Software companies in Poland: 2023 outsourcing guide for CTOs

Outsourcing developers in 2023 – quality over price

You’re probably familiar with all the basics of software development outsourcing. You know that it’s possible to offshore the development (i.e. to employ remote workers of a services company from distant countries like India) or to nearshore your project (to cooperate with developers from a company based in neighboring countries).

You can benefit from both, but recently it’s getting more and more popular to choose nearshoring for web and mobile app development. Why? Because, as Andrada Fiscutean puts it, people start to “focus more on cost-effectiveness and proximity, rather than just low cost”. 

Nearshoring has become especially popular in Europe, where the IT hubs of Central and Eastern Europe are only a one-hour time difference away, and face-to-face meetings can be arranged at the investor’s convenience, if necessary. 

Let’s summarize the main differences between the CEE and South Asia – which are the two leading web and mobile software outsourcing destinations.

As you can see in the diagram above, there are almost no differences between the team composition and experience in both CEE and South Asia. Companies in both regions have the biggest numbers of developers available at your service and in both cases, those developers have approximately 20 years of experience.

The differences are slightly more visible in terms of industry specialization as there are many kinds of software solutions. Eastern Europe is highly specialized in sectors like fintech and banking. 

Keeping in mind that Europe is now the center of the fintech revolution, it’s really not surprising. Therefore, if your company is into e-payments, mobile wallets, shared economy, real estate investment software and such, Central and Eastern Europe may be your perfect go-to place. On the other hand, South Asia is slightly more focused on health care and education, so perhaps there you will find your clinical research software company.

Fast forward to the most important factor for you as the CTO – budget. Even though you should remember that it’s extremely reckless to select a company based solely on price, it’s worth knowing why there are differences in average hourly rates.

Eastern and Central Europe are one of the most expensive regions to outsource, with developers charging nearly twice as much as their Southern Asian colleagues. What’s the reason behind this difference? 

Well, one of the factors is that developers in Eastern and Central Europe are more experienced and are used to working in a similar environment as their North American or European counterparts – not to mention that their cost of living is higher. Most of the companies here are experienced with outside markets and top-quality products, and they know that they can charge a fair price for their work – while still offering better budget solutions.

Even with quality and experience weighing in, it may be challenging for Eastern and Central Europe to compete with lower costs regions such as South Asia. Reading through feedback on sites like Clutch, you can notice that cost tends to be one of the primary reasons for companies from the USA or the European Union to hire teams from Asia. 

The most mentioned concerns, however, are primarily timezone differences, cultural differences, and a different concept of quality.

What makes CTOs from all over the world choose a company from the CEE area? Let’s take a look at some of the reasons. 

Why choose top software companies from Poland, or other CEE nations? 

The CEE nations aren’t the cheapest place to get your IT project outsourced – there certainly are cheaper places in the world. But when your budget is also an investment in your product and vision, the cheapest option isn’t always the deciding factor. The truth is that local IT teams are often very hard to hire – they are:

• too busy,
• not specialized enough,
• too expensive,
• outsource parts of the project anyway,
• won’t take in your project.

All of these factors make outsourcing a necessity rather than a quest to get the cheapest deal – so you might as well look for the best professionals out there.

Outsourcing to English-speaking developers

CEE countries have a tradition of putting a high emphasis on education – grade school through university. This is why these countries don’t only produce a lot of excellent software engineers, but well-rounded English speakers. According to statistics, 90% of developers in Poland speak English. The reports presented year by year by Education First (EF) make it clear:

Among the top 20 countries listed in the English Fluency Index, there is always a strong representation of Eastern European nations.

As per data from 2021, Poland is ranked 16th in English proficiency among 112 European countries. According to statistics, 90% of developers in Poland speak English.

For you, as the CTO, it means that communication with a remote team is never a problem – from team leaders to the team members who code and may also be included in calls and meetings for better insight. This is why programming teams from Poland are highly sought after in the IT outsourcing market – with hubs in Gliwice, Krakow, Warsaw, and other major cities.

Communication style in software engineering

Eastern European developers are also well-known for their straightforward communication and “no-nonsense” approach (real-life example coming up in a moment) to software engineering. As the CTO, you may be sure that you’ll get accurate responses to all the questions you may have before you begin your partnership. 

