When you run a startup, you definitely can't risk wasting your time or budget. Your specs have to be followed, and things need to go as planned. There is no room for pitfalls or failures. So it's only obvious that the choice of a software development company needs to be made with the utmost caution.

Fortunately, Ukraine is a reliable outsourcing destination for hiring software developers for startups. This article will give you an in-depth look into:

- Why you should hire Ukrainian developers
- How to hire software developers in Ukraine

#### Why is Ukraine a good fit for software development outsourcing?

![good fit for software development](https://ecdev-cms-dev-ecdev-cms-ecdev-cms-bucket.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/7/27/Frame_69_2_f84f3fb6f3.svg)

There are countless reasons that make Ukraine one of the best places in the world to outsource your software development. Before I dig deeper into the details, here’s a short list of the top reasons for hiring Ukrainian developers:
- **More dollar-for-dollar value** - A Ukrainian software development agency can provide the same quality services you can expect from an EU- or US-based firm at a much lower rate.
- **Intellectual property protection** - Ukraine respects intellectual property rights across the globe. This means you won’t need to worry about your software development partner lifting proprietary code.
- **Dedicated teams** - Ukrainian developers are known for burning the midnight oil to meet strict deadlines. If you have a problem, rest assured that they will quickly solve it.
- **Top-tier talent** - Ukrainian software development and IT industry are exploding right now, and the market is packed with highly educated Ukrainian programmers ready to help you with the web and mobile development.
- **Staggered time schedules (for US clients)** - Ukrainian working hours take place while you’re fast asleep. So if you make a request past sunset, your development company could have it delivered by morning.

These are just a handful of reasons why you might want to outsource software development to a Ukrainian company. There are many more that I will address.

#### Engineering and Mentality in Ukraine
What is undeniably true about Ukrainian developers is their positive mindset and determination.

In fact, Ukrainians have earned a strong reputation as hard workers. It’s their tenacity that makes them well-suitable for custom software development positions. This is a role that requires them to constantly invent innovative digital solutions to stay one step ahead of their competition and become top software developers in Ukraine.

#### Resourcefulness
Ukrainians are also known for their passion and resourcefulness: two essential qualities you want to get when outsourcing software development. Meeting strict deadlines often takes a level of ingenuity that only comes from a truly dedicated service provider.

#### Responsible Teams
Another core trait associated with Ukrainians is their strong sense of responsibility. Software developers in Ukraine will treat your project as if it’s their own. They want to do their job right and will take any steps necessary to build world class software products that will make your project successful.

#### Communication and English proficiency
A major benefit of outsourcing software development to technology companies in Ukraine is that about 70% of Ukrainian developers have an intermediate to upper-intermediate level of English proficiency.

Strong communication is a key in project management, so it’s important to have a dedicated team with a firm grasp of English in your corner.
![Software development team in Ukraine](https://ecdev-cms-dev-ecdev-cms-ecdev-cms-bucket.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/5/6/Frame_56_f0269e1919.jpg)
With such a high level of English proficiency, you won’t need to worry about miscommunications when dealing with software developers in Ukraine. 

#### Ukraine is a hub for software development companies
From 2015 to 2017, the number of Ukrainian software developers grew from 74k to 166k. In 2020, it reached as many as 166k. Yearly, this number grows on average by 30k of new specialists, who are usually the graduates from Ukrainian tech universities.

With the largest number of C++ and Unity 3D developers and the second-largest number of JavaScript developers, it's no wonder why Ukraine is listed among "Top 10 Countries with the Best Software Developers in the World" (source: HackerRank). Yet, the variety of programming languages in this talent pool is much bigger.

Giants and global corporations like Microsoft, Samsung, and Oracle have already discovered the tech talent of Ukrainian developers and thus keep hiring them on an ongoing basis. In fact, companies of different sizes often feel lucky to have found a great development team for a long-term partnership at a fair cost.

#### IT market and development costs in Ukraine
The average rate of skilled software developers in Ukraine of middle-to-senior levels varies from $40 to $50 per hour, depending on the technology stack and technical expertise. Lower rates (e.g. $30 per hour) are relevant to mostly junior developers, they can be a part of an experienced software development team in a startup, but not to be its skeleton.

