IT Salary Guide: Eastern Europe 2023 (part 1)

The Eastern European region has become a prominent hub for the global IT industry, offering a skilled workforce, competitive rates, and a thriving technology ecosystem. As businesses continue to leverage software development services and IT talent from this region, it becomes essential to understand the current salary landscape to make informed decisions regarding talent acquisition and project budgets. In this IT salary guide for Eastern Europe 2023, we aim to provide valuable insights into the average salaries and compensation trends for IT professionals across several key regional countries.

This article will discuss the average cost of software development services in Eastern Europe, an IT salary for back-end and full-stack developers, and the current situation in the IT hiring market in 2023.

The average cost of software development services in Eastern Europe

The Eastern Europe IT outsourcing industry is expanding rapidly, making it an appealing option for offshoring. Clutch reports 3263 software development companies in Eastern Europe, including 1172 in Poland, 960 in Ukraine, 423 in Romania, 213 in Bulgaria, 120 in the Czech Republic, and 61 in Moldova.

Software developers from various European countries, including Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic, are highly educated and possess excellent English skills and advanced programming abilities. The level of English proficiency in Eastern European countries is impressive. Consequently, the demand for European developers is increasing in tandem with the number of skilled software developers.

Outsourcing software development to Eastern Europe can bring many benefits, including moderate market costs. The hourly rates for software development in countries like Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova range from $25 to $49 on average. If you hire junior developers, the rate will not exceed $18/h.

Here is a general overview of the average cost range for software development services in Eastern European countries:

1. Ukraine. The average hourly rate for software development services in Ukraine ranges from $20 to $55.
2. Poland. Poland typically has slightly higher rates than Ukraine, with average hourly rates ranging from $30 to $65.
3. Czech Republic. The average hourly rate for software development services in the Czech Republic is between $35 and $75.
4. Romania. Romania generally offers lower rates than other Eastern European countries, with average hourly rates ranging from $25 to $45.
5. Hungary. The average hourly rate for software development services in Hungary falls within the range of $35 to $55.
6. Bulgaria. Bulgaria is known for its competitive rates, with average hourly rates ranging from $25 to $45.
7. Moldova. Moldova offers relatively lower rates, with average hourly rates ranging from $20 to $35.

When searching for a long-term partnership, you must consider the development cost. However, it’s even more important to establish safe relationships with offshore developers when choosing an outsourcing region. To assist you in this process, we’ve compiled the average hourly rate for front-end developers (Junior, Middle, and Senior) in Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

IT salary survey for front-end developers (Junior, Middle, Senior)

Here is a table of average yearly salaries for front-end developers with different experiences. We created this table using Glassdoor, PayScale, Indeed, and SalaryExplorer data.

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IT salary landscape in Ukraine

By the end of 2021, despite the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian IT industry grew by 36%: from $5 billion to $6.8 billion. And the number of specialists during the same time increased from 244 000 to 285 000, according to the Ukraine IT Report 2021. The growth trend continues, despite the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. In 2022 IT services accounted for 13% of total Ukrainian exports. Ukraine exported more IT services than ores, metals, engineering products, or oils.

 Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), a European Union-funded non-governmental organization, stated in 2021 that Ukraine will see a 23% increase in the number of tech students graduating yearly in 2024, reaching 20,000 people. Now in Ukraine, there are more than 2 000 IT companies. Over the past 5 years, the IT industry has created more than 180 000 jobs. Most IT companies in Ukraine are outsourcing and outstaffing.

Why is the Ukrainian IT market growing? Firstly, it is influenced by the business activity of the owners of IT companies. Secondly, in Ukraine, there are a lot of tough employees who are eagerly invited to work in the global IT market. If in the USA, the salary of a junior QA is $120 000 per year, plus additional costs for social security, then in Ukraine, such a specialist receives $2500 a month. That is, he or she will cost the company $30 000 a year, plus ultralow taxes.

According to the DOU survey, the average salary of developers in Ukraine is $3400 monthly. To be more specific:

• System Architect – $6500
• Scala Developer – $5500
• Team/Technical Lead – $5320
• Go Developer – $5200
• Rust Developer – $5000
• Senior SE – $5000
• Ruby Developer – $4500
• Kotlin Developer – $4000
• Swift Developer – $3900
• Back-End Developer – $3800
• Mobile Developer – $3750
• Embedded – $3325
• Full Stack Developer – $3200
• Front-End Developer – $2900
• Middle SE – $2600
• Junior SE – $1000
• Intern/Trainee SE – $450

The lowest median salaries are for those whose main programming language is JavaScript ($2850), Dart ($2850), SQL ($2600), Salesforce Apex ($2000), and 1C ($1400).

