More and more companies nowadays choose to employ an offshore development team in Poland.
Whether it is hiring remote in-house employees from scratch or team augmentation in Poland, both models offer better cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and access to a bigger pool of talent than hiring people on site.
What Is an Offshore Development Team?
An offshore team refers to employees that are located in a different country than the one where the company’s headquarters are.
For companies in the IT industry, popular destinations are Eastern Europe, India, the Philippines, and the countries of Latin America.
Why Would You Want to Build an Offshore Development Team?
There are a number of advantages to having an offshore team in comparison to hiring people in your home country.
- Lower software delivery costs;
- Access to a massive talent pool;
- Higher software delivery speed;
- Lower upfront and infrastructure costs.
Why in Poland?
The cost of living in Poland is a few times lower than it is in the U.S. You could stay in a good hotel for about $50 a night, have a simple meal for just $3, and rent a good office for way less than in North America.
To top it off, this country has a free public healthcare system, so instead of expensive health insurance, companies can offer benefits in the form of education, retreats, performance bonuses, and whatever else.
All of this translates into the lower cost of building and running a development team there.
The best part? Poland is home to over 250,000 software engineers, and their skills are some of the best in the world.
Poland’s mindset and culture values, communication, and working setup are quite similar to Western Europe and the U.S., so there is a low to no communication barrier.
- Safety and reliability. The country is part of the European Union, so it complies with EU laws and legislation, including GDPR.
- Similar culture. There are low and high-context cultures, and they are quite different in their work habits and approaches to the world. Poland is a close cultural fit for both U.S. and Western European countries, so a lot of potential issues would be avoided.
- Affordable prices. These prices come with a high level of service and quality of code.
- Convenient time zone. There is only a six-hour difference between some of the U.S. time zones.
- Advantageous tax conditions for foreign investors.
IT Industry in Poland
Over 250,000 IT professionals live in the country, with the number of software companies being over 500.
On top of being one of Eastern Europe’s fastest-growing economies, around 15,000 graduates enter the IT market every year.
Education and Tech Expertise of Polish Developers
There is impressive education and professional experience in Poland’s IT zone:
- The majority of developers have a university degree (based on the Bulldogjob report).
- Poland has a very high level of English proficiency, even ahead of some other European countries. In the EF English Proficiency Index 2021, it took 16th place (out of over 100).
- There are a lot of tech conferences and events happening in the country, which helps share experience and mutually improve the level of Poland’s IT industry as a whole.
Cost of Hiring in Poland: Rates
The rates of developers here are 20% to 50% lower than in the U.S. or Western Europe, partially because the cost of living is lower as well.
The average salary of a software developer is between $23,349 and $39,778, which is 2-3 times lower than in the U.S.
Major IT Hubs for Offshore Software Development in Poland
There are seven major hubs within the country where most developers live:
- Warshaw
- Krakow
- Wroclaw
- Katowice
- Tri-city (Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot)
- Lodz
- Poznan
Building an Offshore Development Team: Where to Start
There are many factors that go into a successful development team. Start with planning:
- Define the primary and secondary goals you are trying to solve. They might be creating an MVP for a startup or moving an app for an established business.
- Set up a budget.
- Determine the size of the team and the tasks that you hope it will do and match it with the budget.
- Evaluate what skills and roles your team will need. Once the tasks are clear, it should be easy to identify the technology stack and skills that the team will need. The specific roles to hire (PMs, QAs, developers) will depend on this.
- List out potential problems that might appear and consider how to prevent or prepare for them. Different time zones, accountability, lack of face-to-face communication, and different cultures that may lead to misunderstandings are all issues that might appear in a remote environment.
How to Hire for an Offshore Team
When it comes to finding people for the team, there are a number of approaches, each with their pros and cons.
- Put the team together by hiring freelancers or teams via UpWork, Toptal, Upstack, or look for specialists at tech companies like Skelia, hackathons, conferences, and meetups.
- Find people for a dedicated, in-house team directly via job platforms, LinkedIn, and ads.
- Get a recruiting agency to handle the hiring process.
- Rely on recommendations.
- Find a local partner that can help you find and retain talented team members with the specific skills, experience level, profile, style, and culture fit you’re looking for.
How to Manage the Team and Keep It Productive
The best way for an offshore team to work effectively is to clarify the expectations, duties, and organizational processes straight from the start.
Figure out and communicate to the team the following:
- Set clear, realistic milestones and deliverables;
- Figure out and implement the tracking of development time;
- Put processes in place for all necessary workflows;
- Get the necessary tools and permissions for your team;
- Define the approach to working hours and, if possible, align them;
- Plan out and put into action the transparent system with communication channels, workflows, productivity tools, and billing;
- If possible, make regular trips at least once a year to meet and greet your team in person.
Conclusion
To make an offshore dev team work, you need to be clear on your goals and expectations, know your budget, and define the required skill set.
You also need to consider and be ready to manage the challenges that come with such a work model — time zone differences, cultural diversity, lack of face-to-face communication, and other management and organizational issues.
But as long as you overcome these, you’ll obtain access to a huge talent pool, save money, and get the job done in a quick and efficient way.
