General information about Ukraine

General information

Similar to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine has not experienced a high demand for the use of their software engineers, as countries like India and China have. This results in higher availability of technical resources in close proximity to major European capitals. The majority of software development firms today are located in the capital city of Kyiv. Kyiv is approximately 2 to 2.5 hours from the major Western European capitals with flights arriving almost daily. To the US, Ukraine is a 7-10 hour time difference.

According to experts and to the data of the Ministry of statistics the total number of computers in Ukraine in 1999 was about 1 million. In this case about 270,000 computers either are in failure condition or obsolete. Annually in Ukraine there are sales of 180 - 200 thousand computers, 30 % of those are intended for substitution faulty or obsolete models. Thus, in 2000 the approximate number of computers increased to 1.130 million computers. India had at that time more than 3 million computers. Thus, it is possible to consider the degree of computerisation in Ukraine as sufficient for a successful software development industry.

At this time there are few large software development companies in Ukraine. The majority of companies have between 20 and 50 persons, with only a few firms having 250+ persons and several others that are five persons or less. Given the depth of IT resources available in the market, smaller firms are able to pop up quickly by tapping the available pool of talent.

Education

Enrolment in IT related departments is increasing at a rate of 10-15 percent per year. Certification in 7 specific technologies is also taking place. For example, several local firms are qualified to administer testing for Microsoft Certified Engineers (MCE). According to Microsoft statistics more than 1000 have passed the MCE exams thus far in Ukraine. Because of low demand in the domestic market for research and development in mathematics or physics, former researchers are also looking to commercialize their talent and technology they have been developing over the years. This provides a wealth of undiscovered talent and technology in Ukraine, which can be applied to the systems and applications being developed by U.S. companies. For years in the Soviet Union and then Ukraine, technical documentation was available only in English; this has resulted in technologists having a high level of English comprehension skills. There is a certain level of high-end project managers who do have good speaking skills; however, an emphasis still does need to be placed on training in this area. Industries and intellectual capital Ukraine possesses considerable intellectual potential with its Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, numerous scientific and technological Institutes, universities and R&D companies.

Ukrainian scientists have achieved world-class results in such fields as mathematics, physics, computer sciences, biology, electric welding, new materials and space sciences. The basis of the country's scientific and technological development is in the following branches of Ukrainian economy: aircraft industry, ship-building, missile and tank engineering (Ukraine is among the five countries in the world with a closed cycle of tank manufacturing), bio-technologies, radio-electronics, low temperatures physics, nuclear physics, communication and telecommunication. The Ukrainian aerospace and defence industry, which includes more than 500 military enterprises and research institutes, is known for its state-of-the-art technology and production of reliable equipment.

The traditions of mathematical schools are also very strong in Ukraine. Kyiv had always been the leading centre of computing technologies in the former USSR: the second computer in the world was created in Kyiv as well as on of the largest schools of cybernetics – the Glushkov Research Institute.