With their strategic location in Southeast Europe SEE , fast-developing economies and growing tech communities, the Balkan countries are turning into strategic business destinations for expanding IT operations. In this article, we take a look at four of them - Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Serbia to determine which one stands out of the crowd and is worth looking at for future investments and business development.
Area: , Bulgaria is a country with a solid reputation as a destination for BPO services and near- and off-shoring IT operations.
The country ranks highly in renowned reports such as A. Some of the main advantages of Bulgaria as an attractive IT destination are the availability of a highly-skilled and multi-lingual talent pool, a competitive level of labour and operational costs, favourable macroeconomic environment, as well as good internet and telecommunications infrastructure.
As of March , according to the National Social Security Institute , the IT sector in Bulgaria consists of approximately 75, full-time employees excluding freelancing professionals. Furthermore, 6, new graduates are entering the market each year and gradually growing the IT talent pool in the country.
The workforce is mainly concentrated in the major cities such as Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, with the capital city being the main tech hub. As a result of the pandemic of Covid and the transition to remote work, however, an increasing talent dispersion is observed. Other cities such as Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo and Shumen are gaining popularity among tech professionals and companies. The average monthly salary in the sector for was 1, EUR. The exact amounts varied depending on the seniority and technology skillsets required.
