Why the world is ready to work with Uzbek engineers: the case of Truss and the Zero Risk program

Truss exemplifies how robust engineering teams from Uzbekistan can impact the global technology landscape. Currently, it ranks among the fastest-growing companies within IT Park Uzbekistan, collaborating with clients from the U.S. and Europe while establishing infrastructure for international recruitment through the Employer of Record model. Kadir Fuzaylov, co-founder of Truss, discussed with IT Park how the company has leveraged the region's potential into a competitive edge and why Uzbekistan has become a pivotal growth area in their global strategy.

Truss's success is a testament to the long-standing faith in local talent, consistent support from IT Park, and a dedication to generating new career opportunities for professionals throughout Central Asia. The company not only enhances the export of IT services but also allows foreign employers to enter the Uzbek market with minimal risk, fostering a new level of trust in the region on the international front.

The narrative of Truss extends back before the company was founded. In the early 2000s, Eric Hoopmann, who would later become the CEO of Lincoln Labs, began investigating global talent markets. He was among the first individuals from the U.S. tech industry to identify Uzbekistan as a promising reservoir of engineering talent.

During this time, Eric encountered Farrukh Umarov, a highly skilled engineer from Uzbekistan. Their partnership quickly led to Farrukh becoming a pivotal technical leader at Eric’s company — DealerFire, a software enterprise located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. DealerFire experienced rapid growth, bolstered by a small yet exceptionally talented Uzbek engineering team of approximately 10–15 specialists. Together, they developed award-winning software, expanded the business, and ultimately achieved a successful acquisition by DealerSocket.

This experience solidified the founders' belief in the significant potential of Uzbek engineers — their professionalism, commitment, and capability to produce world-class products. Following the company's sale in 2020, Eric and Farrukh established Lincoln Labs and opted to replicate the successful model, providing a new generation of specialists with the chance to collaborate with international firms.

“This is how Truss came to be — a company designed to connect developers from Uzbekistan, and eventually from other regional markets, with U.S. startups and technology corporations. Julia and I, who were also involved in the DealerFire journey, joined this mission.

“Together, we established a platform that creates global opportunities for engineers and enhances the region’s export capabilities,” stated Kadir Fuzaylov.

Why Uzbekistan was the natural choice

Uzbekistan emerged as a logical option for Truss due to years of collaboration with local professionals, which showcased their robust technical skills, motivation, loyalty, and willingness for long-term partnerships. The burgeoning technology ecosystem and a strong work ethic further solidified the founders’ conviction that Uzbek engineers can compete on par with talent from well-established global outsourcing centers.

In particular, Jizzakh offered favorable conditions for establishing a technology company. Registering in the region allowed Truss to take advantage of IT Park membership, streamline administrative processes, and contribute to the growth of the local IT community. Launching operations in Jizzakh enabled Truss to maintain lower costs, scale quickly, and integrate into a region that is actively working to enhance its footprint in the global technology arena.

The Zero Risk program and its impact

“We discovered the Zero Risk program in the summer of 2024 during our visit to Uzbekistan and our discussions with the IT Park team. At that time, Truss was in the midst of scaling, and the support provided by the program proved to be a timely resource that alleviated operational burdens and allowed us to concentrate on growth, hiring, and service enhancement. Re-registering in the Jizzakh region was a logical progression and marked the start of a sustainable partnership with IT Park,” Kadir Fuzaylov explained.

Two aspects of the Zero Risk program were particularly beneficial for Truss:

1. Reimbursement of hiring costs up to $500. This assistance helps the company offset some of the operational expenses linked to onboarding new specialists. For a growing startup, even modest financial aid creates significant opportunities for expansion and reinvestment.

2. Reimbursement of up to 15% of the payroll for Uzbek employees. This advantage considerably lowers monthly expenses, allowing the company to hire additional personnel, enhance service quality, and scale more swiftly.

For Truss, Zero Risk became more than just a financial aid program; it served as a catalyst that accelerated the company’s growth and bolstered international partners’ confidence in the region.

With the combination of strong engineering expertise and the support from IT Park, the company established predictable growth conditions, enabling a focus on what is most important — developing a sustainable model for global recruitment.