Great onboarding practices are highly valued. There are small cultural differences though – you’ll find that developers from the CEE region will most likely avoid small talk – at least at every meeting. They would rather get down to business to make sure things will be done right and in a timely manner. If you like to get down to business – the better. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not up for some fun when the time is right. 

They’ll surely loosen up at some point but not until they’re sure that you’re happy with their work. 

Work ethic in Eastern European software development companies

Not only are Eastern European developers hard-working and well organized, but they’re also serious about work. Issues like workplace etiquette, boldness in communication, the flexibility of the process, or organizational hierarchy are very important for developers from the CEE region. 

Tech-savvy team leaders know how to organize the perfect environment for agile development and developers themselves favor open and honest discussions with their bosses, often being able to challenge them to make sure all the potential risks would be avoided to meet the deadline.

These are very important non-technical factors to consider in work ethic. This is especially true in Poland, where it’s a cultural trait to make your opinions heard and where an individual input is valued in an IT environment. After all, a team whose members feel ownership performs better, right? 

I’ll start with a pretty contrary thesis, borrowed from the article written by Steve Sydenham. “Outsourcing your IT to Poland will ruin your life”. Interesting, right? We were eager to read it and discredit it, but thankfully, it turned out that the article’s title is nothing but a clever joke. 

Steve describes a real-life scenario in which he decided to outsource a project to a software company in Poland and found out that it’s too good to be true – “the quality is too good” and the service is “too cheap for what it is”. But why is it so?

Below, I’ll try to explain why software developers in Poland are so desirable – and I’ll give you eight reasons for it. 

Why outsource to Poland – here’s the hard data

I’ll start with a pretty contrary thesis, borrowed from the article written by Steve Sydenham. “Outsourcing your IT to Poland will ruin your life”. Interesting, right? Well, it turns out that the article’s title is nothing but a clever joke. Steve describes a real-life scenario in which he decided to outsource a project to a company in Poland and found out that it’s too good to be true – “the quality is too good” and the service is “too cheap for what it is”. But why is it so?

Below, I’ll try to explain why software developers in Poland are so desirable, based on eight reasons why you should consider outsourcing your software development to Poland. 

1. Strong work ethic

As mentioned above, Polish developers are characterized as hard-working individuals with a “no-nonsense” approach. It was one of The Software House developers’ characteristics mentioned by Matthijs Piëst in the success story of WieBetaaltWat, now called Splitter, an application that allows users to better manage their finances by conveniently splitting their bills and more.

 According to Matthijs, TSH developers are direct, down-to-business, and won’t waste your time. The second point mentioned in the article is the solid teamwork that is born out of every team member owning the project and really working as a mutually-respecting and efficient team. Sounds like a well-oiled machine! 

2. Poland’s stable economy

Being the CTO, you probably know how crucial it is to know the economic situation of the potential partner. Poland looks like a perfect choice in terms of economics with stable GDP growth and low unemployment. What’s more, as we know from recent history, Poland seems not to be easily affected by any economic crisis. (Knock on wood!)

3. Polish IT graduates match industry needs

The communist era left is long gone, but it left some legacy behind, and some of it isn’t too bad – the FSU education system used to focus on technical education, and this trend has stuck around to this day. There are 18 technical universities located in Poland with over 74 000 ICT students. It means plenty of specialists to work on your project development. If you also consider the fact that STEM education in Poland is generally believed to be at a very high level – you have yet another reason to hire a Polish software developer.

4. High English Proficiency index – especially amongst developers 

As I mentioned above, Poland is one of the most proficient countries in using the English language on a daily basis. Poles are considered to have a very high EF EPI index, which places them on 9th position in Europe and 11th in the world. The same goes for an average software developer. It means that you may be sure that communicating with Polish developers won’t be a problem if you decide to outsource your software development to Poland. It’s worth adding that most of the ICT graduates can also speak other European languages like German, French, Spanish, or Italian.

According to a more recent publication from the EF English Proficiency Index, Poland places 13th in the world, which means it still belongs to the “very high proficiency” category. The tests covered a total of 1200 Poles. The score of Poland is 600 while the world average is 502.

5. Location and time zone 

Time zones and potential cultural gaps are among the most common concerns which appear when speaking about outsourcing. Looking for partners closer to your location and culture can help you avoid sleepless nights or missed connections – not to mention that it can help you minimize the risk of misunderstanding. 

