Soon after the collapse of Wall Street in the year 2008, Greece was the focal point of the Europe Debt Crisis. The stringent economic condition of the nation cast its shadow on the employment conditions. Coupled with corruption the nation saw a sharp rise in unemployment rates. Unemployment rates were high when it came to the software developer jobs. The city faced a massive shortage of software developers who gave up on their country and left to get a suitable employment abroad.

The country has seen a mammoth brain drain with thousands of techies have already moved abroad in the last five years that has deranged the IT framework of the nation. This has weighed heavily on a country already weighing under a heavy debt of 317 billion euros. The July 5^th mandate saw rejection from about 61 percent voters to the implementation of more austere measures that made the nation’s future financial prospects to flicker. The local banks of Greece are falling short of the cash reserves and all the factors combining increases the chance of the country exiting from the Eurozone. Amidst such strife, the nation’s tech minds are suffering a lot and considering quitting the country to be the best option for their career prospects.

An experienced C++ or a Java specialist can get up to three times their Greek pay-scale in Western Europe. This is enough to allure the software developers to make a move in the country’s such a critical situation. According to the Endeavor study estimates between the year 2012 and 2013, 200,000 Greeks under the age of 35 have already made their move. A majority of them are highly qualified and adept in their field of work. As the report says the biggest brain drains are recorded in the medical, finance, and ICT sectors.

The four primary factors that force the professionals from all the sectors to consider leaving their job are:

• The lack of merit
• High corruption in the nation
• High unemployment rate and the absence of appropriate job
• The Economic crisis

The presence of these factors drives the best brains out of the country in search of career progress and development prospect.The more harsh truth is that the professionals who are leaving the country do not consider of returning back. Living the nation starved of expertise and required skill sets. The majority of the Greek software developers pick other European countries such as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, even US and Australia to shape their career. Even most of the University graduates are considering working abroad post completion of their education. This shortage of software developers has left the country reeling under the fear that they are going to suffer greatly on their IT infrastructure.

The IT sector has maintained a steady growth in the last few years irrespective of the hurdles that it has faced. The nation’s combined exports of information services, telecommunications, and computer services were valued at $1.2 billion in 2014 and the number was just $1bn in 2013 according to the World Trade Organization. Recently the organizations are experiencing a scarcity of developers. People are trained in this area to fill this technical gap in Greece. According to ManpowerGroup’s 2015 Talent Shortage Survey, IT roles are the sixth toughest to fill in where a senior software developer job’s monthly pay scale varies between €2,600 and €3,200.

Discussions are on regarding the sudden departure of the talent pool from the nation. This is becoming a matter of concern to the IT companies especially the mid-level organizations and the startups. For the IT giants like Microsoft, it is easier to hire talent though they have also met with the challenge of people migrating abroad despite studying and working in their own country. However, these tech giants that generally employ a fraction of the workforce of the nation still have time filling the positions. The recruitment process for a technical role is a bit tedious and time consuming. About 3 months are required to assess the profile and analyze whether the individual has the specialized and proper technical knowledge to fit the shoes. Thus identifying the suitable candidate becomes a tough job.

Therefore, the brain drain of software developers continues to terrify the Greek soils. If proper measures are not implemented then it will soon turn into a graveyard.

Author’s Bio: Agniva Banerjee is a writer by profession. She likes curating informative articles and blogs on diverse areas that provides a good read. She loves engaging the readers through her words and welcomes feedback of all sorts. Connect to her on Twitter @Agniva_B