 3–4 percent by 2021, according to Beroe Inc, a procurement intelligence firm. Many of them took the globalization of software development as an opportunity to elevate:
- quality of their work
- find a better work-life balance
- build international awareness and globalize their business
- find locations with lower taxes for tech talent
- discover other personal benefits
In 2022, VanHac asked 60,000 tech professionals about locations they would like to relocate to. This allows us to see where the best tech talent is looking to relocate in real-time. You can see popular relocation destinations for tech professionals below.
Top 10 countries tech talents want to relocate to | Source: VanHack
Each of these countries has its perks such as high quality of life, world-class public healthcare systems, vibrant culture, simply the best opportunities, and high-paying jobs for experienced software developers in the world. All of these factors have a major impact as, according to an Owl Labs survey, better work-life balance is the main reason why people choose to work remotely.
As a result of these processes, up to 60% of companies utilize relocation specialists. By 2028, 73% of all departments are expected to have remote workers.
Ukraine is at the Forefront of Software Development Team Globalization
In 2021, Ukraine was named the world’s top outsourcing destination for IT by the British Global Sourcing Association. Before the start of the russian full-scale invasion, outsourcing to Ukraine was very popular due to the largest pool of IT specialists in the world and flexible taxation of IT activities at only 5%.
What is the situation in Ukraine in the eighth month of the war?
The results of a massive survey conducted by DOU in the second month of the war revealed that 61% of 7000 Ukrainian IT workers had been forced to leave their homes but after just a month, the majority of IT specialists returned to work.
Currently, 84% of the respondents work full-time, and another 7% – are part-time. Almost all DevOps / SRE specialists work full-time (93%), 88% of developers and managers, 87% of QA specialists, 86% of Data Scientists, and 85% of HR specialists.
Employment of Ukrainian specialists in the first month of the war | Source: DOU
61% of the interviewed IT specialists had to leave their homes and move to safer places to be able to live and work confidently. Almost half of IT specialists (46%) moved to a safer place in Ukraine, another 14% went abroad.
As a top destination for relocation, IT specialists from Ukraine have chosen Poland (35% of those who went abroad came here). Among other popular spots are Germany (10%), Romania (6%), Spain (3.7%), and the Czech Republic (3.6%).
Ukraine has always invested heavily in the development of high-tech infrastructure in the country. This sad year in Ukraine is unfortunately a unique case that shows what output such investments can have for the country in the future.
As a result, even during the pandemic, the Ukrainian IT sector showed confident growth as in 2020 the IT export in the country grew by more than 5 billion USD.
The beginning of the war in Ukraine, however, affected all aspects of the Ukrainian economy (40% contraction), including the tech sector. However, losses in the IT sector are much smaller and today IT is the major source of support for the local economy.
The maturity and business flexibility of the Ukrainian IT sector prove that investments in the development of reliable IT infrastructure eventually pay off, creating a secure foundation that helps both country and local businesses to pivot faster in an often extreme market environment.
Remote Software Developers in Ukraine: How Do they Support Distributed Development?
For years, Ukraine has had a reputation as a digital-savvy country where the tech sector attracted about $600 million in foreign investment in a year.
Even at the beginning of the war, only 5–10% of clients were prepared to stop doing business with Ukrainian companies due to potential mobilization, the death of employees, etc.
Besides the resistance of Ukrainians, no less important factor in the success of the Ukrainian case is the great and regular investment in technology practiced during the years. In 2021, for example, Ukraine took 7th place in the level of Technology knowledge in the world.
At the beginning of the war, Ukrainian software developers had already been working in distributed development for quite a long time and skillfully set up a network of remote communication tools, which ensured a smooth transition in a situation when their offices suddenly got empty and teams scattered around the world. Thus, the resistance of the Ukrainian IT sector is built on several pillars:
- prior serious investment in technology
- largely practiced remote work practices
- establishment of flexible communication tools inside teams
- mobile relocation efforts
From the very beginning, tech teams that have already practiced remote work were able to quickly develop business continuity plans that ensured there was no panic or frustration among company employees. In February 2022, about 92% of IT companies with offices in Ukraine created a plan for the employees’ relocation.
As a result, in the eighth month of the war, the majority of Ukrainian software development companies fully adapted to work in war conditions, established uninterrupted communication within their teams and resumed work on their projects. Ukraine’s IT industry is staying open for business, and the majority of clients stick to Ukraine.
Looking for Global Software Development Services?
Being a global outstaff service provider, MWDN has a vast experience in remote team management. In 2022, however, the globalization of our team reached a new orbit.
The start of the war in Ukraine (our biggest talent pool alongside Israel) was initially shocking. In a way, we found ourselves two years ago, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, feeling a bit frustrated.
Moments later, however, the realization came that previous years’ challenges and painstaking work on organization and setting up of flexible remote communication models in our global teams of software developers have finally paid off.
The major challenge of the war in Ukraine, we met with a prepared business continuity plan that was built around:
- relocation of our specialists to safe places abroad and inside Ukraine
- development of psychological support plans for our teams in wartime and beyond
- further management of an outstaff team through motivation
These efforts are of particular importance for companies where employees should maintain work loyalty, regardless of being an external part of the in-house team, just like in our case.
To return a sense of normality to the disrupted routine of people in our teams, we slowly return to regular pre-war activities and on occasion even return to our offices.
For example, while our Kharkiv head office is unfortunately still unavailable — the Kyiv office supports its regular life, every day welcoming more visitors and new team members.
MWDN Kyiv
22,8% of our team relocated outside the country mainly have chosen Poland and Germany (14%) as their destinations. Equally favorable spots for our team have become Spain (11.5%) and Hungry (9%).
Since a large number of our team members have chosen Poland as the top destination for relocation, our plans also included opening a new office in Warsaw.
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MWDN is an outstaff service provider with 20 years of experience in global team orchestration. The long list of countries we cooperate with include Israel, Ukraine, Canada and many other top destinations with the most seasoned tech talents. If you are looking for remote software developers in Ukraine or interested in our expertise, contact us.