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Portugal
While Eastern Europe and Latin America are the most frequently chosen software development destinations, there is one more promising country, accurately hidden on the Western European map. We are talking about Portugal – a warm country with the same favorable investment climate, attractive economic conditions for launching a new business and great tech talent pool.
Let’s discover more reasons to outsource software development to Portugal and hire a tech team in this country.
Why outsource software development to Portugal
So, what makes Portugal stand out on the global software development outsourcing map? The matter is that this country offers essential benefits of outsourcing IT processes and running a tech startup. Here is why.
Portugal is a country with a service-based economy. Services take up 66% share of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country. In addition to stable and growing economy, Portugal is ranked as the 3rd most peaceful country in the world, among 163 states and territories. The political stability and the absence of violence rate was 85.85 % in 2020, plus Portugal is ranked 39 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business. The European Commission considers Portugal a strong innovator, while Forbes ranked it 25 out of 161 in “The Best Countries for Business”.
Portugal also has a winning location and convenient time zone overlap. This is the nearest European country to the US and Canada. There is an hour difference from Central European time, and the country has the same time zone as the UK and Ireland, so Portuguese developers are unlikely to have trouble with working out time zones.
Portuguese software market insights
Now, let’s take a closer look at the Portuguese IT outsourcing market and discover the main reasons to hire developers in Portugal.
Recovering and growing IT segment
Six years ago, the Guardian called this country a new Silicon Valley located in Europe. Portugal has been the fastest-growing European tech hub since 2017 until the market growth was interrupted by the pandemic. Still, 2021 has been the year of recovery for Portugal’s software market. According to Gartner Market Databook, Portugal’s software market was valued at $892 million in 2021, and in 2022, there are 4,069 software development companies in Portugal.
The best place to start up
In addition to the steadily growing IT segment, Portugal is also one of the best places globally to launch a startup. There were more than 2100 startups in Portugal in 2020, which is 13% above the average number of startups in Europe. The thing is that Portugal is one of the countries with the most beneficial conditions for attracting foreign investment.
Plus, there are several winning programs for startup initiators and financial incentives for investment in R&D (research and development) activities. For example, there is a Golden Visa Investment Program, which allows getting Portuguese citizenship after investing in real estate or R&D. What’s more, the rules for foreign and domestic investment greatly overlap, which lets investors avoid legal mess and compliance mistakes.
Educated and diverse tech talent at a competitive cost
Looking for more reasons to hire developers in Eastern Europe and particularly in Portugal? Then, let’s look at the Portuguese IT talent pool and the benefits it promises.
First things first, Portugal is ranked 26 out of 63 in the World Talent Ranking. The Portuguese tech talent pool is represented by 90,000 programmers. While this figure isn’t the highest one in Europe, Portuguese developers stand out with solid technical education, very high English proficiency and practical experience with handling the latest technologies.
There are 14 public and 36 private universities in Portugal, as well as 20 public and 64 private polytechnics among them. Sciences, Mathematics and Information Technology higher education courses are taught in 135 schools, and 28% of Portuguese students graduated in the areas of Sciences, ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and Engineering in 2020.
Portuguese Business Schools are also internationally recognized, with two schools ranking as the top 25 best full-time MBAs in Europe. For those eager to get started with programming, there are also independent IT education programs like UpSkill, Portugal Digital and InCode.
According to Global Skills Report 2021, Portuguese developers have cutting-edge skills in computer networking, database development, and software engineering. HackerRank also features Portuguese developers as the best skilled in Java, SQL and Python. The programmers from this country are especially experienced with B2B software project development, since 66% of startups created in this country are business-to-business ones.
In addition to the top-notch tech skills and solid level of education, the cost to hire software developers is pretty competitive. The monthly national minimum salary is €870 in 2022 in Portugal, while the average salary in Portugal for a software developer is €1600 per month.
The best ways to hire a remote development team in Portugal
So, Portugal is a pretty winning destination to outsource software development and hire a remote tech team. Let’s uncover the smartest tactics on how to do it right, depending on your project specifics and current hiring necessities.
IT recruitment
While some companies consider gathering a remote team and hiring on their own the right strategy to choose, it still comes with some pitfalls and overhead costs. Hiring on your own requires having a competent HR manager in-house, practical experience in gathering a remote team and deep understanding of the local market, so that’s why partnering with a talent sourcing vendor can be a more cost-effective and less risky approach.
As one of the possible vendor-supported hiring tactics, you are welcome to consider IT recruitment services. With our competent help, you will be able to quickly hire the necessary candidates from Portugal, whose skills and competencies will be perfectly matched with your project specifics and job requirements. You are also welcome to use our customer-exclusive platform for talent pipeline management and interview scheduling.
Drop us a line now to hire a tech team in Portugal faster and at a better cost!
Team augmentation
If you already have an in-house team, but face the urgent need to extend it, IT team augmentation is the most winning tactic. IT augmentation stands for the opportunity to scale your in-house team with remote developers from a specific location, avoiding hiring delays and development downtime.
What’s more, such a hiring strategy allows for choosing the most winning location to bridge the talent gap and avoid the overhead costs of in-house recruitment.
Contact us now and scale your team with the best-in-class remote programmers from Portugal!
Sourcing-as-a-service
While the hiring needs are always driven by the project’s unique goals, IT recruitment and team augmentation aren’t one-size-fits-all tech talent sourcing services as well. Companies that aren’t ready to launch a hiring campaign right now, are welcome to consider sourcing-as-a-service from Bridge.
The main benefit of the offer is that you quickly get a list of pre-selected and carefully vetted technical candidates, accurately chosen on the local market and matched with your job requirements. Next, you can either proceed with interviewing applicants directly or keep this list in your pocket to get back to it in the future. Thus, sourcing-as-a-service allows for saving time and cost while leveraging our hiring expertise and data-driven recruitment approach.
Switch to more effective hiring with sourcing-as-a-service! Contact us now to run the process.
Conclusion
Hiring a remote development team in Portugal can be a great idea for your business. This country has a well-balanced and stable economy, its IT sector grows steadily, plus there are pretty favorable conditions for foreign investors. Portuguese tech talent pool stands out with the candidates’ solid education level, their high English proficiency, practical experience and tech-savviness.
When it sounds good to you, you are welcome to hire programmers in Portugal with our help. Choose the most suitable hiring service from the ones we are offering and reach out to us now to gather the best-in-class tech team from Portugal!
