IT Talent Shortage. Why German Companies Value Polish Developers

IT talent shortage in Germany

Let's reveal a painful trend in the tech industry. Companies need more IT specialists while facing shortage of skilled workers and an aging population.

Germany is no exception. According to the Bitkom report, there were 96,000 unfilled IT positions in Germany in 2021. To make matters worse, the gap between graduates and market requirements is still considerable. In 2020, just under 29,000 students graduated with a degree in IT, including around 6,000 women.

Demographic change means that significantly fewer young people with IT qualifications are entering the labor market, and at the same time, more older people are leaving relevant professions. The shortage of skilled workers is becoming the main obstacle to the digital transformation

- Achim Berg, Bitkom President

Various industries face a challenging situation. With some 700,000 jobs currently unfilled, the country's economic growth potential has fallen from around 2% in the 1980s to around 0.7% now.

Nearshoring to Poland - German Companies Hiring Polish Developers

Companies are trying different strategies to cope. Some invest in training and upskilling employees, while others enhance their recruitment processes. An alternative approach is nearshoring —relocating services to neighboring countries like Poland to access a larger pool of skilled professionals. This strategy helps companies overcome skill shortages, reduce costs, and achieve greater scalability.

Poland is an attractive outsourcing destination for German companies. According to the National Bank of Poland (NBP), Germany is the second-largest foreign investor in Poland. The IT sector in Poland is growing, with IT expenditures projected to grow by 12.4% in local currency in 2023, reaching $29.4 billion. Companies see potential in good development conditions, but also in the quality of Polish employees.

5 Reasons to Hire Polish Software Developers

🔹 Strategic Location

Poland's central European location is a significant advantage. Sharing the same time zone as Germany allows for better collaboration and effective communication. Travel costs are also lower compared to other outsourcing destinations, like India.

🔹 Similar Culture & Work Ethic

Polish developers are known for their motivation, hard work and willingness to take on new challenges. According to HackerRank, Poland ranks third in the Best Developers ranking, behind China and Russia. But it's not just about coding skills. One of the best advantages is thesmall cultural gap. They often treat the success of the company as a personal matter. Many of them have experience working in multicultural teams and will do their best to adapt to new ones.

🔹 High Language Proficiency

When it comes to language, Poland is ranked 13th out of 111 countries in English proficiency. Poles are eager to learn languages and do so throughout the educational process. Besides, Poland has the highest number of German learners in the world, with 1.95 million people studying this language.

🔹 Excellent Education & Skills

Polish developers are competitive due to their education and work experience. Technical schools and universities prepare students for successful careers. Two-thirds of developers in Poland have at least a first-cycle degree, with over one-third holding a master’s degree.

Polish developers follow good programming practices, using popular methodologies like Scrum and Kanban. They work in short iterations (sprints) and regularly deliver working software. They are skilled in the latest technologies and programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, Java, C#, and cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). Our team specialises in Atlassian, Salesforce and Splunk solutions.

🔹 Attractive price/quality ratio

Working with Polish companies offers a cost-effective solution without compromising on quality.

Finding Reliable Nearshoring Company

Choosing a reliable company and finding a team abroad can be challenging. What if the company doesn't deliver the results you need? What if it doesn't work out? 

To make it easier, we have prepared 5 questions to ask before nearshoring IT professionals and common fears to address in our blog post. 

However, if you have any more concerns, please contact us or book a no-obligation call. We’ll tell you more from our polish, remote-first perspective 🙂

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Extra Sources:

DEKRA Arbeitsmarkt-Report 2022‍

Reuters, More than half of German companies report labour shortages

Polish DW article German companies praise Poland

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