#### Potential risks when hiring a software development company for a startup
Below are some specific risks that startups might face when hiring software developers. These insights are based on real-life stories that the clients have shared with my team.

- Inappropriate or faulty tech decisions made by software developers, insufficient technical skills, low-quality of deliveries and quality assurance.
- Product performance issues. Delivered website or web application is either slow or unstable upon high traffic load.
- Security issues. The delivered product (or any of its components) comes with vulnerabilities like XSS or Insecure Deserialization.
- The delivered software is poorly usable and imbalanced/outdated in terms of UI/UX.
- The delivered software fails to meet expectations. Developers demonstrate a poor understanding of business goals, no respect for the mission, and are not committed to the idea of building a successful startup.
- Software developer doesn't meet the timeline or budget constraints.

The above-listed issues can be relevant to any country, and they are mostly caused by ineffective check-up of soft and hard skills.

The ways how EcDev Studio prevents the above problems can be read in my separate [article](https://www.ecdevstudio.com/blog/how-ecdev-studio-prevents-six-most-common-problems-in-software-outsourcing/).

#### How to hire a Ukrainian software developer for your startup? 

![How to hire a Ukrainian software developer for your startup](https://ecdev-cms-dev-ecdev-cms-ecdev-cms-bucket.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/7/27/How_to_hire_a_Ukrainian_software_developer_for_your_startup_45ef5b32aa.svg)

As said above, Ukrainian software developers have earned an excellent reputation for providing quality and affordably priced services for their partners all over the world. 

Yet, it does not necessarily mean that the hiring process is a 1-day job. Once you’re ready to hire Ukrainian software developers, these are the steps you should take when building relationships with the outsourcing companies and looking for the reliable candidate:
1. Evaluate the local IT industry market.
2. Analyze your potential vendor's portfolio.
3. Check the reviews and compliances.
4. Set up a call with the vendor and evaluate their soft skills.
5. Evaluate the hard skills.
6. Get involved in the engagement process.
7. Agree on the estimation, delivery plan, and payments.
8. Sign the contract and get your software development process started.

#### How Can EcDev Studio Help with Your Software Development?
We will provide you with a one-on-one consultation regarding your startup so we can understand what tech approach is the most suitable for your software projects. This will also be a decisive factor in planning your budget and time constraints. Our goal is to provide premium-quality custom software development services, and in-depth analysis is the first step in this process.

After we understand the scope of the project and all the planning processes are done, we assemble a team of dedicated developers who are perfectly qualified to build your product based on your software concepts and specifications. Rest assured that our engineers are highly vetted and deliver reliable, well-tested solutions.

#### Hiring a Ukrainian software developer: Final Thoughts
The choice of the right software development company is a crucial step toward bringing your software idea to life. You want your future product to thrive and bring value to your clients — not die on the vine. That's what we focus on when building our company values.

Software development is like rowing a boat with a team. Either everyone works together, or you’ll spin in circles and never reach your destination.

For your startup, you’ll need to pick capable performers who can deliver complex custom software development solutions so you can surpass your competitors. Working with software developers in Ukraine is a winning strategy, and that's what millions of success stories can prove.

If you’re looking for a software development firm you can trust, contact us for a free consultation.

Tips and guideline of hiring Ukrainian developers, potential risks described.

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How to hire a developer for startups in Ukraine

In the following list are 6 common problems and the well-tested solutions offered by EcDev Studio for each of them.


#### Conclusion
These are only common problems but not the entire list of problems that can happen. Some cases are easier to prevent, some not. My point is that we understand the IT outsourcing market, its common problems and work hard to prevent most of them for our clients.

There are common problems in software outsourcing. You have more chances to prevent them if you know about those problems.

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How EcDev Studio prevents 6 most common problems in software outsourcing

In my view, people that pay for quality services should get quality results, and any commercial services should be upscale. That’s why with the business that I run, I take every step possible to ensure that our clients receive a high-end service. That's especially relevant to hiring remote developers in order to succeed with software projects.

I've seen people try to save pennies on services only to realize that, in the end, they wasted their time and money by receiving an uninspiring product. On the other hand, I've also seen people pay top dollar for a service or product that provided no tangible value to the buyer. There are many examples when companies hire remote software developers but the main goal of those developers is to just check enough boxes to get paid.

