Vietnam has built a genuinely deep software development talent pool over the past decade, backed by government investment in technology education, and it now sits alongside the Philippines as one of the more established offshore IT hubs available to Australian buyers.
Why are Australian companies looking at Vietnam for IT delivery?
Corpshore delivers from hubs in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and the group's own figures put roughly 400,000 IT graduates entering Vietnam's workforce each year, a pipeline that independent research corroborates directionally: Vietnam's developer population is estimated at 530,000 to 560,000 people, with 55,000 to 60,000 new tech graduates a year, and the government has set a target of 80,000 ICT graduates annually by 2030. Whichever figure you weight more heavily, the direction is the same: a large and growing supply of software engineers, with over 58% of the workforce under 30.
Vietnam is ranked #1 BPO destination in East Asia by Outsource Accelerator, an independent outsourcing research and directory site, and clients typically save 60 to 70% against US or UK IT hiring costs when they move development work there. Global technology companies including Samsung, Google and NVIDIA operate engineering or R&D centres in Vietnam, which is a reasonable signal about the depth of the senior end of the talent pool, even though that senior pipeline is still thinner than more mature hubs like India or Poland.
What does it actually cost to build a team in Vietnam versus Australia?
Vietnamese developer rates typically run at US$20 to US$40 an hour, against US$80 to US$150 or more for comparable US roles, and 40 to 60% below Eastern European rates for the same seniority. Against Australian in-house cost, where a software developer's base salary sits in the $85,000 to $190,000 range before the 12% superannuation guarantee, the gap is substantial enough that a Vietnam-based team can materially change the unit economics of a build that would otherwise stall for budget reasons.
What is the timezone difference between Vietnam and Sydney, and does it actually work?
Vietnam sits at UTC+7 year-round with no daylight saving, while Sydney runs on AEST (UTC+10) for roughly half the year and AEDT (UTC+11) during daylight saving. That puts Vietnam three hours behind Sydney during Australian standard time and four hours behind during Australian daylight saving, which is a genuinely workable gap: a Vietnam-based team starting its workday at 8am local time is already at its desk by 11am or midday Sydney time, giving four to five hours of live overlap with a standard Australian 9-to-5, plenty of room for daily standups, code review and ad hoc calls.
This compares favourably to alternatives further from Australia. It is a smaller, more manageable offset than most Eastern European or Latin American hubs, and close enough to the Philippines' AEST+2 compatibility that most Australian teams find both workable, with Vietnam trading a slightly larger timezone gap for a lower cost base and a very large software-specific graduate pipeline.
How does Vietnam compare to other offshore IT hubs Corpshore delivers from?
Each hub Corpshore operates in has a different profile, and the right choice depends on what you are optimising for. Vietnam is the strongest fit for software development, QA and technical delivery specifically, given the volume of engineering graduates and the concentration of established software outsourcing firms in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The Philippines remains the deeper hub for customer-facing BPO and voice work, with a tighter timezone overlap with Australia. Malaysia offers strong English proficiency and a more mature financial services and shared-services base. Uzbekistan is an emerging, lower-cost hub the group has invested early in. A SaaS or IT-heavy business building a development team specifically should generally start the comparison with Vietnam and the Philippines; a business with heavier customer support or back-office volume will usually lean toward the Philippines first. Our software development page and our managed services offering both draw on the Vietnam hub for delivery.
What should an Australian company get right before committing to a Vietnam-based team?
Get the data handling and privacy groundwork right before the first engineer is onboarded, not after. Under the Privacy Act 1988, APP 8 and section 16C require an Australian entity to take reasonable steps before disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient, including an outsourcing provider in Vietnam, and the Australian entity remains accountable if the overseas party breaches an Australian Privacy Principle. This does not rule Vietnam out, since the same obligation applies to any offshore hub; it does mean the contract needs a clear data handling schedule and access controls agreed up front.
It is also worth setting realistic expectations on English proficiency and seniority depth. Vietnam's engineering talent is strong technically, but written and spoken English proficiency varies more by individual and by firm than in the Philippines, so a technical lead who can bridge communication in the early weeks of an engagement is worth insisting on. And because the senior talent pipeline is thinner than in more mature hubs, a build that needs several very senior architects specifically may want a hybrid structure, an onshore or Philippines-based lead paired with a Vietnam-based delivery team, rather than assuming Vietnam alone can staff the most senior roles at volume.
How do you get started with a Vietnam-based team?
Most engagements start with a scoped pilot, typically a single well-defined workstream, before scaling to a full pod. Reviewing pricing and a comparison of delivery models is a reasonable first step, and Corpshore's case studies include technology and SaaS engagements that used a similar offshore build. From there, a discovery call or a quote request moves the conversation into a concrete scope and timeline.