Svetlana ShevchukIn light of the full-scale war in Ukraine, we at YouTeam have made the conscious decision to terminate all partnerships with development agencies from Belarus. We believe in upholding principles that prioritize peace, safety, and ethical considerations in our business practices. As such, we strongly encourage other companies to re-evaluate their partnerships and stand in solidarity with this cause.
A beautiful European country is known for its scenic landscapes, manmade salt mountains, and a special love for delightful confectionary, Belarus is also increasingly known these days for rapid development in the technology and IT services space in particular. With a steadily growing crop of talented developers who can speak English well and a close time zone to the UK, among other factors, it is becoming a popular choice to hire software developers from the country lately.
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Advantages of Belarus as a destination for offshore software development
🔸 Vast talent pool supported by tech education in Belarus
Belarus produces thousands of talented and high-quality professionals every year, and this is made possible greatly due to the increasing focus the country has been giving to education. The country boasts of a very exemplary high literacy rate of above 99% for both male and female populations of all age groups.
In addition, higher studies are encouraged greatly by universities and institutes in the country, such as the renowned National Academy of Sciences, which has received acclaim for excellent courses in a variety of subjects and extensive R&D efforts in everything from science and technology to the humanities. Creating more room for future IT specialists and spurring the growth of talented developers are the tech universities in Minsk, such as the Belarusian National Technical University and the Belarusian State Technological University. Therefore, UK companies can be assured that the Belarusian IT specialists and developers they hire for software development projects are of the best quality because they have had such strong schooling and have grown up in an environment based on research, focused studies, and innovation.
🔸 Growing infrastructural strength of Belarusian IT
The information technology industry in Belarus has been growing rapidly over the past decade. With a large number of R&D labs situated in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, around 60.5% of developers in the industry work in offshore software development. Among other eastern European countries, Belarus is also known for leading the industry in R&D, innovation in the tech space, and the Belarusian IT industry is estimated to be growing four to five times faster than the global IT growth scale, which is impressive and spells a very bright future for information technology in Belarus.
The IT sector is further supported by tax laws such as the tax benefit offered by the Belarus High Technologies Park, wherein resident tech companies are exempt from several taxes such as income tax, and Value Added Taxes incurred from software development outsourcing. The Park itself, located in Minsk, is a grand hub for tech innovation, surrounded by emerging tech startups and tech companies that employ thousands of IT professionals yearly. Knowing all this, Belarus indeed comes across as one of the top outsourcing providers currently on a global scale, particularly for UK companies.
🔸 Close time zones between Belarus and Western Europe
One concern companies in the UK and USA have when outsourcing software development to other countries is the difference in time zones. If the time zones between the client and offshore development company are more than a few hours apart, it makes back and forth communication difficult and causes unnecessary delays in the business processes. However, with a country like Belarus in Eastern Europe, UK companies don’t have to worry about this because the country is only two hours ahead of the UK, which makes quick communication possible and allows the developer team and the company to collaborate easily. This way, there is no waste of time waiting long hours for the other side to reply, and there is no delay in moving ahead with the project either. This makes Belarus and its IT sector a great choice to get outsourced software development services.
🔸 One developer team throughout the project In Belarusian outsourcing companies
Belarusian developers are currently enjoying working in a very swiftly growing and thriving software industry, and since there are ample opportunities to succeed in their current jobs and teams as developers, they tend to stay with that job/team for a fairly long time. This is beneficial to UK companies who want to outsource developers from countries in Eastern Europe like Belarus, as it means that the chances of getting the same developer team to work on the project throughout the end are very high. Every company that is into IT outsourcing knows that whenever a developer leaves the team and moves on in the middle of a project, there is a definite risk of losing technical knowledge and disrupting the entire project’s progress and the business processes on the whole. But in the case of Belarus, this is not likely to happen as the developer team members you start the project with will most likely be the same ones you complete the project with.
🔸 Multilingual and skilled Belarusian developers
Often when looking to outsource development teams from European countries, many companies are plagued with the worry that the developers from the outsourcing company they hire will have trouble communicating due to language barriers and the inability to speak English fluently. However, that is not likely to be a concern when outsourcing from Belarus, as Belarusians have higher English proficiency than their neighboring countries, Ukraine and Russia, and got an EF EPI score of 528 on the English Proficiency Index as of 2021. Belarus has a good understanding of how in-demand it is in terms of software development outsourcing, and the developers are accordingly learning English more often and are fluent in English communication. Thus, you don’t have to worry about language being a barrier, as Belarusian developers can communicate well in English.
Another concern companies tend to have is related to the quality of work by the software developers, but rest assured that when you hire developers from countries in Eastern Europe, the work they do is very high quality and professional, and moreover, they are known to be very skilled with regards to the use of agile software development and top development practices.
🔸 Major cost-benefit of hiring software developers in Belarus
Saving on hiring costs is actually a key factor because companies choose to get outsourced IT services. Hiring in-house software developers can get pretty expensive for UK companies, as the hiring process includes not just providing a high salary but other costs such as those incurred in onboarding, training, etc. It is typically a better decision to outsource software development because of this. Choosing Belarus as an outsourcing destination can yield great benefits with regard to cost, as an average Belarusian developer earns about BYN 17,687 (£4,136) while a software developer in the UK makes around £31,139, which is a highly significant difference. In the end, even after paying extra costs like bonuses and total hiring costs, hiring developers from this country will cost you a lot less than it would get in-house developers for your project.
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What to watch out for if hire remote development teams from Belarus
Whenever you decide to hire outsourced teams for development, there are some key points to remember and implement before proceeding with the actual hiring process. These tips apply to all remote outsourcing for development, irrespective of whether you hire software developers from Belarus or any other nation.
