Is it safe to hire software developers in Ukraine in 2023?

Ukraine is a popular country for software development outsourcing. According to various data, before the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, there were about 200,000 IT specialists in Ukraine.

Some IT specialists left Ukraine by February 24, some remained in Ukraine.

Is it safe to work in Ukraine now?

Here on this map you can see where the hostilities are currently taking place, occupied and liberated territories.

The territories occupied by the Russian Federation are marked in red. The battle lines are there.

Liberated territories are marked in green.

The territories of Ukraine where combat operations are not conducted are periodically bombarded by missiles and drones, but many people live and businesses operate in these territories. According to the Kyiv city administration, the number of people in Kyiv in 2023 is equal to the number of people before the full-scale invasion. These data were taken from the number of active subscribers of mobile operators.

In autumn and winter 2022/2023, the Russian Federation often bombarded the territory of Ukraine with missiles and drones. Energy infrastructure facilities were hit, resulting in blackouts. The light was given according to the schedule, or turned off without warning when there were critical accidents.

Starting from January 2023, there are no more problems with blackouts, because the energy infrastructure has been established. Also, foreign partners provided us with air defense and missile defense systems that protect the sky of Ukraine. For example, this week on May 2023 the Russian Federation launched 18 rockets at Kyiv, but all rockets were shot down by anti-aircraft missiles.

This means that if IT specialists are located in the central, western, northern territory of Ukraine, usually they can work without problems. They should have access to the Internet and should not have problems with electricity. This also applies to the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, which are not occupied by the Russian Federation.

Is it easier to find candidates for IT vacancies now than in 2021?

Before the full-scale invasion the IT market in Ukraine was very hot because many foreign companies were interested in hiring Ukrainian IT specialists. There were thousands of open vacancies, which led to a rapid increase in salaries.

After the start of the full-scale invasion, the number of vacancies decreased, some companies cut staff. Now there are fewer vacancies, so it is easier to find good IT specialists.

Search in the countries of Eastern Europe

Some IT specialists remained in Ukraine, and some left for European countries. If your team works remotely, you can consider hiring Ukrainians who have temporarily moved to other countries.

How to hire IT specialists in Ukraine?

There are following options for hiring candidates in Ukraine:

1) direct contract

2) cooperation with outsourcing or out-staffing companies

In the case of a direct contract, you sign the contract directly with the IT specialist. Plus, you don't have to pay extra money, as in the case of working with outsourcing or outstaffing companies, which additionally take a commission from each hired employee every month.

In the case of a direct contract, you pay a salary and possibly give additional benefits in the form of equipment, vacation, sick pay and insurance. In the case of work with outsourcing or outstaffing companies, the costs per employee will be 1.5-2 times more, because these companies will charge additional commissions.

In the case of working with outsourcing or out-staffing companies, you will receive a comprehensive service. Usually, such companies have their own recruiting department, which will search for candidates for you. Sometimes additional money is charged for this, sometimes the cost is included in future payments.

As I said above, usually working through an outsourcing company you will pay 1.5-2 times more for each employee than in the case of direct hiring. This model is more expensive, but has advantages, because the company takes over recruiting and various administrative and legal functions.

If you decided to choose a direct contract with IT specialists, then the question arises - where to look for candidates?

Usually for this, ads are used on various sites, social networks, primarily LinkedIn. Or you can partner with an IT recruiting agency that will find you candidates, conduct a selection and show you candidates that meet your requirements.

This way you can save time and money, because agencies have market knowledge, databases of candidates and are able to fill your vacancies fast. My agency has been working for more than 10 years.

I have the following offer for you:

You book a call with me, where we will talk about your recruiting goals and main difficulties, and I will prepare an individual solution for you according to your requirements and answer all your questions. It's free for you with no costs or obligations.

Sound interesting?

Then click here and book a call. 

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

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