The digital skills gap is causing challenges for businesses, with over 70% of IT leaders stating it’s become more difficult to recruit tech skills in the past two years. Many IT leaders are finding that sourcing technical talent is becoming increasingly competitive due to businesses consistently sourcing out of the same regions.

But there are many unsaturated locations around the world that provide strong IT infrastructure, relevant language capabilities, convenient time zones, and most importantly – affordable, highly skilled talent.

So, where are they?

Here are 8 locations with the technical talent you need to fill your digital skills gaps, provide exceptional customer experiences, and grow your business.

1. Bulgaria

Bulgaria has been a regional IT leader for decades. It houses approximately 10,000 ICT companies and is an outsourcing hub for many businesses including HP, Oracle, SAP, VMware, CISCO, and Tek Experts. Not only does the country boast excellent language skills and a 10% flat tax on corporate income, but its capital, Sofia, recently built a technology park to support startups and SMEs as they develop new, innovative technologies.

Check out what makes Bulgaria an ideal location for sourcing talent and providing high-quality customer experiences at an affordable price.

2. China

China’s government is driving key initiatives to support the country’s digital growth as it moves away from manufacturing and towards more complex digital services and products. This includes a $1.4 trillion investment that supports their public digital infrastructure. Add in their constant improvements to education and availability of digital skills and China proves to be a great source of highly qualified technical talent.

Learn more about China as a source for technical talent for your business.

3. Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a leader in LATAM as it relates to digital skills. The government has made major  investments in education and skilling, leading the region in digital fluency. It is already a key location for numerous top 100 global IT companies and is considered “The Silicon Valley of Latin America.” Plus, it observes Central Standard Time Zone which is highly convenient for companies with US based customers.

Find out what other factors make Costa Rica an optimal location for sourcing technical talent.

4. El Salvador

El Salvador is committed to 4 key pillars of digital transformation focused on executing various projects including digitization of medical records, reducing the digital skills gap, implementing electronic signatures, invoices, and biometric passports, and a national connectivity plan with subsea fiber optic cables.

With a median age of 28, a growing population, and 24 universities, El Salvador boasts a young and promising pool of future tech professionals growing in a digital focused country. Plus, the population is highly educated with an adult literacy rate of nearly 90% and the time zone conveniently aligns with US customers.

5. Nigeria

Tech influencers like Bill Gates and TSIA’s, J.B. Wood, agree that Africa holds a promising future for technical talent. With one of the fastest growing populations in the world developing a young, eager workforce, Nigeria is a prime location for technical talent sourcing.

The country shares convenient time zones with the UK and the Middle East. Plus, the government is making large investments in Nigeria’s IT infrastructure and digital skilling programs to ensure their young, tech professionals are prepared to meet the demands of tech enterprises.   

Learn more about Nigeria, which displays great promise for the future of technical talent.

6. Rwanda

Rwanda is another African country that has shown an incredible digital transformation over the past few decades. With English being an official language and the primary language of education, it’s an ideal location to source talent for English speaking customers.

Rwanda ranks 38th in the world for ease of doing business and maintains an extremely reliable fiber optic network. The government ensures a STEM and ICT focus across all levels of education as it builds a young, knowledgeable workforce for the ever growing tech industry.

Check out the many more aspects of Rwanda that make it an ideal location for sourcing highly qualified, technical talent.

7. United States

The US is known as a competitive market for technical talent, but with it being such a large country, it has many areas with untapped talent that are often overlooked. Colorado Springs, CO, and Indianapolis, IN, are two cities with a large amount of available technical talent.  

29 of Indiana’s 132 colleges reside in Indianapolis, totally over 226K enrolled students in the city. Over 86K of those students are enrolled at Indianapolis’s largest university, Ivy Tech Community College Central Indiana. This provides a major source of tech talent for growing tech companies.

Meanwhile, Colorado Springs is home to over 360 IT companies and 40K university students. The city contains 5 active military bases, resulting in many veterans looking for technical roles after leaving the service. It is the first 10 megabit network in the US and between 2020 and 2022, the state of Colorado experienced a job recovery rate of 103.1% while many other states experienced a negative economic impact post-pandemic.

Discover what other factors make Colorado Springs a great location for sourcing technical talent.

8. Vietnam

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing IT markets in the world and is in a great location for serving similar growing digital economies. There are almost 100 million people in Vietnam, with one of the highest adult literacy rates globally and over half of the population speaks English. Hanoi consists of over 30 universities and institutes alone and over 14,000 IT businesses, making this a great location for sourcing qualified technical talent.

Check out Vietnam’s digital objectives for 2025 and see why Vietnam will be a great location for sourcing the next generation of tech talent.

Optimize your tech talent strategy, today

A tech talent solutions partner can provide you access to highly skilled, untapped talent pools and access to unsaturated markets where you might not be established yet. This can be done through various talent solutions, including outsourcing, direct hire, and employer of record.

Interested in learning which talent solution is best for your business? Speak with a tech talent expert.