What will be the IT labour market in Bulgaria in 10 years

At H512.com, we work hard every day to build the place where you find your next IT job. An integral part of the process is looking at how the needs of those seeking, and those offering, will change in the future. That’s why we asked some of the industry leaders what they think the job market will look like in 10 years.

Will Bulgaria offer higher salaries and more interesting products? Will more product companies emerge? Is it possible that we will become the most successful innovation and development hub in Central and Eastern Europe? Will the need grow not only for more experienced developers, but also for leaders, business analysts and product managers?

The answers to these questions, and more, lie at the heart of some of the most successful CEOs and founders of technology companies’ visions of the future. See what the expected development of the IT job market in Bulgaria would be through their eyes.

Svetozar Georgiev, Co-Founder, Telerik Academy

Svetozar is one of the founders of the well-known Telerik Academy, as well as Campus X. He has been working in the IT sector for over 20 years and has been a member of the Board of Directors of Together in Class for a year. Svetozar depicts the future of the IT labour market as a consequence of the fulfilment of several concrete steps, which are dreams for now, and their transformation into reality depends on us.

My dream is that in 10 years Bulgaria will have established itself as the epicentre of IT in Eastern Europe. To achieve this, the state needs to recognise the technology sector as strategically important and actively support it. Make the necessary changes in the education system to feed the labour market as a well-functioning assembly line.

My dream is to have fewer, but more modern, degree courses and curricula in universities. To have good integration between mathematical and vocational schools with universities. My dream is to have working professionals from business teaching a few hours a week on cutting edge technology and being role models for students.

My dream is that more and more people will switch from unpromising professions to IT professions. More and more people from abroad (Bulgarians or foreigners) to come here and work in prestigious companies. Many of them Bulgarian. Many of them among the world leaders in their segment.

My dream is for people to be loyal and honest to their companies and to society. And the companies in turn not to use predatory practices. And to think about the common interest, because it will lead to the common prosperity of the ecosystem here.

My dream is that people want to study and work in Bulgaria. Because in 10 years Bulgaria will be a great place for promising jobs and a peaceful life.

This dream of mine can be a reality. As long as we ask for it and work hard to make it happen.

Ivo Tsenov, Founder, SiteGround

Ivo is one of the founders of SiteGround, an international web hosting provider that started 18 years ago. Ivo gives us his perspective and explains why the link between the future of the IT market, education and the development of quality staff is important.

First of all, what the job market will look like in 10 years’ time depends on what our education looks like today and what we do about it in the meantime. We have repeatedly said that there is a lot of potential in Bulgaria, but it needs to be developed, and with thought. It is important to focus on building practical skills and thinking, because much of education at the moment is highly theoretical.

Secondly, people’s real self-esteem and motivation to develop is of great importance. Education is far from stopping with a diploma; on the contrary, practical experience and new horizons and challenges are just beginning. How competitive you are in the job market depends on what you offer in terms of abilities and skills, which depend on the time and effort invested by the individual themselves. At SiteGround we have long relied on developing and retaining our own loyal staff and investing in the potential of our people, but it would be great if each individual had their own motivation to do so. Only if you make the effort to build on and expand your practical skills and thinking can you be sure you won’t be replaced by a machine, automation or cheaper labour somewhere else – because our ability to arrive at creative solutions and think at scale is our most valuable and important quality.

Todor Marinov, CEO, Strypes

Todor is the CEO of Strypes and has over 15 years of experience in the IT sector. His vision for the future development of the IT industry as a whole is rooted in several factors, which he describes accurately and concretely. See what they are.

Over the last 15 years, a number of small IT companies and a few large all-Bulgarian companies have emerged and developed, which have been able to respond well to the growing need for good IT professionals in Western Europe and the US. Currently the Bulgarian IT industry is proving that we can develop quality software solutions at a very high level, but the main focus is still on offering “quality specialists”.

In the last 5 years we have noticed interesting trends that I think will be the main drivers of the IT industry development, here are some of them:

1. Creation of more quality professionals – IT academies are being created to meet the never ending need for new professionals. Of course, this is being driven by business, but we are also starting to see government involvement – development in universities and even schools;
2. In the meantime, we are managing to build up a critical mass of truly experienced IT professionals and industry specific expertise, which is providing new opportunities for more and more product companies as well as creating more value from service companies;
3. The pandemic has helped the IT business in Bulgaria a lot, because it has removed another of the concerns of major customers around the world – how will we work remotely? But apart from being an opportunity, it will also be a serious challenge for the smaller ones in the industry who offer what is called “body leasing”;

Looking ahead, the next 10 years will provide very good opportunities for the IT industry in Bulgaria and together we will need to find a way to build on that, to move from creating quality software solutions to how to offer quality business solutions for specific industries. This naturally means higher salaries, higher rates and more interesting products for our colleagues to work on. We will be creating and looking for more and more experienced professionals, architects, leaders, but in addition business roles such as Business Analysts, Product Managers etc. My expectation is that more and more new product companies will emerge as well as divisions of some of the largest software companies in the world.

The main challenges will be for companies that focus around offering “only good people”. They will face competition from companies looking to hire people directly for remote work. I expect that these types of companies will either have to grow or look for opportunities to join larger organizations.
In conclusion, I think that in the next 5-10 years there will be more and more talk about Bulgaria as a high added value IT destination.

Stefan Tsanev, Vice President, Country Manager, MentorMate

Stefan is Vice President Operations at MentorMate and Country Manager of the Bulgarian branch of the company. He says that 13 years ago when he started, the team was small and inexperienced, housed in a three-bedroom apartment. And today, 13 years later, Stefan is responsible for managing 800 people, with the company creating nearly 150 software products a year. Here’s his forecast in guidelines – size, structure, cost and quality.

In size, the market will double. This doubling will come primarily from organic processes – despite demographic trends, the need for digital transformation and IT services will not diminish and Bulgaria will continue to be a market that meets these needs. More and more people will choose a career in IT, motivated by the fact that pay in the sector will continue to be the highest in the country.

Speaking of seniority, the market will maintain its structure. Although more people with no experience and little experience will enter it, those who are currently at junior level will be seasoned experts in 10 years.

In terms of technology, the Bulgarian market is quite adaptable and I think it will change relatively quickly to global trends. In terms of price, the market across Europe will level out – Bulgaria will be neither a cheaper nor a more expensive destination. The biggest change will be on quality – we will deliver more and more value, moving up the IT value-chain.

Hristo Borisov, Co-founder & CEO, Payhawk

Hristo is the co-founder and CEO of Payhawk, the fintech startup often touted as the future Bulgarian “unicorn”. Hristo has over 15 years of experience in the IT sector, having been part of Progress for many years.

Many of the already existing IT companies will focus on creating their own products. As inflation rises and Bulgaria joins the Eurozone, it is expected that Bulgaria will become increasingly uncompetitive as an outsourcing destination. At the same time, we are seeing very strong dynamics in the venture capital funding market, which is helping start-up companies to create their own intellectual property to be marketed globally. My assumption is that Bulgaria will succeed in becoming the most successful innovation and development hub in Central and Eastern Europe.

To meet the needs of the market, I expect that universities will learn many of the methods for training programmers and IT specialists from the many academies that exist in the market.

Whether in 10 years the IT job market in Bulgaria will be as some of the most successful people in the industry have described it to us remains to be seen. The only certainty is that you don’t have to wait until then to find the right IT role for you, you can find it on our Job Board today.