That’s why I want to offer my insights on how to help you find a quality service. You'll also get a better understanding of when to cut a service provider if they fail to deliver.

The success of an entire business can depend on the relationship with your software development team. If you have a truly good business plan and strategy, your goals are still at risk if, for example, your in-house or remote team is not involved enough or lacks analytical or communication skills.

Below, I will describe 5 common issues business managers encounter when hiring remote or in-house developers, and then tips on how to avoid such issues. If you see something similar throughout your collaboration, you need to take action to prevent further risks.

## Potential issues when hiring remote developers

#### 1. Insufficient skills
The remote developer or team can have poor technical skills, limited understanding of development processes, and make faulty decisions which harm the development process and lead to the overall low quality of the delivery. Usually, this situation creates a need for a customer to spend significant time testing and reporting obvious bugs. Meanwhile, the development process is better organized when a customer only suggests improvements (such as UI tweaks, new use cases, etc.) but does not perform QA testing work which is what a remote development team is responsible for. In order to hire developers, the candidates should not only pass the technical interview but also complete a coding challenge of decent difficulty.

#### 2. Bad communication

Ideally, when a team of software developers works on a particular project there is a productive environment, high motivation, professional communication.  But exceptions happen, and here are the precise examples:

- Lack of interest. Reluctance to productively discuss an actual problem during remote working. Instead, the developer is doing some lower-prioritized tasks and postponing the problem discussion for later.
- Logically incorrect sentences, language, and communication barriers of remote employees. It causes difficulties when trying to understand the pressing issues or explain them.
- Aptitude to criticize teammates/customers instead of resolving mistakes. It is rather a personal characteristic, not a communication problem. Btw, the experienced hiring manager would spot this in the screening process.
- Delayed responses. It belongs to the issues with culture fit and dependability. During the hiring process, this can be determined with specific questions in the interview process.

There also exist etiquette problems, such as interruptions during voice calls, personal criticism, lack of respect, raising the voice while communicating. Etiquette problems of both in-house and remote teams are the most critical and should be avoided at the very beginning when hiring remote workers. Ensure there are no such issues before you hire remote developers. I'll tell you more about that below.

#### 3. Insufficient understanding of the requirements
Small interest in understanding the requirements, reluctance to think and analyze out of the boundaries, reluctance to think like a customer or see particular cases from the end-user perspective.

Apart from motivation problems mentioned above, software engineers can also lack soft skills or technical expertise which makes it difficult to understand project requirements in detail.

#### 4. Attempts to make poor deliveries
It is a common and well-known issue when a developer either knowingly or mistakenly delivers an unfinished or wrongly done job and hopes it to be enough to get approved. If you are going to hire developers consider giving them a complex test, and see if they will try to deliver a poor result instead of researching a task deeper.

#### 5. No respect for customer's business
It happens when remote developers work on particular tasks but have very little interest in what the final plan or business objectives are. It is fine if your developers deliver tasks based on your precise specifications. But your engineers should be team players who care about common success, for maximum efficiency.

## How to avoid the above listed problems when hiring remote software developers

Hiring remote developers, or in-house teams is a highly responsible activity because you either move forward growing your startup or keep struggling with the technical or other issues. I will describe how we at EcDev Studio hire engineers and build talented teams.

The first thing we do when we hire software developers is review their resumes, where we check how responsible the candidate is when searching for a job (resume accuracy, informativeness of the details, overall openness, etc), and also check actual skills with the experience in the resume.

The next step is soft skills and language proficiency check. During the first interview round, we check the developer candidate for the culture fit, dependability, emotional intelligence, communication skills, problem-solving attitude, perseverance, leadership qualities, English language. Many companies either skip this step or do it unprofessionally, but to hire remote developers and do well, a soft skills assessment is necessary. The short but great guide to checking soft skills is by this authoritative [article](https://sprockets.ai/interview-questions-to-evaluate-soft-skills/{external}).

![soft skill ecdev](https://ecdev-cms-dev-ecdev-cms-ecdev-cms-bucket.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/6/6/small_skill_8c711133a1.svg)

Next comes the hard skills check, which is a pretty straightforward step in hiring remote developers.

