Roman Stanek's Push-Button Thinking » Czech

Cost of Offshore Development in the Czech Republic

Roman Stanek — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:44:48 +0000

From time to time I am asked to help setup an offshore development site in the Czech Republic. This post should answer all future requests:

The first chart below shows the falling exchange rate of US Dollar (from 42 Czech Korunas per US$ in 2000 to 15,80 CZK/USD today) and the increased salary of Java developer (from 40 000 CZK to 85 000 CZK in the same period). This means that the cost of development increased 565% in dollar terms!!!

And not only are Czech developers more and more expensive. The competition for talent increased the expectations for employee benefits as well. Here are top ten employee benefits expected in the IT industry (My favorites are number 5 and 6!):

Skrbl

Roman Stanek — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:59:26 +0000

Vowel deficiency makes the Czech language a perfect source for Web 2.0 startup names. I wrote about it last summer but here comes another example: the name of online whiteboard tool Skrbl is just a shorter version of Czech Skrblik and it can be translated as miser, niggard, skinflint or Scrooge.

Mark Your Calendars: TechCrunch in Prague, May 23

Roman Stanek — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:47:17 +0000

Good Data will be there and we will sponsor some free (“free as in free beer”) pivo. (link)

Good King Wenceslas

Roman Stanek — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:34:00 +0000

Today is a public holiday in the Czech Republic. Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia was killed by his brother Boleslaus on this day back in 936 (or possibly 929), yet it is still a good reason to enjoy a three day weekend. No wonder they call him Good King Wenceslas…

The New Czech National Library

Roman Stanek — Thu, 03 May 2007 16:58:00 +0000

One of my friends once told me that she prefers to stay in the Four Seasons Hotel in Prague. Apparently it is the only place in the city where the view of the castle is not spoiled by – the Four Seasons Hotel. In a few years she will have to read a book in the new library reading room (picture below) to enjoy an unspoiled view of Prague castle.

As you can see on the following pictures the new library building (in case it will be actually built) will be visible from everywhere else…