by Stephanie Overby

Bulgaria Outsourcing Scorecard

News
Jul 15, 20061 min
Outsourcing

Bulgaria is working to renovate Soviet-era telecom and IT infrastructure to help its experienced IT service providers.

A guide to outsourcing in Bulgaria.

  • Overall Ranking: Emerging
  • Average 2nd Year Programmer Salary: $5,000 to $10,000
  • Geopolitical Risk: Moderate
  • English Proficency: Fair
  • Pros: Historical high-tech center of former Soviet Union. Good for high-end, complex but small-scale projects. Renovating Sovietera telecom and IT infrastructure preparing for possible EU membership in 2007. Experienced service providers (as many as a thousand Western companies were doing IT work in Bulgaria as far back as the 1990s). Excellent math, science and engineering schools. IT workers experienced in complex technologies.
  • Cons: Small workforce; only 800 Bulgarians graduate with technical degrees each year. IT spending ranks one of the lowest in the Central and Eastern Europe. Can’t compete on price or scale with India or China.

MORE ON CIO.COM

Introduction to Outsourcing

Interactive Outsourcing Map