![hard skills](https://ecdev-cms-dev-ecdev-cms-ecdev-cms-bucket.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/7/27/banner_471d784c81.svg)

Finally, a 2-month evaluation period starts where the newcomer gets a deep dive into work ethics, and the company-established rules and gets a chance to prove themself as a credible team player. The goal is to give a higher complexity task in this period to either identify the talented developer with high technical skills or drop the underperforming developer in the early stage. A probationary period is a good and proven practice in software development, especially when hiring remote talents.

Tech companies usually spend some time in order to hire remote developers successfully, sometimes it can take weeks to close particular positions. If to do things right it's definitely possible to hire a developer or team and avoid the problems listed in this article.

## The biggest trap in hiring remote developers

What do you think is the biggest trap? To hire a low-performing developer with poor hard skills? Or maybe to hire a developer who communicates badly? But what if you hired somebody who delivers and communicates, and you even see the results constantly (e.g. new web flows delivered), but you feel something is still wrong you don't know what. You see new flows getting developed but their page speed is average, the developer is telling you there are no technical capabilities to make it higher, you trust them and say "Okay, I understand". Read further.

Later after 6 months of a relationship, you decided to give him a more complex task e.g. 5 out of 10 complexity, while in the past he did only easy tasks (e.g. 3/10 complexity). You see developer fails and you fire him away. Let's say later you were lucky to hire somebody truly proficient.

Upon seeing how a skilled developer got your complex tasks done, optimized speed to the utmost, you became amazed at how it could be done. Finally, the new developer makes a code review of your previous engineer and concludes there is a ton of poor code that needs refactoring.

So what is the biggest trap? That's when you hire remote developers guessing you evaluated them well but in fact, the developer is burnt out, they have a junior level with low growing capabilities and poor motivation. Finally, it results in wasted months of time and corresponding expenses, which were possible to prevent in the beginning.

What is the difference between professional hiring managers and amateurish ones? It is the ability to professionally evaluate soft and hard skills, and give the complex (10 out of 10) test at the beginning to properly identify the real capabilities of the developer candidate.

Here in the EcDev Studio team are only such talented developers who passed the evaluation, and we proudly call them vetted experts.

There is a specific set of rules to follow when hiring remote developers, to avoid a lot of known issues.

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What you should know about hiring remote developers

You should carefully consider the relevance of a particular technology for your business goals, development costs, and the risks associated with further support when choosing a technology stack. If you want to create a custom e-commerce store for retail, you can choose between WooCommerce and Magento platforms. Magento comes with more built-in features, however development is more expensive. Moreover, due to market peculiarities, there is a risk of failing to find good Magento developers when required (it could become an issue during further maintenance).

If you are thinking of using CMS such as [WordPress](/hire-wordpress-developers/), Drupal or Magento, I recommend you to avoid using ready themes and page builders. Use only custom themes and clean markup without auto-generated excessive code. Otherwise, you may experience significant performance and maintainability issues. Websites that we delivered on WordPress ([https://picupmedia.com/](https://picupmedia.com/{externalnofollow}), [ https://www.ratesandmoney.com/](https://www.ratesandmoney.com/{externalnofollow})) have excellent load speed mostly because they are custom-made (without the use of ready themes and page builders).

If you consider using back-end frameworks, the most popular are Django, [Express](/hire-node-developers/), [NestJS](/hire-node-developers/), Laravel and Spring. The most popular front-end frameworks are Angular, Vue.js, and [React library](/hire-react-developers/).

As mentioned above, instant site speed is essential. A significant performance indicator is TTFB value (time to the first byte). In CMS-based sites, the only way to avoid delays is the proper use of server-side caching, which caches the entire back-end, including database queries and page response. A proper mechanism for updating the cache should also be implemented based on both schedule and content updates by the admin. With framework-based websites, it is easier to achieve the good TTFB. It is often enough to follow standard coding practices and have NGinx or Apache configured correctly.

Avoid using shared web hosting services (like GoDaddy or Hostgator). Use only reliable cloud servers like AWS, Google Cloud, or Digital Ocean. Of course, you will need the qualified staff to set things up on a clean Linux server, but for sure, you can't let such a detail as web hosting prevent you from fulfilling your business goals. In my other article [a guide to choosing and configuring high availability WordPress hosting](/blog/guide-to-choosing-and-configuring-high-availability-wordpress-hosting/) I've described how people without deep technical skills can set up a reliable WordPress hosting on AWS.

