Afraid of working with Ukraine? Think that the invested funds can be lost because of the war?

7 min read

Myth #1 Ukrainians have to close offices, and remote mode isn’t going to fly

Do you think we’ll fail to manage the team and the developers will dilly dally instead of working on your project?

Businesses that are working now are only those that were able to survive after three waves of Covid lockdowns. They turned out to be flexible and responsible enough to master the remote mode. Some of them even expanded, like us, for example.

Then it was very unexpected and challenging for us, but we overcame it and have established mechanisms and configured processes to manage developers and ensure their efficiency remotely.

How exactly?

  1. Daily meetings. 

Every day, each team, including the PM, has a daily meeting. Developers report their status, what they did yesterday, and what they will do tomorrow during it. They also notify if something is blocking them.

  1. Planning. 

We plan our tasks a week in advance and set clear deadlines for their implementation.

  1. Goal-oriented approach. 

All team members are 100% focused on achieving their goals. Concentration on the result is at the core for us. 

Neither time tracking nor monitoring of presence in the office gives the result. That’s why the fulfillment of the goals in our company is an essential indicator of engineers’ performance.

  1. Team events. 

Even in remote mode, we provide employees with the opportunity to meet as a whole team, communicate and see each other. These are events such as sports with a personal coach, group English classes, or tech talks about new technologies.

Myth #2: A rocket may fall on a developer’s head, and my project will freeze

Ukraine is the largest country in Europe, which is the size of 2.5 Great Britain. Our state includes 24 regions and Crimea. Fierce fighting is currently taking place in several eastern and southern regions. Part of these territories is under occupation. However, there are enough places in Ukraine where you can live and work in relative safety.

Our team locates in the west and some central regions of Ukraine, where there are no hostilities. Some employees currently work in European countries such as Poland. All team members are provided with a safe place to work and live, access to the Internet, heating, water supply, and electricity. Of course, there is a risk of rocket attacks in all regions. However, we have a special application and sirens. Thanks to them, every Ukrainian is notified in advance of enemy missiles or aircraft. Everyone clearly knows and follows safety instructions. Each employee has access to an equipped shelter. 

The time lost due to the air alarm makes up additionally, and the client doesn’t pay extra for it. 

Therefore, after six months of the war, fortunately, no one from our team was injured, and everyone is safe.

Myth #3 Many Ukrainians went abroad as refugees, which caused a lack of developers

Speaking of migration and refugees, 5.4 million citizens left the country’s borders during the war from February to June 2022. For a total population of 41 million, this is not such a large proportion as to cause a personnel shortage. In addition, according to the same calculations, in the same period, 3.4 million citizens, on the contrary, arrived in Ukraine.

It’s important to note that according to martial law, male citizens aged 18-60 with appropriate health conditions can’t leave the country. Borders for them will be fully reopened only after the end of martial law.

As for our team, 95% of employees remain in Ukraine, working in safe cities without planning to cross the border.

How did the war affect the hunting process?

Even in wartime, many companies continue to open new vacancies, and our agency isn’t an exception. 

As we mentioned in the first myth, we’ve established processes for setting up remote work. Recruiting and onboarding procedures are one of these. 

In just three months of the war, we closed five vacancies, and we noticed that there were many more active candidates.

It’s evident in the amount of feedback received from Djinni and other platforms.

Also, our company cooperates with many IT schools in Ukraine, which send us the resumes of their best students. Therefore, our company has enough tools and resources to hire new specialists even under martial law conditions.

New employees, who were supposed to start working with Codempire in February and later, have joined the team and successfully passed the onboarding and adaptation. Since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion, eight people have joined our team, and our company continues to grow.

How do we organize the hiring and adaptation processes?

The hunting process is multi-step and takes place according to the following algorithm:

  1. Open a vacancy;
  2. CV scoring;
  3. HR calls - to understand the person’s values and principles ​​and whether they match the company’s;
  4. A test task - to check the candidate’s education;
  5. Technical interview;
  6. Final interview with PM.

This process helps us find the most talented engineers for your project and build close-knit teams.

After a person becomes part of the company, the process of adaptation starts.

First, HR introduces the new person to the team members, tells about our processes, and maximally integrates the person into the company’s routine.

Then HR holds regular 1-1 meetings to determine how comfortable a person feels in the company, how the working days go, and whether there are any issues to solve.

In this way, our specialists always get supported.

Myth #4 Ukrainians lost motivation because of the war

On the contrary, Ukrainians’ ardency to work is greater than ever. Because we understand how important it is to make money and stimulate the economy. It enables us to support our defenders and civilians affected by hostilities and occupation.

The IT industry is one of the few least affected by the war. Thus, 84% of developers returned to work full-time, and only 6% lost their jobs. The rest work part-time.

By having a job, we can continue to pay taxes and donate to the armed forces, which defend our borders. 

Therefore, a Ukrainian is the most motivated engineer in the world, who does his work well and with high quality. 

We are not so good at the battlefield but create software products that bring more than 4% of foreign currency to our country. In this way, we make our contribution to peace in Ukraine.

Myth #5 It is impossible to ensure appropriate work conditions due to chaos.

Of course, some enterprises and institutions suffered, and some ceased to exist. But the vital institutions continue to work, and many people continue to do business.

As we have already said, there are many areas in Ukraine where you can not only work and live relatively safely but even relax and go to restaurants or cinemas.

We have the police, legal authorities, also medical and educational institutions.

Yes, all these things work with certain limitations, such as curfews and air alarms. However, law and order in Ukraine continue to be maintained, and many businesses continue to operate.

Despite the war, Ukrainians remain calm and responsible. Therefore, you can rest assured about meeting projects’ timelines and work processes organization - we have enough tools and resources to ensure them.

Myth #6 All developers will join the army, and no one will work on my project

Approximately 700 thousand Ukrainians are currently fighting in the armed forces, while the total population was 41 million at the beginning of 2022.

Mobilization isn’t randomly organized but according to a certain scheme. People with experience and the necessary skills, with military specialties and education, are first accepted into the army. Ordinary men without military expertise and skills are the last to be mobilized.

Plus, there is no lack of fighters. Many civilian men currently work in Kyiv, Lviv, and other cities.

That’s why the labor market is saturated. Thus, there we have three candidates for one vacancy in Ukraine.

Our team is constantly replenishing with new employees. So we have enough developers to work on your projects.

Myth #7 Foreign clients stopped working with Ukraine

You may think that Ukrainian companies have lost their clients since there is no possibility to ensure timelines and budget under war conditions.

But don’t rush with conclusions. We take our responsibilities very seriously and do everything we can to ensure that the client receives a high-quality result within the stated deadline. Over the past six months, we have got four new clients. The number of projects remained at the last year’s level.

Moreover, we complete all existing projects regularly, meeting the deadlines and budget frames.

Conclusion

Wrapping it up, we’d like to note that the Ukrainian IT community is now a powerful driver for the economy’s functioning. That’s why, by cooperating with us, you help Ukraine to win.

The Codempire team has already fully adapted its work. We are ready to produce a high-end result that meets customers’ requirements at all stages. Being in Ukraine, we understand all the risks, so we build our work in such a way that our clients and experts feel complete safety and stability in every sense of the word.

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