DataArt
DataArt is a global software engineering firm and a trusted technology partner for market leaders and visionaries.
The history of the company
The DataArt team develops cloud services and engineers data-driven projects. DataArt cooperates with innovative startups and respectable top companies, including Nasdaq, Skyscanner, Ocado, Doddle, Travelport, Meetup, Rappi, Betfair, and others.
The company was founded in 1997 in New York. Four years later, DataArt opened its second office in London. Since then, DataArt has been constantly growing and developing.
- In 2006-2007, the company launched its key industry practices: Finance, Travel, Transportation & Hospitality, and Media & Entertainment.
- Since 2007, it has been operating in Ukraine: this year Kharkiv and Kherson offices were opened.
- In 2011, it was rated the best IT employer in Ukraine by DOU.ua.
- In 2011, DataArt opened its office in Kyiv; and in 2012 two more offices followed in Dnipro and Odesa.
- In 2014, DataArt reached 1,000 headcount and opened 3 new R&D centers: in Lviv, Argentina and Poland.
- In 2016 the company opened the Munich office and the first R&D center in Bulgaria, and grew revenue to $120 million.
- In 2019–2023, the company opened R&D centers in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uruguay, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, Mexico, India, Cyprus, as well as a business hub in Dubai, UAE. In 2022, DataArt grew revenue to $378M.
Four key values of the company
In 2001, the company formulated and implemented its values 👇
People First. DataArt doesn’t sacrifice the future for the sake of here-and-now profit. Relationships are the foundation of long-term value generation. The company values its colleagues and is ready to invest in their professional development.
Expertise. New technologies and in-depth technical knowledge help DataArt achieve incredible results. The company integrates its engineering excellence with deeply human values to build a better world for everyone.
Flexibility. DataArt is against dogmatism, and colleagues are ready to change their mindset, along with the changing environment, for the greater benefit of the world.
Trust. The company believes that people can be trusted and rely on their responsibility. The company chooses thirst for knowledge and independence over bureaucracy and hierarchy. The role of leaders at DataArt is to create an environment where people make their own independent decisions.
Support Ukraine Initiative: how does DataArt help people during a full-scale war?
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, DataArt has been helping Ukrainian colleagues and their families, supporting volunteer initiatives of its specialists and charitable foundations. In September 2022, the company created a long-term charity initiative Support Ukraine. Since the launch of the initiative, more than $3.5 million has been provided to support Ukrainians (over 95 million from DataArt and partners and more than 35 million raised by colleagues).
In general, DataArt has developed the following approaches within the initiative:
- The company allocates a portion of its profits every month to help Ukraine by supporting volunteer initiatives of colleagues and charitable foundations. The amount depends on the company's financial performance.
- DataArt supports the volunteer initiatives of its colleagues. The company matches every amount raised by the community and supports colleagues' fundraising efforts both organizationally and communicatively.
- Together with its partners, the company supports such charities and volunteer organizations as U4UA, Children of Heroes, Monster Corporation, United24, etc.
- DataArt helps its colleagues who have joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their families. The company keeps mobilized colleagues on the payroll and is currently paying full compensation.
Main directions and results of the Support Ukraine Initiative.
Children Support:
- $63,000 and more than 500 power banks were provided for the Children of Heroes Foundation to help children who lost their parents due to the war.
- $41,000 was allocated to the U4UA Foundation for a modern rehabilitation device and 200 rehabilitation sessions for children with cerebral palsy.
- $41,000 was allocated to purchase more than 1,000 routers and Internet access points for bomb shelters in schools and kindergartens of Lviv in cooperation with the Lviv Regional State Administration and Lviv IT Cluster.
- $19,450 was allocated for 46 children affected by the war to attend a summer camp in the Carpathians.
Health Care:
- $161,350 was allocated for five equipped ambulances and equipping two more ambulances for the RAZOM, Relief Ship and Hope Brigade charitable foundations.
- $71,100 was allocated to repair the medical building of the Lviv Clinical Hospital of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
- $63,000 was allocated for the renovation of mental health care centres for adults in the Lviv Emergency Hospital and for children in the St. Nicholas Children's Hospital by the UNBROKEN project.
- $49,200 was allocated for the renovation and equipment of the neurosurgery department of the Military Medical Clinical Centre of the Western Region in cooperation with the People's Self-Defence of Lviv Region NGO.
