Avatar photo

Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

20th March 2012

Buzzwords, Barclays, and a Ukrainian economic success

Photo: softwarethinktank.com
Photo: softwarethinktank.com

Do you know your C++ from your Sybase? Do you know the difference between SQL and ORM? If you do, high-paying jobs could be yours – in Kyiv, Lviv or Kharkiv.

Back in summer 2010 I blogged about how UK-based Barclays Capital, working with EPAM Systems, had chosen Kyiv for its third global technology centre, in addition to Prague and Singapore. I noted how a combination of highly-trained software engineers and new technology had made it possible to create high-value jobs in Ukraine; and that starting with 70 IT professionals, they hoped to recruit 500 or more people by the end of 2012.

Less than two years later, I recently visited EPAM here in Kyiv to mark the successful recruitment of their 500th Barclays Capital team member together with the 2000th EPAM Ukraine team member. I met several of the young IT specialists, and was impressed both by their technical savvy (ie I found it hard to comprehend what they were doing) and by their salary levels. With further recruitment on the cards, this sounds like a success story by any standard – both for Barclays and Ukraine.

Incidentally, on a recent visit to Lviv, I was told that Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv were Ukraine’s main  centres for IT and financial Business Process Outsourcing, thanks to the plentiful supply of capable computer experts in those three cities. Good to hear – and a reminder that you don’t have to be bolting things together to have a worthwhile and internationally-competitive job.

1 comment on “Buzzwords, Barclays, and a Ukrainian economic success

  1. It’s true – Ukraine has a great opportunity to become a new Bangalor or Sillicon Valley. Nice to see that Ukrainian Government, MPs and business organisations can work together on improvement of legal, tax and education conditions to support IT industry development in Ukraine. You can see that some steps were taken: http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb_n/webproc4_1?pf3511=42922

Comments are closed.

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.