Hi Venkatesh,

I suggest you post your question at the discussion group pages listed below.
Also, there will be companies with software development outsourcing/offshoring centers in Romania attending International Software Development Outsourcing Conference www.intlsdoc.com - you might want to come to the event and network with them.

Best regards,
Tatyana

Links:

• http://www.intlsdoc.com
• http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4672556161
• http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/28413/21B73A77A0CB

posted 8 days ago

I am including a link for someone in my network. She might be of great assistance as she knows the region very well. Good luck.

Hernan C also suggests this expert on this topic:

• Lala R

posted 8 days ago

Hi Venkatesh,
In Romania you have 5 important cities where you can find specialist in your domain:
1. Bucuresti (Bucharest).
Even if this is the main city with an increasing number of specialist, here the concentration of software developing companies is high and the salaries are rising.You wan't be able to find good specilists unless you pay more than 1000E per month.
2. Timisoara
This is the most developed city in software development industry. They have a a very good University with special classes oriented for this activity. But,like Bucharest, the concentration of companies won't make your job easier in recruiting good people.
3. Cluj
They have a good University with tradition in Cybernetics. They also have experience in mobile software development. The recent opening of a Nokia factory is a proof of this thing.This city is a good possibility.
The last2 cities are the best in my opinion - Brasov and Iasi.
University of Brasov - a developing University, with the best students exchange program in the country - they are doing their studies in Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, etc.. The salaries are ok. You can find very good people with no more than 600 Euros per month. Plus, the people are loyal and very responsable.
The only bad thing about Brasov is that it doesn't have an airport yet.It is under construction, with the delivery date expected to be on 2010.
Iasi is also a good city to start. The salaries are similar to Brasov. It has an University with traditions. A minor problem is the location of the city (the far North-East), but it has an airport.

Now, if you want, in the first place to start a collaboration with a specialized company in software development, I can give even more details.
Hope this information will help you.
Best regards,
Paul

posted 7 days ago

Hello Venkatesh:

Since you mention Ukraine as a possibility, and the fact that you know taxes are high, I thought I would try and provide you with some additional feedback.

Part of the question is whether or not you are looking to move to the chosen country, establish your own company, open your own office, etc., or are you planning on outsourcing?

If personally looking to establish your own office, you will have to dig in to all of the different types of company taxes and employee taxes, and private entrepreneur taxes, etc., otherwise if you outsource this will be embedded in the fee that you would pay.

As you mention taxes in Ukraine are high, but even so, rates can be reasonable based on the length and size of the team that you wish to sign on for (and certainly depending on the location within Ukraine). Rates can be as low as $11 for QA testers long term, $18/hr for Sr. Software Engineers long term, on up.

You can get low rates in Romania as well, even though they are now part of the EU and salaries are on the rise, the IT industry does get a lot of support from the government with low taxes for IT professionals, etc.

The other part of the question was the availability of professionals working with open source technologies. In all of the locations you mentioned you should have a good pool of professionals available with open source experience given that, at many of the universities in Eastern Europe, the computer science education is using alot of the open source technologies for classroom work (due to the cost of building the educational infrastructure based on these technologies versus obtaining licenses for .NET development, for example). Certainly many of the universities are assisted by Microsoft, Intel, Motorola, Siemens, etc., for classrooms and specific technologies, in any case there is alot of classroom training making use of open source technologies.

Hope this helps.
Emmy

Links:

• http://blog.softjourn.com

posted 7 days ago

Hi Venkatesh

I think the first question you should ask yourself is whether you want a base in the EU or not. If a foothold inside the EU is important for you, you will need to be prepared to pay a price. Don't judge the new EU member countries on current cost of labour, as they are certain to rise. An increase of 50% - 100% over the next 5 years seems a reasonable guess.

Qualitywise I think all your options are great. I've had the priviledge of working with IT professionals from Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, Czechia and Romania, and all were highly skilled and motivated.

BTW: from my perspective Ukrananian taxes are moderate, see http://www.pwc.com/extweb/pwcpublications.nsf/docid/48144A6A0952EFAB80256FAC005280DA, but that is only part of the story. Corruption is a factor you'll need to recon with.

posted 7 days ago

Hello Venkatech. Obviously I don't know your resources, and this idea may be a management and resource challenge, but all of the venues you mention could be good choices. If you can afford it and manage it, you might consider setting up in two or three of these countries. All of them have similar taxes and employee favorable situations with the possible exception of Slovakia which has implemented a 19% tax across the board which makes it my favorite location for setting up local operations. But in the end it will depend on the individuals you are able to find and their take on the still relatively recent changes. Good luck!

posted 7 days ago

Romania has more academic center, like Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, Brasov, Iasi. All this cities have well trained specialists and in every one of this cities there is at least one big multinational.

I am the founder of an outsourcing company. Our hq is in Cluj. If you Have any questions just ask me ant I will gladly try to help you.

Regards,
Catalin

posted 5 days ago

Hi Venkatesh,

In Romania are enthusiasts in open-source technologies and you certainly can find them if you know where to look for them :). I have already helped at the startup of a small IT company working with open source technologies and implementing Scrum as team organization method, so you can contact me if you are interested in a collaboration.

Reagrds,
Maria

http://mozaicworks.com/

PS As a sign of interest in opensource in Romania, take a look at http://www.eliberatica.ro/

posted 4 days ago