Skip to main content

Tech in Minsk


Over the past year I have been working on setting up an R&D center in Minsk, Belarus.  Belarus, like Russia has a strong STEM education and produces a good amount of talented software engineers.  It is clear that Belarus recognizes the importance of the technology in their economy but still needs some economic reforms to become a serious technical hub.


I stumbled across Minsk by accident.  While being of Russian heritage, I never had any friends or family in Minsk and have never been there before my visit last year.  The FinTech company I joined last year (Ethos) had a few contractors there who were working on one of the products.  My first goal was to figure out if committing to an engineering center in Minsk was worth the trouble.  The short answer is: yes.

Minsk has a number of universities that produce software, electrical and mechanical engineers.  There have been a number of companies like Viber who have large offices in Minsk and there seems to be a community of software enthusiasts.  During one of my visits I went to an event at place called SPACE (https://eventspace.by) and it was very similar to the events we have in San Francisco: a lot of passionate developers talking about latest technologies, drinking beer and cracking sarcastic jokes.  The funny thing about SPACE is that it’s located in an old Soviet factory and makes you feel like the technology is sprouting from the ruins of the old ruins.

The team we have assembled in Minsk has been doing well: they write good code, they are focused on quality, they work well with their counterparts in California and they speak fairly good English.  While there has been some brain drain from Eastern Europe to the West there are plenty of engineers who want to stay in Belarus.  The major reasons for that are purchasing power, family and familiarity.

The days where former USSR had a deficit and restricted travel are gone.  Today you can buy anything you want from BMWs, Nike to Nestle.  An average Belarussian earns about $500 a month, while experienced software engineers who speak English average around $3,500.  With that kind of salary your spouse can stay at home, you can pay off a condo in 2-3 years and travel abroad a couple of times a year.

The trouble for Belarus continues to be the law:

  1. The banking system is required hand written signatures and physical presence for even the smallest transactions in dollars.
  2. Running a company requires someone to take personal responsibility and can result in jail time for the person who signs off on documents. 
  3. Taxes end up being over 40% and are mostly paid by the employer.


There is a new generation of officials in their 20s and 30s who have grown up with open borders to the West and their reforms are making a difference.  One of such reforms is the creation of High Tech Park where companies get a more manageable 10-13% tax rate instead of 40-45%.  Our subsidiary ended up getting accepted into High Tech Park, but it was a much harder process than anyone anticipated with over $10,000 going to law firms with no guarantee of admission.

I think Belarus is on the right track. Unlike Russia, who can rely on their vast energy reserves, Belarus needs to get knowledge economy going.  I have met many people in Minsk and I know that they are excited about being a part of the global economy because they have a lot to offer.  I hope that the government keeps working on the reforms that open up the country to the foreign investment and eases the regulatory burden.

References:
https://tradingeconomics.com/belarus/wages
https://eventspace.by

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SDET / QA Engineer Interview Checklist

After interviewing and hiring hundreds of engineers over the past 12+  years I have come up with a few checklists.  I wanted to share one of those with you so you could conduct comprehensive interviews of QA Engineers for your team.

I use this checklist when I review incoming resumes and during the interview.  It keeps me from missing areas that ensure a good team and technology fit.  I hope you make good use of them.  If you think there are good questions or topics that I have missed - get in touch with me!


SDE/T or QA Engineer interview checklist from Mike Borozdin
If you like this checklist you might want to check out these posts:
Emotional Intelligence in Software Teams  and Good-bye manual tester, hello crowdsourcing!
Post a Comment
Read more

Why you should take the software job in San Francisco (or not).

Silicon Valley is an iconic place for technology.  Many people say this is the place for the “best and the brightest.”. Apple, Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Twitter and other top companies draw a lot of talent form all over the world and the largest chunk of VC capital goes to companies in the Bay Area, so it seems like moving here is a no brainer!

The real situation is actually not that simple, I believe there are three scenarios where it makes sense, but in many cases living in the Bay yields disappointing results.  The cost of living, housing situation, homeless catastrophe make places like San Francisco a lot less appealing to a lot of people.  So in what situations does it make sense to move to SF?

Startup founder raising millions There are many places to be a startup founder, but if you are looking to raise capital the largest pool of VC money is in the Bay Area.  There is an established network, events and conferences which give founders an opportunity to pitch more people th…
Post a Comment
Read more

Sensitivity and Introverts

"Software developers are creative human beings and they need to make sense of unpredictable, turbulent environments"

- Daniel Graziotin, Xiaofeng Wang, Pekka Abrahamsson "Software developers, moods, emotions, and performance" https://arxiv.org/pdf/1405.4422.pdf

Team output can vary dramatically based on the emotional state so neglecting emotions yield to worse performance.  Beyond the pure output no one wants to spend much time in a place where they do not feel good.  It can lead to turnover and engineers applying their talents elsewhere.

There is a stereotype of engineers being highly analytical so in communication with them "facts is all that matters."  This point of view is often not correct.  In "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" Suan Cain talks about the correlation of introversion, hypersensitivity and involvement in professions that require deep thought, such as software development.

The same engineer…
Post a Comment
Read more