Ukrainian developers mostly know English at an intermediate level (36% of specialists rated themselves as intermediate) or above intermediate (43%). The share of developers who rate their English proficiency above intermediate is 43%. The share of those who speak English at an advanced level is 9% and has remained virtually unchanged over the entire period of salary surveys.

Newcomers most often speak English at the Intermediate level: 46% of Juniors and Interns and 42% of Middles rated their level as Intermediate. Most seniors (55%) already know the language at the Upper-Intermediate level. Architects and tech leads are the best at it: about 80% rate their level as Upper-Intermediate or Advanced.

IT salary landscape in Poland

The number of job offers posted on Just Join IT for developers and other IT specialists increased by 183% in 2022 compared to 2021. Employers seek more than 175,000 technology professionals in 2022 alone. Salaries of specialists, depending on experience and type of contract, increased from 15.9% to 28.3%, according to the Just Join IT report. Key findings for 2023:

• IT professionals at every level of experience (junior, middle, senior) could expect 4x increases in average salary a year earlier.
• The highest-paid specialty is DevOps, where a senior DevOps earns, on average, $7000.
• In 2022, the most in-demand developers were JavaScript and Java developers, as well as QA experts.
• The most popular categories among IT professionals seeking work were JavaScript, QA, Java, PM, Python, and .NET.

In 2022 there was a shortage of several dozen to several hundred thousand IT workers in Poland. According to Kodilla, the average salary of developers in Poland is $4100 monthly. To be more specific:

• Chief Information Officer (CIO) – $7500
• IT Director – $6000
• Java Developer – $5000
• JavaScript Developer – $4500
• Python Developer – $4400
• FullStack Developer – $4400
• Project Manager (PM) – $3200
• Automation Tester – $3000
• Manual Tester – $2300

Polish developers are recognized for their strong work ethic, professionalism, and dedication to their craft. They are known to be diligent, reliable, and culturally compatible with many international clients, making communication and collaboration seamless.

English is widely spoken in the Polish tech industry. Developers from Poland often have excellent English language skills, enabling effective communication and reducing language barriers when working with international clients.

Current situation in the IT hiring market in 2023

The wave of layoffs in the global IT industry that started at the end of 2022 is gaining momentum. According to various estimates, 150,000 to 250,000 highly qualified IT specialists in the European and American markets have lost their jobs. The first reason for this is a decrease in advertising revenue. Google and Facebook have more than 50% of their revenues from advertising, so they were forced to cut employees: their revenues will fall soon.

The following companies are also cutting staff: Microsoft, Amazon, PayPal, Twitter, Apple, Tesla, Netflix, Zoom, Dell, Intel, Spotify, IBM, SAP, Vimeo, Glovo, and Philips.

Companies will continue to reduce the number of employees. For example, Meta, which has already laid off 11 000 employees in November 2022, plans to lay off another 10 000 specialists and close 5 000 additional vacancies by the end of 2023.

Massive layoffs in IT result from a significant increase in hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly accelerated the digitalization of many areas. The increased demand for specialists overheated the market.

Global tech leaders, who have increased their profits and staff tenfold due to the shift of customers online, were not prepared for the return of consumer habits to pre-digital times. The situation in the industry is complicated by inflation, a shortage of free money in the economy, and a lack of energy resources.

But companies that make money from different sectors, such as Microsoft and Amazon, are also laying people off. There they got rid of about 10% of their staff, although they are fairly stable and market fluctuations should not affect them much. This generally indicates that companies see the impending crisis and are going the conservative way – cutting costs.

The situation has also affected traditional companies with large IT departments. For example, Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest investment banks, laid off 6% of its employees in January 2023. It is traditionally the safest business domain, but they are already worried. Everyone is preparing for an economic downturn and getting rid of expensive labor in expensive regions first. Instead, companies will open offices in cheaper locations or outsource projects to Ukraine.

Conclusion

Our IT salary guide for Eastern Europe 2023 has provided valuable insights into the average salaries and compensation trends across key countries in the region. As Eastern Europe continues to flourish as a thriving IT hub, understanding the salary landscape is crucial for employers and professionals.

It is important to note that the IT industry is dynamic, and salary trends can evolve rapidly. Therefore, while this guide provides a solid foundation, it is advisable to supplement the information with up-to-date research and consult local industry sources for the most accurate and current salary data.