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As someone who has built and sold an original software startup in Serbia, and has followed the evolution of the local tech scene in the Balkans over the last de

As someone who has built and sold an original software startup in Serbia, and has followed the evolution of the local tech scene in the Balkans over the last decade pretty closely, the one thing the region absolutely needs more of is this kind of positive press. While there's been a fair bit written about the growth of the "IT Sector"[0] there, for the longest time that sector was mostly made up of outsourcers and body shops (as opposed to product-centric, funded original startups). As that outsourcing workforce has matured, I've started to notice an increasing number of individuals at the top end of the talent spectrum that have become too experienced/expensive to be considered 'profitable resources' for those outsourcing companies (i.e. their salaries have grown to be too high compared to the daily rate they're sold at while demand for them has fallen away as companies seeking staff augmentation already tend to depend on their own senior technical leadership). What this means is that we're going to see more experienced, highly skilled technical experts in reasonably well-off financial positions start to ask themselves what they could do next, and what I'm hoping happens is that the more original success stories we evangelise - the more we publicise the Infobips and the Rimacs - the more likely it is that those experts will choose to develop their original idea and seek funding. TL;DR The talent is absolutely there and growing, they just need encouragement. https://www.ft.com/content/03f995f0-9c12-11ea-871b-edeb99a20c6e https://www.ft.com/content/03f995f0-9c12-11ea-871b-edeb99a20...

rightbyte 3y ago
> I've started to notice an increasing number of individuals at the top end of the talent spectrum Ye well they have to always have been there? Like, the "top talent" of Silicon Valley and their wages feels more like a medieval kind of guild, rather than actual top talent. With different arbitrary opaque admission ceremonies. I really don't understand why SWE wages are not flatter nationally in the US and also world wide. Outside of hardware SWEs who need to be there, who ironically have lower wages, there is no way that it is cost effective to pay for "top talent". I've always wondered if these WFH proponents (I am one ...) know what they are asking for. They are killing the magic.
- boomskats 3y ago
  > Ye well they have to always have been there? Maybe their talent has, but not the experience. What I was trying to say is that those talented individuals have now accumulated the experience they need to be able to confidently make that leap to meaningful original tech startup, rather than just remaining as a resource in a body shop. My comment didn't discuss anything about wages at an individual level. All I was doing is pointing out the dwindling commercial value of individuals within the outsourcing sector as they advance and approach the top end of the pay scale. FWIW I'm personally pretty allergic to individuals from the region who steer every local tech discussion towards the subject of 'wages'. To me this is an indicator that the person got into tech because it pays better than other jobs, not because it is something that ever genuinely interested them. Again, it's a personal thing, but to me it's a red flag that tells me they are unlikely to push themselves to progress unless they're forced to, and will always be chasing a number. OTOH if you can show me that you're truly driven by curiosity and love of tech, I'll make sure I pay you enough so that you never have to think about all those things you just mentioned in your comment.
jacquesm 3y ago
Sure! But what you don't need is a band of locust like tech bros that play 'digital nomad', don't pay taxes and high tail it to the next hot spot as soon as they are bored (which usually doesn't take all that long). You don't build stability that way.
- boomskats 3y ago
  I absolutely agree, but that group of people is almost exclusively attracted by government policy rather than startup-up success stories. The key is structuring government policy in a way that encourages local innovation over tax migration (or rather, government wanting to do that in the first place).
svilen_dobrev 3y ago
> outsourcers and body shops spot on. Example for Bulgaria - see who's big there.. Re-sellers of man-hours. And that trend created a big percentage of butterflies (who fly off to next door/flower for $100 or bag of peanuts more, anytime) yeah the talent is (still) there. Some are even Returning.. But.. The burocracy though and taxation etc hurdles, for having (and keeping) a company is staggering.. Essentially, at last in .bg, everybody is tax-treated as BigCorp. Too bad if you are not one. (And, if one grows enough so that does not bug you, there is still some mafia, which.. will)

rightbyte 3y ago

> I've started to notice an increasing number of individuals at the top end of the talent spectrum Ye well they have to always have been there? Like, the "top talent" of Silicon Valley and their wages feels more like a medieval kind of guild, rather than actual top talent. With different arbitrary opaque admission ceremonies. I really don't understand why SWE wages are not flatter nationally in the US and also world wide. Outside of hardware SWEs who need to be there, who ironically have lower wages, there is no way that it is cost effective to pay for "top talent". I've always wondered if these WFH proponents (I am one ...) know what they are asking for. They are killing the magic.

boomskats 3y ago
> Ye well they have to always have been there? Maybe their talent has, but not the experience. What I was trying to say is that those talented individuals have now accumulated the experience they need to be able to confidently make that leap to meaningful original tech startup, rather than just remaining as a resource in a body shop. My comment didn't discuss anything about wages at an individual level. All I was doing is pointing out the dwindling commercial value of individuals within the outsourcing sector as they advance and approach the top end of the pay scale. FWIW I'm personally pretty allergic to individuals from the region who steer every local tech discussion towards the subject of 'wages'. To me this is an indicator that the person got into tech because it pays better than other jobs, not because it is something that ever genuinely interested them. Again, it's a personal thing, but to me it's a red flag that tells me they are unlikely to push themselves to progress unless they're forced to, and will always be chasing a number. OTOH if you can show me that you're truly driven by curiosity and love of tech, I'll make sure I pay you enough so that you never have to think about all those things you just mentioned in your comment.

jacquesm 3y ago

Sure! But what you don't need is a band of locust like tech bros that play 'digital nomad', don't pay taxes and high tail it to the next hot spot as soon as they are bored (which usually doesn't take all that long). You don't build stability that way.

boomskats 3y ago
I absolutely agree, but that group of people is almost exclusively attracted by government policy rather than startup-up success stories. The key is structuring government policy in a way that encourages local innovation over tax migration (or rather, government wanting to do that in the first place).

svilen_dobrev 3y ago

> outsourcers and body shops spot on. Example for Bulgaria - see who's big there.. Re-sellers of man-hours. And that trend created a big percentage of butterflies (who fly off to next door/flower for $100 or bag of peanuts more, anytime) yeah the talent is (still) there. Some are even Returning.. But.. The burocracy though and taxation etc hurdles, for having (and keeping) a company is staggering.. Essentially, at last in .bg, everybody is tax-treated as BigCorp. Too bad if you are not one. (And, if one grows enough so that does not bug you, there is still some mafia, which.. will)