- $15,500 was allocated for medical supplies for the anaesthesiology and intensive care unit of Dnipro City Hospital No. 8.
Support and assistance of people in dangerous frontline areas and internally displaced people:
- $683,650 was allocated for the purchase and repair of dozens of evacuation vehicles.
- $65,600 was allocated for the emergency purchase of motorboats in cooperation with the Relief Ship Foundation for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kherson Oblast, disaster relief, humanitarian aid and animal welfare after the terrorist attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.
- $56,000 was allocated for food, hygiene, and necessities for people in the deoccupied territories in cooperation with the You Are The Angel Foundation.
- $41,000 was allocated for four autonomous “invincibility points” in Kharkiv in cooperation with the Kharkiv IT Cluster.
- $15,850 was allocated to renovate a centre for Internally Displaced Persons in Dnipro in cooperation with the Relief Ship Foundation.
Absence of stereotypes. Diversity. Inclusion
The values of DataArt and the UN Sustainable Development Goals have become the basis for DataArt's social and environmental program. The company strives to have a positive impact on three areas: people, society, and the environment. It is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion among candidates and colleagues.
Diversity. The company wants to create a comfortable environment for colleagues from all genders and ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, religions, cultures, ages, sexual orientations, backgrounds and experiences, skills, and expertise.
Equal rights. DataArt hires people only based on professional competence. It provides equal opportunities for professional growth and development. The company promotes awareness and shares knowledge and best practices for preventing discrimination in the workplace and business relationships.
Inclusion. The company looks for a more individual approach to meet the needs of colleagues and tries to maximize everyone's potential.
In 2020, the company was recognized in the Strong Leaders Creator in IT report in the Diversity and Inclusion area. In 2022, it won the Best Company for Diversity award from Comparably among large companies. In 2023, it won the Best CEOs for Diversity award.
Green planet: how does the company care about the environment?
In 2021, Dmytro Deliiev, a business analyst and founder of the NGO Tvii Lis (Your Forest), whose mission is to encourage businesses and people to donate to tree planting, joined the DataArt team. The values of DataArt and the NGO completely coincided. So, the company joined the initiative by allocating money for the purchase of seedlings and organizing corporate tree planting in different regions of Ukraine.
In 2022 and 2023, the company planted 183,000 new trees across 175 hectares in Ukraine. The initiative covered the Shatsk National Nature Park, Kremenets Mountains National Nature Park, Petrykivka Forestry, and Ichnia National Nature Park.
In 2023, the joint initiative grew into an international initiative called DataArt Forest. Ukrainian colleagues were joined by teams from Poland and Armenia.
Comfortable offices with coffee corners and areas for entertainment
The DataArt team works in 30+ offices in more than 20 countries. Everyone can work remotely from different parts of the world. In Ukraine, there are offices in Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Lviv, as well as several coworking spaces in Kyiv, Kremenchuk, and Vinnytsia.
The company is as flexible as possible regarding the place of work. Ukrainian colleagues can work in any DataArt office or coworking space in Ukraine, remotely, or relocate to another city or country if they wish (according to the company's internal policies and by prior agreement with the team).
Colleagues are free to furnish their workplaces to their liking, as long as it does not disturb others or damage the property of the landlord. Guests and pets are welcome in the office (but only in the countries where it’s permitted and if colleagues have no allergies).
DataArt offices are equipped with workstations, meeting rooms, recreation areas with game consoles, table football or tennis, and coffee machines and kitchens where people can enjoy fresh coffee and tea, fruits, and sweets.
During the wartime in Ukraine, the company equipped its Ukrainian offices with generators and Starlinks. In the event of danger, these offices turn into “points of invincibility” for colleagues and their families. During the blackouts, specialists working remotely from different cities in Ukraine received payments to buy generators and equip their home workplaces with uninterrupted communications.
Full-fledged rest and corporate mental health support
DataArt asks its colleagues to make sure to take real rest during vacations and official holidays, in accordance with the laws of their countries. Despite the fact that holidays and non-working days are canceled in Ukraine because of martial law, the company continues to provide colleagues with these days off.
The company provides up to 10 days of sick leave per year without medical certificates, and then extra according to the laws of the country where the colleague lives. In addition, DataArt provides insurance policies for colleagues and offers affordable policies to their relatives.
