Page 12 - ATODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 13 december 2016

For unlikely tech hub in Russia, recession’s a godsend

NATALIA SUVOROVA Chita, a remote city in A qualified remote IT ser- Pittsburgh in the U.S., have on developing multiplayer
Associated Press Eastern Siberia, in 2013. He vices provider working for seen their local economies online games. Some of the
VORONEZH, Russia (AP) — chose Voronezh because a Western firm can make helped by a rise in tech games developed by Mail.
Russia’s economy is in a it offered better career op- $2,000-$3,000 per month. companies taking advan- Ru in Voronezh, such as Al-
quagmire thanks to sanc- tions, lower rent and warm- That is up to eight times tage of cheap rents and lods Online, count tens of
tions and low oil prices, but er weather than traditional the average salary for the educated workforces. But thousands of daily players
it’s a boom time for Mikhail magnets for migrants such local region, and double Voronezh stands out as an globally and are one of the
Khorpyakov. company’s main sources
The 32-year-old, who de- of income.
velops software for Russian “Thanks to the (cheap cur-
and foreign clients, has rency) we’ve significantly
seen his earnings rise over increased benefits for our
the last two years even as employees,” says Andrey
the country fell into reces- Shinkarenko, head of the
sion and the national cur- Voronezh office at Murano
rency lost half its value. Software, a U.S.-Russian
At the airy, well-lit office company whose busi-
he shares with friends in ness is entirely based on
a newly built block in the outsourcing. “We’ve ex-
thriving provincial tech hub panded their medical in-
of Voronezh, Khorpyakov surance to the fullest, orga-
recalls his last workspace nized meals in the office,
was “in a basement, that kind of thing.”
with noisy sewer pipes all With the lower cost, Rus-
around,” before their earn- sian IT software developers
ing power allowed them to are now competing more
aim higher. effectively against their
Khorpyakov and his friends counterparts in India and
are part of an unlikely tech China. According to TAd-
revolution in Voronezh, viser, an analytics compa-
a former Soviet industrial ny, software and IT services
town where startups and Software developer Ivan Grishaev and other programmers from Deep Refactoring work at their exports from Russia have
online contract work are office in Voronezh, Russia. Grishaev and his friends are part of an unlikely tech revolution in Vo- been steadily growing
ronezh, a former Soviet industrial town where startups and online contract work are proving the
proving the only source only source of good jobs and escape from economic decline. since 2010 and hit $7 billion
of good jobs and escape (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) in 2015.
from economic decline. That’s still far from the $82
In fact, the crisis has turned as Moscow or St. Peters- what IT specialists can earn extreme example due to billion brought in by India’s
out to be the tech sector’s burg. working for Russian com- the enormous gains that thriving tech sector, based
biggest fortune. First he worked for DataArt, panies in Voronezh. the ruble’s drop gives tech largely on outsourcing, but
As Russia fell into reces- a Russian software com- “We’ve become less con- workers compared with the Russia has only one-sixth of
sion, the ruble’s nosedive pany with more than 800 strained financially, could rest of the local economy. India’s population.
to record lows made tech employees in Voronezh. afford to have a second “We produce games for A key problem for startups
workers here much cheap- But when the ruble’s value child, and now go on va- the Russian-speaking CIS in Voronezh is a lack of in-
er for foreign companies to plunged, Grishaev struck cations abroad,” says (former Soviet) countries, vestment to grow. Many
hire or buy from — letting out on his own, working di- Grishaev. and make versions for Eu- locals with promising ideas
them compete with tradi- rectly for foreign clients. As Boasting several Soviet-era rope and the U.S., which eventually up sticks for
tional tech offshoring hubs well as financial benefits, technology-focused uni- bring us revenue in foreign Moscow or foreign coun-
like India and China. the change also brought a versities, Voronezh serves currency. tries.
Even as officials in the Unit- more flexible work sched- as an outsourcing hub for Thanks to the exchange “The Russian regions are
ed States and Europe warn ule, meaning he can col- many Russian and foreign rate, this revenue is even almost dead in this sense
about the threat posed by lect his son from school. companies. Reachable in bigger in rubles,” says Ser- — everything revolves
government-backed Rus- Now a self-employed six hours by car from Mos- gey Khatenkov, head of around Moscow at a great
sian hackers, tech workers IT specialist developing cow — comparatively the Voronezh office of speed, so if you want to be
in Voronezh say security websites for a Swiss firm, close by the standards of Mail.Ru Group, one of Rus- noticed and newsworthy,
concerns don’t affect their Grishaev makes nearly the world’s largest country sia’s largest internet com- you have to go to Mos-
international business rela- twice as much as he used — office rent and salaries panies. In 2006, Mail.Ru cow,” said Vitaly Yagod-
tionships. Ivan Grishaev, a to thanks to the difference here are significantly lower opened its Voronezh of- kin, head of Perezoni.com,
30-year-old software engi- in local and European sal- than in the capital. fice with five employees. a Voronezh-based online
neer, moved to Voronezh aries, and in currency-ex- Other rust-belt towns Now it employs 200 people service which provides
with his wife and son from change rates. around the world, such as and almost entirely focuses widgets for websites. q