Flag of Poland
Key facts about the country
Population: 39 million
Language: Polish, but English is spoken by most business people
Capital: Warsaw
Key development centres: Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz, Gliwice and Wroclaw
According to IDC, Poland is not just an alternative offshore location, as its value-proposition is not only driven by scale and low-cost, but by “highly-motivated and educated staff, at prices comparable to other offshore destinations”.
Wawel Royal Castle - Cracow
Poland has been a member of the European Union for several years now and is very well integrated into Western Europe. Many Polish software developers have worked in other European countries for some time before returning home. Consequently Polish software development outsourcers offer a similar working culture and practices to most Western organisations, particularly in terms of communication. Polish software development houses are also noted for their flexibility and creativity in terms of approach.In addition, Poland is politically and economically stable, geographically central, and possesses a good communications infrastructure.
Warsaw - Capitol of Poland
Poland offers strong technical expertise. The country boasts 20 academic ICT centres with more than 2,500 students each and 150,000 IT, computer science and telecommunication students. Also, 80% of Polish university students speak English. Until recently Poland did not have graduates, only post graduates, hence the quality of software developers in Poland is extremely high compared to other destinations. In addition, Polish computer scientists consistently win the prestigious Top Coder ranking and have achieved high positions in the worldwide Google Code Jam Competition and the IBM Linux Scholars Challenge.
As a software development destination, Poland also offers extremely good value for money. According to Gartner, companies can save 40-60% on comparable work completed in the UK. Many companies are attracted to the country because of the quality of the work they receive, for a price similar to other outsourcing destinations, is much higher.
Market Square in Gliwice
While some offshore development destinations report staff turnover as high as 40% annually, Polish software development companies typically have a much lower churn rate. The average stay for a developer in a Polish outsourcer is between three and five years.
As a member of the European Union, Poland adheres to EU Intellectual Property law. This law is quite similar in scope, nature and rigour to US and the UK’s own IP law, protecting businesses that outsource work there.
A short time difference – Poland is just an hour ahead of the UK – means ease of management and many problems can even be resolved within a single working day.