IT Outsourcing to Hungary: Great Talent and Cost-Effective Hiring

There are 27 countries in the European Union now, and most of them are pretty attractive software development outsourcing destinations. In this article, we will analyze IT outsourcing to Hungary – one of the European countries with outstanding tech talent, a welcoming business climate, and diverse opportunities for tech startup development. 

Why Hungary – main reasons to consider this destination

Let’s take a deeper look at Hungary as one of the promising tech outsourcing destinations in Eastern Europe. Below are data-supported reasons to pay closer attention to software engineering outsourcing opportunities this country opens up. 

Service-based economy

Hungary is a country with a service-based economy. The share of services in the gross domestic product (GDP) is 56% for the last ten years. The country’s main service areas are financial services, IT, and accounting which means that the major part of the working population is skilled in delivering them. 

Political stability

Hungary is a politically stable country with multiparty parliamentary democracy. Hungarian political stability rank was reported at 75 % in 2020, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators. This is a pretty high indicator (75 out of 100) which means that the political system of a country is unlikely to be disrupted by politically-motivated violence. 

Convenient location and time zone, plus a cultural fit

Hungary is located near the center of Europe and has a GMT+2 time zone which overlaps with Western Europe countries and allows the Hungarian remote team to avoid the challenges of working out time zones. The business culture in this country is also largely based on Western European values, like prioritizing documentation and formalities over personal relations, tax payment transparency, and respect for human rights. 

Solid technical education and high English proficiency

In 2020, seven Hungarian universities were listed on the QS ranking. The University of Szeged was featured as the top education institution in the country. Also, Times Higher Education 2020 lists eight Hungarian universities. As for the tech education in this country, there are five universities with software engineering programs. 

Hungary is also a country with a 99% literacy rate, so it can be a great choice for the project prioritizing post-graduate talent. Hungarian developers also stand out with their high level of English proficiency. The English proficiency index is 593 in this country. 

Hands-on experience with foreign projects development

Western Europe and North America are the main locations serviced by Hungarian IT specialists. Such a collaboration allowed them to gain practical experience with foreign project development, plus improve their English level day after day. 

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Competitive rates

The average wages in Hungary are approximately 60% less than the average of the EU 27. The average software developer’s hourly rate, in turn, is $25-50. As for the Hungary software developer’s salary, a software engineer earns nearly $2,000 per month, which is an average figure for Eastern and Central Europe IT labor markets. Given the solid level of technical education and high English proficiency, this figure comes as a great price-quality match. 

A good investment climate and flexible taxation

The Hungarian government also creates favorable conditions for foreign investors and domestic startup initiators. There are refundable and non-refundable incentives and cash subsidies issued by the government. For example, the country offers a 19% cash subsidy for training purposes, 14% job creation subsidy, and 5% cash subsidy for R&D activity. 

There are also tax allowance opportunities. Setting up a business in Hungary is also easy and takes place in five standard steps, starting with the preparation of the company’s constitutive document and ending with data provision to the tax authority. 

Hungary IT market overview

Now, let’s discover more details about the Hungarian tech market so that you can make a fully informed choice on the feasibility of IT outsourcing to Hungary. The main industries of the Hungarian economy are automotive, electronics, and IT, while the IT sector stands out with pharmaceutical, medical, and biotechnology development. In 2021, ten Hungarian healthcare companies attracted from 2,7 to 13,9 million euros in total funding amount. 

As for the tech talent pool, it is represented by 80,000 developers. While it isn’t the largest figure compared to other Eastern European outsourcing destinations, Hungarian developers still stand out with their education, English proficiency, hands-on experience, and tech skills demanded by the market. 

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Thus, computer networking, databases development, computer science, and web development are the top specializations of Hungarian developers, according to the Global Skills Report 2021. According to HackerRank, Hungarian developers are also skilled in Java, C++, and Python. What’s more, Hungary was featured in the top 5 of HackerRank  Programming Olympics rating. 

Budapest is the main tech hub in Hungary. Such companies as IBM, EPAM, Oracle, Microsoft, and SAP have research and development centers (R&D) in this city, plus hire developers from the local market remotely. So, let’s find out how to attract the best tech talent from Hungary and leverage all the benefits the Hungarian IT outsourcing industry can promise. 

How to hire from Hungary – comparing the opportunities

Below are the top three strategies to hire remote talent from Hungary, tailored to the project requirements and hiring goals. 

Augment your in-house team

Team augmentation stands for the opportunity to scale your in-house team with remote developers from Hungary. The main benefit of this tactic is the hiring speed, especially if you partner with a talent sourcing vendor. On average, the hiring process takes more than 40 days, which can be too long for the companies in need to fill the role urgently. The hiring service provider, in turn, can suggest and source the necessary candidates pretty quickly, in response to your project requirements. 

IT Team Augmentation: How It Compares to Other Models

Opting for IT team augmentation services is also a more cost-effective choice compared to recruiting the necessary talent on your own but keep in mind that this tactic works best when your project needs to urgently bridge the talent gap. 

Let’s scale your in-house team with premium IT talent from Hungary. Contact us now to get started! 

Hire a remote team from scratch 

For companies in need to gather a tech team from scratch, IT outsourcing Hungary is also a winning destination to consider. Its wide talent pool teeming with highly skilled developers and their competitive rates are the top benefits of hiring a remote team in Hungary. Getting in touch with an IT recruitment services provider to speed up the hiring process and reduce the operational cost in this case. 

We, at Bridge, would be happy to help you unlock the opportunities of the Hungarian IT outsourcing market and suggest the perfect-fit candidates from this country. Our local HR managers will select, screen, vet, and validate the potentially suitable software engineers. You, in turn, are welcome to interview them using our dedicated platform for candidates’ management. 

Bonus tactic! Consider sourcing-as-a-service

In addition to team augmentation and IT recruitment strategies we have discussed above, there is one more hiring option to consider. Sourcing-as-a-service stands for the opportunity to quickly get a list of pre-vetted candidates carefully selected from the Hungarian talent pool. 

This is a winning option for the projects that aren’t ready to launch a full-scaled hiring campaign right now but are eager to speed up candidates’ database gathering. With a complete list of the suitable candidates in your pocket, you can either interview them on your own right away or get back to them in the future. 

Speed up candidates outreach by 5x with sourcing-as-a-service! 

Why outsource IT to Hungary?

Hungary is one of the most promising software development outsourcing destinations on the European map. This country stands out with its high level of engineering education, high English proficiency, favorable investment climate, political stability, and ease of doing business. Hiring Hungarian developers remotely, in turn, is another value-adding tactic you are welcome to follow, cutting the operational costs and making your project development more flexible and resulting.

Bridge is a tech talent sourcing company that is ready to support you along your hiring path, suggest the best-fit candidates from a chosen location, and speed up the recruitment process. 

Contact us now for instant help!