Whenever possible, use cloud infrastructure. For example, if your website is equipped with a search feature with autocomplete functionality, you can integrate AWS Elasticsearch and achieve immediate search results or auto-suggestions on your website. Instead of utilizing your servers' space to store large files, use AWS S3.

Use CDNs (content-delivery networks) such as Cloudflare and Amazon Cloudfront. This method allows your heavy content (e.g. images, videos) to be distributed across multiple servers in different countries, reducing distance latency and allowing your visitors to access this heavy content almost immediately. A Cloudflare Pro plan can also store HTML output in multiple locations, not just heavy content like images and videos.


Recommendations regarding technology choice to organize web development correctly.

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The importance of right technology choice in web development

A couple of years ago, we started working with an Australian company, a supplier of B2B services for the jewelry industry. Their idea was simple: provide retouching services for jewelry product photos so they look professional.

The company initially came to us with a small website and small client flow. Today, the company is widely successful and scaled up to provide its services worldwide.

I’m going to tell you some mistakes that were made early on, but could have positioned this business for its current success much sooner, if solved earlier.

Read on to find out if you’re following the best practices.
#### Problem 1: The website was incredibly slow and defective
It's great that our client decided to change their website developer, but why do companies like this wait for so long? In most cases, a client doesn’t have benchmarks set which can inform them if their website is functioning properly or not. Instead, they hope for the best outcome.

If you have a buggy site that runs at a snail's pace and your developer can’t resolve this after multiple attempts, they most probably lack the technical skills needed to complete this task. This is usually a strong indicator that you should terminate the contract with the developer and start looking for a new one.

Don’t fall into the trap of hoping that problems will get resolved on their own. You need to be proactive and intervene. To learn how to avoid such situations, check out my other article: [what you should know about hiring remote developers](/blog/what-you-should-know-about-hiring-remote-developers/).
#### Problem 2: The website was poorly designed and complicated to use
Too often, [UI/UX design](/hire-ui-ux-designers/) is an afterthought. In the case of my client, the company’s website was too difficult to navigate and use. That's because the website was not created with the user experience in mind.

The result? A lot of lost visitors who could have been potential buyers left the site without giving it a second thought.

First impressions are important so you should take your time finding a designer who can deliver a website that drives engagement and motivates visitors to take action. Carefully vet your talent to ensure they can craft a site that provides the best user experience possible.
#### Problem 3: Having an ineffective sales funnel was a problem for the company
This is a problem for tens of thousands of businesses across the globe — not just our client. Business owners expect visitors to buy products or services from their website, but visitors lack the motivation to even scroll down and continue reading.

An effective sales funnel builds a chain of user actions to smoothly warm up interests instead of expecting clients to buy on the first visit.

Our client implemented a sales funnel that incorporates warming leads, and their sales saw an immediate jump. Yes, it’s more complicated, but the rewards are much greater.
#### Problem 4. The company picked the wrong web hosting service
I’m going to write an extended post on this area later. For now, I’ll just say that choosing shared web hosting (the cheapest one) is one of the most common mistakes that businesses make. Unfortunately, selecting the wrong host can hamper a business ability to execute their planned goals.

Many business owners use websites built with [WordPress](/hire-wordpress-developers/), and use WP-managed web hosting (e.g., WPEngine, SiteGround, etc). This hosting type is faster but it’s too expensive to host several websites under the same account. The ideal hosting is to use cloud server instances (e.g., AWS EC2 or Digital Ocean) with a custom configuration.

Setting up cloud server instances requires a one-time expense for a DevOps expert to configure everything properly. But after setting it up, it only costs about $40 per month to have strong hardware, host unlimited amounts of websites, and maintain higher speed than with other hosting types I mentioned earlier.

I have more content in the pipeline that I’ll continue to release in the near future. Follow this blog to receive upcoming insights on how to cut down on waste.


The story about Australian business that struggled for 2 years before blowing up.

Insights about technology and software outsourcing

How to hire a developer for startups in Ukraine

How EcDev Studio prevents 6 most common problems in software outsourcing

What you should know about hiring remote developers

The importance of right technology choice in web development

How an Australian business struggled for 2 years before blowing up. Story from the experience