When Googling “ITOutsourcing Company Ukraine”, how can you be sure that all those companies atthe first page are good?
Some of them indeed are reliable, client-oriented andnot very expensive. However, a part of them do invest more money in the first Googlepage, than in a good IT-specialist, developing your software system. How to besure in the IT outsourcing partner you find in Ukraine?

Why not to be afraidof Ukraine now?

Although the country is experiencing challenging times at theEast, the life is not stopping in other parts of Ukraine and business keepsworking. This fact confirms the Ukrainian Hi-Tech Initiative website, full ofnews about completed projects by Ukrainian IT companies.   In addition, Ukrainian outsourcing companies are becoming more experienced inthe business continuity. The ones located in the Eastern Ukraine, have movedtheir offices either to Kyiv or to Western part of the country. Some biggercompanies have opened new locations in CEE or Western Europe, and relocatedthere some teams. Furthermore, Ukraine keeps its 4thplace in the world by the number of IT professionals (230,000according to the government). The annual number of technical graduates is stillaround 15,000. This number does not include junior specialists using non-formaleducation like online courses, webinars and schools for developers, which isbecoming enormous (in 2014 we have counted up to 20 course/training providersonly in Kyiv).

Independent resourceson IT outsourcing in Ukraine

As it was said before, first page in Google search does notalways equal to reliable partner. There are traditional methods to check if thecompany is good, like requestingcustomer testimonials or projects portfolio from the potentialoutsourcing provider.

Another option is to requestcontacts of a real customer, who have completed a project withthe outsourcing services provider in the last 10-12 months. This will alsoprove that the provider is not influenced by the situation in the country andstill providing high quality service to its customers.

Option number three is proved useful if you do not want to look for a potentialIT partner in Ukraine via Google or word of mouth. Contact Ukrainian IT or business associationswith the request to provide an advice on services provider. These communitiesusually have the list of companies they cooperate with or their members.

The European Business Associationunites 916 companies in Ukraine, and 41 of them are in IT &Telecommunications sector. At the same time the official number of IT companiesin Ukraine exceeds 15,000 with 164 million results in Google by “IT CompanyUkraine”. EBA includes only 41 of them. One of the reasons for that is thatcandidate to EBA members must be recommended by another current member of theassociation, which helps to include only reliable companies as members.   

IT Ukraine Association and Ukrainian Hi-Tech Initiative are the two biggest and the oldest associations of IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine. They will not only consult you on prices, but also help with finding the best provider for the services you need.  
   
Option No.4 is for those, who do really want to probe deeper, but you will need a Russian-speaking helper. The Developers of Ukraine (DOU.ua) is one of the biggest and most popular communities of IT professionals in Russian-speaking countries. They have almost all Ukrainian IT companies in their company’s list. In each company profile there is feedback section, where former or current employees can leave their feedback about the company. Thus the reader can find out that a popular IT company is not fulfilling its salary obligations or faking its projects portfolio.  
 
Useful links with information in English:
http://eba.com.ua/ - European Business Association
http://hi-tech.org.ua/ - Association of Ukrainian IT Outsourcing Companies
http://itonews.eu/ - IT Outsourcing News from Central and Eastern Europe
http://outsourcing-verband.org/ukraine-outsourcing-industry-information/ - Ukraine – Outsourcing Market Information
http://itukraine.org.ua/ - IT Ukraine Association
Comprehensive overview of Ukrainian IT sector and venture capital ecosystem as of late 2013 http://www.slideshare.net/YevgenSysoyev/ukraine-it-universe-by-yevgen-sysoeyv-aventures-capital

Please, do not hesitate to contact us via info@softengi.com if youwould like to learn more about the situation in Ukraine.