Building a software development team in the Philippines?
The Philippines has long been recognized as a reliable country for tech talent outsourcing. It is one of the biggest IT hubs in South East Asia.
Sustained economic growth and optimal infrastructure, strong assistance from the government, a massive talent pool, and incentives to improve and grow attract international firms to outsource in the Philippines. The Philippines is one of the major players in this industry.
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Software development market overview in the Philippines
Countries like India were long considered to be among the most popular places for software development outsourcing. However, Philippines has established itself as a hotspot where businesses can hire full-stack teams for their projects. Evaluation criteria including High Level of Expertise and English Proficiency, as well as a business-friendly environment make Philippines one of the best places where you can find developers with various skills suitable for your needs!
According to Deloitte, Philippines has the potential to increase its share of the BPO market up to 20% of the entire global market. This will enable the country to a whopping $50 billion+ in revenue!
The Philippines is one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. And one of the key drivers behind this growth is the vibrant Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) sector. At present, there are currently 700 Information Technology BPO-IT companies in the country, providing 1.32 million jobs.
But why do companies prefer to hire developers in the Philippines? What are the benefits? It does take more than impressive statistics.
Wide range of highly trained IT professionals.
The government focus on this industry has resulted in many graduates per year, so much so that the Philippines now has the third largest pool of talent in this field in the world, despite having a much smaller population than China or India.
The most popular programming languages in the Philippines
According to Jobstreet, the most popular programming languages in published job offers in the Philippines are C, Java, C#, PHP, Python, and Javascript.
The benefits of building a software development team in the Philippines
Huge qualified talent pool
With more than 41 million highly trained people in the workforce, the software development talent pool in the Philippines is among the most qualified in the world. They have considerable coding experience before even getting their first job. And you can fill roles at levels from junior and intermediate right up to senior and executive levels.
English is the official language
Filipino culture closely resembles western culture by historic Spanish and American influences. English is widely spoken in the Philippines, what with the country having a strong affinity to the USA, and, even more importantly, it is spoken with a neutral American accent. This reduces all the complaints that people have when communicating, which usually amount to not being able to understand the local accent in other countries. English is one of the country’s two official national languages, so everyone learns it at school, and it’s the official language of government, the legal system and higher education.
Modern technical infrastructure
The country has achieved economic stability which allows for growth, which in turn provides companies with an assurance that they are in the right hands. The government has attention for this growing industry, and implemented a series of initiatives to promote talent development, and created a specific BPO curriculum at the university level.
The country has implementing a number of tax exemptions, and helped to launch the industry by deregulating telecommunications. Also, the transportation and utility infrastructure has been improved, and is considered world-class and make the country a very attractive proposition.
Optimal rates
The wages make it so much more competitive since the salary is actually between 15-20% of their western counterparts. And, despite having significantly lower wages, the quality of life in the Philippines is significantly higher than in most other countries thus the work continues to be an attractive proposition. Philippines is a significantly more cost-effective market.
Growing IT Market
Information technology sector takes up a large share in the Philippines economic development.
High education standard
The Philippines boasts a 97.5% literacy rate, and more than 680,000 people graduate from university each year. (For context, Australia has approx 300,000 graduates per year and the US has approximately 3 million.)
Strong western culture
The Philippines has a strong familiarity and affinity to western culture. As a former US colony with a 90% Christian population, the Philippines has a very ‘westernized’ culture. Its cities, office buildings, malls and restaurants all feel very familiar to most Americans, Australians, and Europeans. And because there’s no language barrier or real workplace differences, working with Filipinos feels almost identical to working with Europeans, Americans or Australians.
Experience to work efficiently in any timezone
The Philippines developers work remotely for many years. Staff are flexible and used to work in another time zone.
Honest, loyal and hardworking colleagues
Philipinos are known for their loyalty and honesty, and for being accountable for their commitments. They value their jobs highly and tend to stay with good employers for longer than the average European, American or Australian employee.
What sets the Philippines apart?
Western culture (from 1543 under Western influence)
- 1534-1900 Spanish colony
- 1900-1946 American Colony
Proficient English (with 100+ million inhabitants 3rd Anglophone country)
Good education system, copy of the American system
Modern tech. infrastructure
Wide range of highly trained IT professionals
Low cost of labor and cost of living
Loyal, honest and hard working
