Odessa is one ofUkraine’s largest cities, located in the south. The population is over 1million and it is hugely popular with tourists. Odessa has the largest maritimetrading port in the whole country, which has helped it become a significanttransport hub in Ukraine.
With regard to the IT industry, there are approximately 5000 professionals. Like many cities, Odessa has its own IT cluster with its own objectives. Odessa’s IT cluster is working towards Odessa becoming comfortable and appealing for IT businesses. Aside from the culture and the fact that Odessa is known as the capital of humor on the Black Sea, it is also a city full of technology and startups. Some of the most well-known startups from Odessa include Luxsoft, Lohika, Provectus, and Intersog.
Odessa in Numbers:
Here are some of the most relevant statistics for Odessa when considering the IT industry:
- IT Headcount: There are approximately 8000 T professionals.
- Graduates: 1000 students graduate in the IT field per year.
- Level of English: The population of Odessa has excellent language skills with a level of English of moderate proficiency.
- Office space can be rented for around $6 to $30 per square meter, depending on the area
- Popular technologies include Java, GWT, JavaScript. Spring, Maven, JSP, Oracle, and SQL.
With more than 30 IT outsourcing companies and other 23 R&D centers makes Odessa the fifth-largest IT hub in Ukraine. 8000 talented techs are employed in the IT industry, many of those are in major tech companies.
IT Education
There is an average of 1000 students graduating from Odessa’s universities. There are 5 main educational institutions that offer a range of IT subjects for future software engineers. These universities are:
- I. I Mechnikov Odessa National University.
- Odessa State Environmental University.
- Odessa National Polytechnic University.
- Odessa National Academy of Food Technologies.
- O.S Popov Odessa National Academy of Telecommunications.
For students who don’twish to go to university, they can choose from a number of major trainingcourses at one of the following locations:
- Fabryka,
- Hillel International,
- School of Professional Programming,
- Lits IT School,
- Brain Academy,
- Step Computer Academy.
Travel Proximity
Odessa is a city of culture, beauty and is also the largest seaport in Ukraine. In addition to its benefits, Odessa’s International Airport is an easy way to commute to other cities in Ukraine and across Europe. Most significantly, there are two daily flights to Kyiv Boryspil KBP, and two daily flights to Kyiv Zhuliany IEV. There are daily international flights to Vienna, Warsaw, and Istanbul. There are also several weekly flights to Athens, St Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Batumi, Ragi, and more. For alternative means of transport, Odessa has 2 bus stations and 2 train stations.
While Odessa may not be as famous as some of the other cities in Ukraine, it certainly has plenty to offer in terms of education, startups, and IT outsourcing.