The Global IT Rankings: Poland at the top with the best programmers in the world
With the development of technology, companies from all over the world are looking for the best IT professionals, and one of the key elements in verifying their skills are international rankings. Polish programmers have been at the top of global rankings for years, making Poland one of the most important centres for IT talent. Let’s take a look at the IT skills rankings to see which countries are leading the world and how Polish programmers compare to other nations.
Poland among best programmers in the world according to HackerRank
HackerRank is an internationally recognised platform that evaluates programming skills based on the performance of programmers in various challenges and competitions. The HackerRank ranks countries according to their performance in 15 areas such as algorithms, data structures and various programming languages. Depending on the specific domain, different countries achieve a variety of results and rank differently.
Why is this worth keeping in mind? Because depending on what kind of specialists your company is looking for, it may reach for specialists from specific countries showing more skills in a particular domain than others. Japan, for example, is ranked No 1 in the Artificial Intelligence domain, but in the other domains it does not appear at all or is ranked No 4 and No 5 at most.
Source: Programming Olympics by Hackerrank.com
In this ranking, China stands out in particular, ranking 1st in 3 domains such as Data Structures, Mathematics and Functional Programming. In the field of C++, France is in the lead, while in the field of Security, Ukraine is ranked 1st.
Polish programmers also rank high in this ranking. Poland appears among the top 5 countries for 6 domains, taking the following places: 1st place in Java, 2nd place in Algorithms and Python, 4th place in Tutorials and Shell, 5th place in Ruby.
Overall, when the average scores of each country in each domain are summed up limiting to the 50 countries with the highest number of developers on HackerRank, the ranking appears as follows:
Source: Programming Olympics by Hackerrank.com
The top 3 places belong to China, Russia and Poland, in order. What may come as a surprise, especially due to the number of developers from the selected countries, India and the USA are not in the top half of the ranking. The USA takes the 28th place, while India is ranked 31st.
IT competitiveness in emerging Europe
The Emerging Europe – Future of IT 2023 Report highlights the impressive IT landscape in Poland, which took several top spots in the ranking. The report provides a regional overview of the IT industry, taking into account talent access, economic impact, current business environment and growth opportunities.
In the IT Competitiveness Index, which provides an evaluation of each country’s level of competitiveness, Poland ranked 3rd right after Estonia with 1st place and Lithuania at No. 2.
Source: Emerging Europe – Future of IT 2023 Report
At the same time, Poland ranked 1st in the evaluation of the talent availability factor, highlighting the high quality of education, a broad talent pool, and competitiveness in the European market.
In which other rankings did Poland rank high?
- #2 in the PISA Mathematics Ranking: Demonstrates the high mathematical skills of Polish students, essential for programming.
- #2 in the TOPCoder Ranking: Indicates a strong presence in competitive programming.
- #4 in the Global Cybersecurity Index: Showscases Poland’s robust capabilities in cybersecurity.
Europe the region with the greatest developers in the world
The HackerRank 2023 Developer Skills Report identified the regions that have shown the most growth and progress in recent years, while also identifying areas that have experienced declines.
Despite the overall rapid decline in 2020, which affected all regions examined, the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Latin America regions showed the greatest growth in recent years. Both of these regions not only recovered their losses, but also exceeded the expected levels of the index, surpassing earlier forecasts and showing dynamic growth.
Source: 2023 HackerRank Developer Skills Report
The European market shows a high skill and talent pool of programmers. What is also important is price competitiveness. Hiring talent in Eastern Europe is associated with significantly lower operating costs and salaries compared to other countries. Salary costs in Poland are as much as 48%-64% lower than in other European countries or the US. The Czech Republic and Hungary also show lower costs at 39% and 63% lower than in other countries, respectively.
Source: Emerging Europe – Future of IT 2023 Report
Eastern European countries have earned a reputation as top destinations for IT Outsourcing. In the global ranking of General IT Outsourcing services, Poland ranks 3rd right after India and the Philippines, respectively. Of the European countries, the Czech Republic ranked 7th, Estonia 12th and Romania 13th.
Top programmers for each technology
Based on data from HackerRank, it is possible to analyze the popularity of different programming languages in different countries. The chart illustrates that Java is the most widely used programming language in the world. In countries such as Japan, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, Ruby is particularly popular. C++ is most popular in Malaysia and Pakistan.
In Poland, Java also dominates the popularity ranking, with C++, Python and SQL enjoying similar interest. Ruby, on the other hand, is less popular in Poland compared to other programming languages.
Source: Programming Olympics by Hackerrank.com
English language skills as a key asset for greatest programmers
The global IT market requires not only excellent technical skills, but also fluency in English. In the global ranking of the EF English Proficiency Index (EPI), which measures English proficiency among adults, #1 Netherlands, #2 Singapore, #3 Austria lead the way.
Poland also ranks very high with 13th place among 113 countries worldwide. This is especially important in the IT industry, where most technical documentation, communication in international teams and project documents are done in this language.
Fluency in English gives Polish programmers a huge advantage in the international market. Technology companies looking for specialists on a global scale often pay attention to the ability to communicate in international teams, and Poles excel in this regard in many other countries.
Source: EF English Proficiency Index (EPI)
Why invest in Polish programmers?
Hiring and investing in Polish programmers provides a combination of high technical skills and cost-effectiveness. The impressive performance of Polish professionals in international rankings confirms their exceptional quality of talent. In addition, the cost of hiring skilled programmers in Poland is significantly lower compared to Western Europe and the United States, providing excellent quality-to-price ratio. What’s more, Poland’s high level of English proficiency ensures smooth communication and integration with international teams. These factors make Polish programmers a very attractive option for companies looking to increase their technological capabilities while optimizing their budgets.
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Sources:
- https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/regions/europe/poland/
- https://www.hackerrank.com/research/developer-skills/2023
- https://www.hackerrank.com/blog/which-country-would-win-in-the-programming-olympics/