- Before you proceed with IT outsourcing for web development or any other services, it is important to ensure that you have gone through the entire profile of the software developers carefully. Studying the developer profile and reviews of their work in previous projects, if possible, will help you understand whether that developer has the skills you will need for your work. It is essential to do this before hiring the development team because otherwise, you may be stuck with developers who don’t fully grasp what you want or can’t completely deliver what you expect.
- In terms of software development outsourcing, logistical details are more important than they might seem. Deciding upon fixed timelines for project completion, delivery dates, and other important milestones is a very important thing you should do before hiring the development team, and it is equally important to convey these dates and times to the team in advance to avoid confusion.
- It is often hard to test the skills of a developer if you don’t have a person with technical knowledge in your own team. Therefore it is recommended that you should keep a technical person with you who can accurately assess the developer’s work capabilities so that you get the best possible developers for your project.
While the above pointers are quite important to remember while hiring software developers, there are a few things to consider after the hiring has been done and before or during the project phase as well.
- Communication is the key to getting the best out of your IT outsourcing experience with remote developers, be it web or mobile app development, custom product development, or any other service. During the project, it is good to keep regular communication between your side and the development team members so that both sides have a clear idea of each other’s progress, requirements, and problems, if any. This way, there is no misunderstanding, a lot of time is saved, and the project can be completed smoothly.
- As important as it is to have a technical expert test a developer’s capability before hiring, it is equally essential to have such a person on board during the product development until the end. The presence of this person ensures that any mistakes in the development process can be caught at the early stages, and massive loss of time, precious effort, and valuable resources are all avoided.
- Now it is already known that having both teams on board with the logistical details such as delivery timelines and milestones is very important. But along with that, it is also a good practice to emphasize the fact that these dates should be maintained strictly unless there is some crisis due to which a delay occurs. In the event of such a delay in offshore software development, the responsible team must inform the other side immediately so that there is no disparity in knowledge and communication between the two teams.
Over the past few decades, the IT market has developed significantly, and more options have come up for companies seeking a quality outsourcing partner globally. However, hiring a remote team for development can be tricky even with the above-mentioned pointers used because every country that exports outsourcing services has certain associated drawbacks and difficulties that a company might face when hiring developers from Belarus software development companies. It is important to know fully well about these disadvantages before investing in custom software development services.
Disadvantages of software outsourcing to Belarus
When the IT outsourcing business boomed at the close of the 20th century, India and China were at the top of the list of countries to get offshore software development from, as hiring was cheap and there was no dearth of professionals to choose from. However, this popularity peaked and dropped quite a bit because of several factors, including but not limited to the massive timezone difference, scams and scandals in the IT sector, and some data violations. At the same time, eastern European countries started rising in demand and popularity due to the growing number of skilled software professionals, fairly low hiring costs, and for British and United States companies, very little difference in time zones. However, there can be some drawbacks and issues with hiring developers from this country, which every company should know about.
While Belarus offers great high-quality solutions for software outsourcing, the developers aren’t known to be as focused and as skilled as developers from neighboring Ukraine. Often, the qualification of the developer and the overall active skill set aren’t paid that much attention to by Belarusian IT companies, which may present quality issues later during projects.
It has also been observed on some occasions that although the IT industry of this country is inclined towards R&D and innovation, the culture is still strict and normative, and as a result, the solutions might seem less creative than those offered by competitor countries such as Ukraine and Romania. So, UK companies should thoroughly verify the developer’s skills and test them before hiring to avoid falling prey to this difficulty.
Another possible disadvantage that a company might or might not face depending on the services they need is Belarusian law. While it is known that the government has created several laws to encourage foreign entry in the export of outsourcing, the entire system of the country is surrounded by many complex legalities and laws that have to be strictly adhered to. Every company should familiarize themselves with these laws, particularly relating to the entry and exit of foreign firms, before they proceed to outsource software development from this place.
And one more thing to consider—maybe the most important one—is the war in Ukraine that started in 2022. The Belarusian government takes unpredictable steps regarding the situation and Russian aggression. Thus, the possibility of new sanctions for this country is high, which can influence all the industries, including IT.
Key Takeaways
As the focus on global outsourcing continues to shift away from Asia and toward Eastern European countries like Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Poland, one of the most attractive options for outsourced development is emerging to be Belarus. The country offers a lot in the outsourcing space for software development, from a growing talent pool of skilled developers, increasing tech and development capacity to the high comparative cost advantage of hiring. Here are the key takeaways as to why exactly Belarus is a worthy outsourcing partner for UK companies.
- A growing talent pool of developers. The growing education sector in the country maintains a high literacy rate for the whole population, encourages higher studies through excellent courses offered by technical universities, and provides the impetus for the growth of skilled software developers.
- Increasing tech infrastructural strength. The IT sector has experienced exponential growth, and demand for Belarusian IT outsourcing companies has risen globally. In response, the Belarusian focus on R&D in tech has grown considerably, making it an attractive country for outsourcing software development.
- Similar time zones. Since Belarus is only two hours ahead of the UK, it makes real-time communication and collaboration easy for both the development team and the client, facilitating the progress of the project and avoiding wastage of time.
- One developer team throughout the project. Belarusian developers are working in a growing and prospering IT industry, where they don’t feel the need to shift jobs and teams frequently, and hence companies hiring developers from there can expect a smooth, interruption-free experience working with the same developer team and project manager throughout the project.
- Multilingual and skilled developers. Developers from Belarus have good proficiency in English and can communicate fluently in English, so there is no fear of miscommunication during the execution of the product development. They are also highly professional and skilled at their jobs.
- Cost-benefit. A major advantage of hiring team members from a Belarus software development company is that you save a lot of hiring costs since the cost of hiring Belarusian developers is much less than that of hiring UK developers.
