It was February 24, 2022, when Ukraine was thrust into an unprecedented full-scale war. The invasion marked the beginning of a new reality — one that brought uncertainty, hardship, and resilience. While the war’s impact was felt across every part of daily life, it was the country’s infrastructure, particularly its power supply, that faced an ongoing, invisible battle.
It’s hard to believe that three years have already passed since Ukraine entered a new and challenging chapter: the era of blackouts. These weren’t just occasional power cuts but prolonged outages, stretching unpredictably from hours into days. For the country’s thriving IT sector, the uncertainty was profound. Teams dispersed across cities, foreign clients hesitated, and deadlines loomed under the shadow of power loss. How could a modern, tech-driven industry function without the electricity it relies on?
Yet, from this uncertainty, Ukraine’s IT industry did not retreat; it innovated. Like any resilient technology, it adapted and found a way forward.
Faced with a national blackout crisis, simply waiting for the situation to resolve was not an option for Ukraine’s IT companies. To maintain operations and meet client expectations, businesses had to act swiftly, thinking creatively and proactively. These solutions not only provide relief but also set a new standard for resilience in uncertain times.
Many IT companies turned to alternative office spaces with uninterrupted power and connectivity. Coworking spaces equipped with backup generators, various types of inverters, and satellite internet like Starlink became hubs of stability. Starlink, in particular, proved invaluable as it provided reliable internet access even when traditional ISPs faltered, allowing dispersed teams to stay connected and productive.
Inverters played a crucial role in maintaining power stability in these coworking spaces and offices. By converting stored battery power into usable AC electricity, inverters ensured critical equipment stayed powered. Companies employed various types, from pure sine wave inverters, ideal for sensitive devices like computers, to modified sine wave inverters, which, though less precise, provided sufficient power for less sensitive office equipment.
Connectivity Solutions and Starlink’s Role in Ukraine’s IT Industry
Reliable internet connectivity became a lifeline for Ukraine’s IT businesses. Alongside mobile routers with extended battery life, satellite solutions like Starlink enabled uninterrupted access to the internet, regardless of the state of local networks. This satellite technology offered the flexibility and resilience needed, as it bypassed ground-based infrastructure that was vulnerable to outages and attacks.
Passive Optical Network (PON) technology also emerged as a reliable solution during blackouts, enabling high-speed gigabit internet access. With providers powering PON systems via generators, businesses could keep their high-speed connections stable for extended periods.
Image source: Modern Edge Technologies
Energy on the Go
Portable power solutions, such as high-capacity battery packs and EcoFlow units, became essential tools. Recognizing their importance, companies provided financial support to help employees acquire portable power sources, ensuring home workstations remained operational during long outages. With this setup, employees could quickly shift between coworking spaces, their homes, or other resilient office spaces, equipped with mobile workstations, including laptops, portable monitors, and lightweight, energy-efficient devices.
Redefining Teamwork as a Core
The blackouts didn’t just disrupt power; they fundamentally changed team collaboration. Employees scattered across different cities, each dealing with varying blackout schedules, requiring flexibility, creativity, and streamlined communication to become foundational to this new form of teamwork.
Asynchronous Work for Seamless Collaboration
With schedules based on power availability, teams embraced asynchronous work, using written status reports to replace traditional daily calls. This meant developers could update their progress whenever power was available, allowing teammates to stay informed without requiring everyone to be online simultaneously.
To ensure continuity, companies implemented frequent code commits through CI/CD pipelines. By committing to work regularly, the risk of losing progress due to power cuts was minimized, and teams could seamlessly pick up where others left off. Automated builds and tests further reinforced continuity, allowing new code to integrate, test, and deploy autonomously, eliminating downtime.
Flexible Task Prioritization
Task prioritization became critical, with work assigned based on power schedules and availability. By encouraging independence, companies minimized bottlenecks and empowered developers to make quick decisions without waiting for managerial input.
Building Trust in Uncertain Times: Client Communication
Transparent and proactive communication became essential for building trust and maintaining client relationships. By integrating resilient IT management strategies, Ukrainian companies maintained client confidence and consistent progress despite the volatile environment.
Demonstrating Progress
Regular progress reports and milestone tracking became pivotal. By breaking down projects into smaller tasks and delivering updates or demos, companies kept clients informed and assured. Demos—whether live or recorded—allowed clients to review progress at their convenience, accommodating differences in time zones or power interruptions.
Robust Risk Management and Starlink-Enhanced Continuity
Comprehensive risk assessments helped Ukrainian IT companies navigate blackouts. By evaluating potential risks associated with power outages and internet disruptions, they developed risk management plans that included alternative communication channels and backup systems powered by inverters and portable energy units. Additionally, satellite services like Starlink became part of these plans, offering a stable communication channel for client updates.
How We Manage Electricity Outages
Despite electricity outages, our IT company in Ukraine has maintained seamless operations by leveraging innovative solutions. We have implemented a mix of backup power sources, such as generators, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and energy storage systems, to ensure continuous work during blackouts.
Additionally, our teams rely heavily on cloud-based infrastructure, allowing developers to work from multiple locations without disruptions.
Many engineers have also adapted their schedules, working during peak electricity hours and shifting to asynchronous collaboration when necessary. This flexible and proactive approach has enabled us to keep up with deadlines, ensuring stability and reliability for our clients.
Active Support from Our Company
IT-Dimension company also actively contributed to humanitarian efforts. Our employees volunteered their time and skills to support displaced individuals and civilians affected by the crisis. They provided essential humanitarian aid and electrical devices, coordinated logistics, and assisted in delivering vital supplies to those in need. Through dedication and teamwork, we extended our impact beyond technology, demonstrating our commitment to both business continuity and social responsibility.
Difficult times have only made us stronger, pushing us to develop new strategies and enhance our operational efficiency. Programmers today have become more resourceful, using automation, optimized workflows, and efficient coding practices to maximize output even in unpredictable conditions. These experiences have taught us how to work smarter, not just harder, fostering a culture of innovation and resilience. By overcoming these challenges, we have not only strengthened our internal processes but also gained valuable insights that allow us to offer even better solutions to our clients. Our ability to thrive under pressure is what sets us apart, proving that every challenge is an opportunity for growth.