Performing research on the outsourcing destinations popular among the companies in your region may be helpful. As one of my colleagues wrote in one of his articles, Nordic companies have recently changed their attitude towards outsourcing. Instead of employing software houses from countries like India, they often choose to hire the closest neighbors like Poland.

Looking for a nearshore partner may help you avoid any inconvenience in setting up important conference calls with an outsourced partner. When it comes to outsourcing from the US – the timezones can vary, and there are 6 hours differences between the East Coast and Warsaw. This means that you still have about three hours of official office time overlap. 

6. Poland is an ever-growing, tech-savvy region for custom software development

Poland is not only a place full of developers ready to take over your project. It’s also a real hub of innovative and successful tech startups that can compete in the Western European and American markets. Also, Poles are known for being open to learning about new technologies and adopting all the newest tools, libraries, and frameworks. That’s when they’re on top of their game.

7. Top-quality custom software development for a reasonable salary

Remember the article we mentioned above? The one about outsourcing to Poland being able to ruin your life? The author, Steve, mentioned that he was able to find a top-notch Polish software development company that was able to build a top-quality product for less money than his initial budget. How often do you hear that??

If you are not sure how rare it is, then consider this cloud computing example – as many as 94 percent of all companies believe that the cloud costs they incurred in the last 12 months are higher than they originally anticipated!

As per the newest data, from Indeed, a Polish developer with 6-9 years of experience makes a salary of roughly $87K. That’s a fraction of what their fellow developers from the UK or pretty much any other Western European country. Contracting a top-performing Polish outsourcing company can turn out surprisingly cheap in comparison to IT companies from the other parts of Europe or the USA.

8. Data protection compliance in Poland

Poland, being a member of the European Union is obliged to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Software houses in Poland must be up to date with all the requirements regarding data privacy and personal data processing. That’s why being compliant with all the regulations and legislation is not a problem for Polish developers.

Where to find the best software house in Poland for your project? 

Various types of custom software development services in outsourcing

In one of my articles about how to avoid the risks of software development outsourcing, I’ve pointed out that the risk of getting a low-quality product is especially high. You might be afraid that choosing a company abroad is a shot in the dark, with the details becoming fuzzy and control over your project becoming hard to maintain. While at the beginning of the outsourcing trend that might have been true, the world has become a much smaller place. 

Software company reviews in Poland

You can read through the actual client reviews on review aggregators like Clutch. On Clutch, you can search and check whether the company is using the newest technologies and quality management standards when delivering software solutions. 

There are over 1300 software development companies in Poland (as per the aforementioned Clutch) and for you, as the CTO, choosing the proper development partner should be based on these three factors:

• Experience
• Service Quality
• Price

The key to success for you and your project is to perform thorough research, contact the selected vendor and agree on all the details about future cooperation which will suit your software needs. This is how it works at The Software House, a Polish custom software development provider based in Gliwice, Poland. 

Do you need an outsourcing partner with years of experience that would help to improve your software or build custom software from scratch, complete with additional services such as Quality Assurance? At our company, we offer free strategy consulting and initial estimation of the product development (describing the software development team composition, timeline, and the approximate cost).

You can expect a free-of-charge code review if you have existing digital products which you’d like to refurbish. And once you did find your vendor, you can learn even more by researching specific practical scenarios for software development outsourcing.

If you are really starting from scratch, we are more than happy in helping you with all stages of product design as well.

Do you have more questions? More on how to outsource software development

Have any more questions about outsourcing software developers in Poland and Polish top software development companies in general? I’ll highly recommend reading our free web development e-book, “Developing your software abroad”, which goes in great depth to describe the development of digital products in Poland. 

You’ll find there some additional insights, thorough analysis, and other useful content about software development outsourcing and practical advice for any software development company. Find out if these web services are the best fit for you: 

• strategy consulting, 
• software development services, and 
• product design assistance.

In the highly complex modern software development, a lot of IT companies choose to focus on a smaller range of technologies in which they can truly create strong expertise. These may include Node.js, React, or cloud computing with Amazon Web Services. However, a good software company should always be able to provide excellent strategy consulting, software architecture, and product design services. Learn more about these in the outsourcing ebook.