The software development market in Poland 2005-2025

The beginning and growth in 2005-2015

Human capital and education
Low living and labor costs made foreign companies eager to invest, creating outsourcing centers, internal service centers (Shared Service Center), (Business Process Outsourcing)
After joining the European Union in 2004, Poland had a relatively well-developed higher education system with strong technical fields (technical universities, universities, academies, Warsaw University of Technology).
A significant number of young, talented, ambitious people with high mathematical and engineering skills - strong human capital.
Low wages, high productivity
Low wages + relatively high quality = attractiveness for foreign direct investment
Relatively low wages for IT specialists - programmers (1-2 national averages) with high productivity and quality (theory of comparative advantage).
Investments and market internationalization
Poland has become an attractive country for so-called “nearshoring”—lower costs close to the Western market (in cultural, political, formal, and geographical terms).
Growth in IT services exports Poland began exporting digital services, which strengthened the foreign trade balance in the services sector.
Large corporations began developing Research & Development centers in Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław, and the Tri-City.

Dynamic growth in demand on the IT sector labor market

Global demand for software development services is growing. Digitization, automation, the Internet of Things, Fintech, E-commerce, Start-up innovations
The IT industry in Poland is trying to climb the value chain from the position of a subcontractor for programming work to a direct contractor, and even to designing architecture and graphical interfaces, consulting, and further development and maintenance of digital products.

The outbreak of the pandemic and the ban on working in offices = remote work = globalization of the labor market
Companies are undergoing a transformation in their work culture toward remote work, blurring the differences between hiring a specialist a dozen kilometers away and one several thousand kilometers away.
Polish programmers are facing even greater competition from employees from Ukraine, Serbia, Egypt, and India.
The favoring of the programming profession is causing a systematic increase in the supply of people aspiring to this profession (without predisposition).

Changes in the global financial market (increase in inflation, interest rates) have caused the market to undergo a correction.
Global conflicts (Russia's war in Ukraine) are causing investors to hold back on investments and wait for the situation to develop.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence is fueling an unbridled appetite for optimizing workloads and expenses, which is exacerbating the suspension of the current development model in favor of experiments with artificial intelligence solutions.
Decreased investment, cuts in Big Tech, investor hesitation.
An excessively high supply of low-skilled and inexperienced specialists (juniors) is reflected in relatively high unemployment (overt or hidden) in the labor market.

No-code/low-code technologies, SaaS frameworks, open-source, and cloud significantly reduce the current software development volume requirements compared to the original approach.
Investors prefer solutions based on ready-made products.

Global competition
The Polish IT market is losing its uniqueness (higher employment costs)
The ability to work remotely is becoming more widespread.
The labor market is becoming more professional—commissioned projects are planned in detail, and costs are optimized at every possible stage.
Salaries are becoming more realistic, especially at the mid-level.
Specialists who can deliver real value remain on the market – the rest must continue to educate themselves or change industries.
Niche specialists are needed in the current situation:
Combining IT with business.
Architects
Technical leaders
Domain experts (cybersecurity, space tech, defense, fintech, AI, etc.)