The company takes care not only of the physical but also of the mental health of its team. As part of the Helpline project, everyone can get up to 10 free sessions with a professional psychotherapist. Moreover, there are Helpline volunteers, who have undergone special training and have a psychological education and/or extensive experience in HR. They are ready to assist colleagues with their issues, help choose the appropriate therapist, share their experiences, etc.
Working environment in the company: facts and figures
According to the annual corporate survey, colleagues appreciate working at DataArt for the following approaches and principles:
- Flexibility. A convenient schedule, the ability to work remotely, etc.
- Paid time in Idle/Bench mode (time outside of projects dedicated to colleagues' professional development and new project searching).
- Cultural fit. A colleague's values coincide with the company's values.
- No spyware.
- Clear rules and policies. A modern approach to management.
Indeed, the company has minimal bureaucracy, teams work autonomously, and management is attentive to colleagues' initiatives. There is no hierarchy. The managers of any level are always ready for dialogue.
In addition, DataArt does not have KPIs or other methods of performance control, but of course, they pay attention to how their colleagues fulfill their duties and meet deadlines. The most important thing is a satisfied client and teamwork.
The company is proud of a number of awards as the best employer:
- A 12-time recipient of the Inc. 5000 Award, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the US.
- A bronze Brandon Hall Award in the category of Future of Work: Best Advance in Corporate Wellbeing Technology.
- The USA Great Place to Work Certification.
- 17 awards in 2023 from Comparably, a platform that provides data on company culture and the workplace.
Not a career ladder, but professional development
As part of its internal educational system, DataArt offers several hundred courses and other training and development opportunities to its colleagues:
- A wide range of educational programs for IT professionals of all levels on its own L&D portal.
- Internal communities and centers of excellence.
- ProfDevMap, where colleagues can pinpoint their seniority level, find the required competencies and skills, and explore development opportunities at their current and prospective stages.
- Mentoring programs. Many experienced professionals share their knowledge and support colleagues with less experience.
- Access to external educational platforms such as O'Reilly, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy.
- Access to the digital library by O’Reilly Media, which comprises over 46K books on industry-related topics.
- Certification reimbursement (AWS, GCP, Microsoft, etc.).
- Corporate English courses.
DataArt regularly hosts the following events for colleagues:
- Webinars, workshops, and technical community meetups where colleagues share their experience, analyze cases, get support and answers to their questions.
- Webinars and workshops with psychologists on relevant topics, mindfulness sessions, yoga practices, and other events to improve mental health, reduce stress, etc.
- Meetings with military psychologists and veterans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, first aid courses for Ukrainians.
- Board game nights, movie nights, holidays, outdoor activities, and other offline events where colleagues can relax, unwind, and chat.
At DataArt, career development is not imagined as a 'ladder' because it does not fit the flat structure of the company. The team uses the term professional development and often imagines it as a forward movement rather than an upward one. DataArt offers the following development options:
- You can develop vertically up to a certain level.
- You can take a sideways step, for example, from QA to business analysis.
- You can grow as an expert, and deepen and broaden your domain and technical knowledge.
Managers at DataArt are always ready to discuss the professional plans of their colleagues to take them into account when choosing tasks and projects.
Expectations from the candidates and hiring processes in the company
In addition to the technical knowledge and skills specified in the job descriptions, DataArt expects candidates to have the following:
- High level of spoken English. The company's specialists work in distributed teams and regularly communicate with colleagues and customers from different countries.
- Flexibility is crucial, given the variety of projects DataArt handles.
- Versatility. Clients are now requesting developers with full-stack and DevOps skills, and technology-oriented project managers with a background in tech.
Taking into account the latest industry trends and client requests, DataArt more often offers job positions for Data Engineering, Data Science, AI departments, etc.
To get into the company, you need to go through several stages:
- CV submission. Recruiters will be grateful if a candidate sends their CV and attaches a cover letter describing why they want to work for the company and the desired areas of work and development.
- HR interview.
- Non-technical interview with an English teacher.
- Technical interview. The candidate may be asked to complete a small task: live coding, algorithmic problem, or pair programming.
- Acquaintance with the team and the project, and an interview with the client.
- Job offer.
There are HRs who serve as onboarding coordinators and assist with adaptation within the company, while the project manager is responsible for team adaptation on the project. As part of the onboarding program, newcomers receive all the information they need to get started as soon as possible.