Results and Market Impact

“Our primary accomplishment in Uzbekistan is the scale of talent acquisition. We currently employ over 150 specialists, and our client roster has expanded to approximately 20 active international firms, including Infinity, Sunrun, Businessolver, and FreightPop. Additionally, we have built a substantial talent pool, with more than 10,000 candidates registered on our platform today. This demonstrates both the market’s confidence and the significant interest among local specialists in collaborating with international employers,” stated Kadir Fuzaylov.

Since becoming part of the Zero Risk program, Truss has seen its client base grow by about 40%. The stability and support offered by the program have allowed the company to scale with greater confidence and foster partnerships with new foreign entities. Currently, Truss stands as one of the leading partners for U.S. companies seeking talent in Uzbekistan, and it has recently received an increase in hiring requests from European firms as well.

Truss plays a crucial role in enhancing Uzbekistan’s export capabilities in IT and HR services. By linking local specialists with U.S. and European companies, Truss generates international employment opportunities on a scale that was previously unavailable.

“Our model also enables foreign companies to hire specialists in Uzbekistan with zero risk, which promotes their entry into the market and aids in job creation within the country,” remarked Kadir Fuzaylov.

Interest among Uzbek specialists in international companies is rapidly increasing. Many aspire to work with U.S. and European employers for the global experience, competitive salaries, and improved career advancement. Concurrently, there is a growing global interest in Uzbek talent. The last two years have made one thing clear: the region is home to skilled engineers, and the world is eager to collaborate with them.

“By establishing a presence in the Jizzakh region, we are enhancing the region’s visibility, attracting investment, and generating new employment opportunities. Foreign companies that partner with us become aware of Jizzakh through our involvement, prompting many to explore the region more thoroughly. This creates a chain reaction: increased interest from companies leads to more specialists finding jobs, thereby accelerating the development of the region’s IT sector.”

As a member company, we observe that IT Park is becoming more active, supportive, and appealing to foreign partners. IT Park is continually enhancing the business environment, optimizing processes, promoting Uzbekistan on the international stage, and initiating programs like Zero Risk that reduce entry barriers for foreign firms. All these efforts significantly boost the country's competitiveness in the global outsourcing and remote hiring sectors,” stated Kadir Fuzaylov.

How Truss Global operates

Initially, Truss utilized a traditional outsourcing model; however, it soon became apparent that this strategy was challenging to scale. U.S. companies increasingly favored directly hiring skilled developers rather than outsourcing entire projects. This change prompted the company to transition to the Employer of Record (EOR) model, which allows clients to employ specialists without needing to establish a legal entity, assume HR and tax obligations, or navigate local regulatory frameworks. Truss takes full responsibility for legal, HR, and compliance functions, providing a transparent, secure, and convenient approach to international hiring.

The demand for EOR services is growing worldwide as companies aim to recruit talent globally without the need to open foreign offices or handle regulatory challenges. In Uzbekistan, this demand is particularly strong due to the extensive and varied talent pool. The profiles most sought after by Truss’s U.S. clients include:

Truss is also witnessing a swift increase in interest in Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan, and is preparing for the upcoming wave of demand—especially in the artificial intelligence sector. Building robust engineering teams and enhancing AI capabilities are crucial components of the company’s long-term strategy.

Entering global markets

“Currently, Truss operates in Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. We selected these markets because they consistently yield strong, highly motivated developers eager to collaborate with international companies, and they are located in regions that U.S. firms do not always prioritize for expansion. These markets are less saturated, providing an advantage compared to areas where major players like Microsoft, Meta, and Google operate and can offer higher salaries,” Kadir Fuzaylov explained.

These countries boast dynamic IT ecosystems bolstered by modern educational programs and strong English language skills, making their specialists competitive on a global scale.

Among the countries in the region, Uzbekistan emerges as the most notable success story: the local IT sector is experiencing rapid growth, and the support from IT Park creates advantageous conditions for technology firms.

As confidence increases, numerous clients eventually establish their own offices in Uzbekistan, thereby directly bolstering the local IT industry. Consequently, the region is drawing an increasing number of international companies, with Truss and IT Park playing a pivotal role in enhancing the region's global footprint.

Future Plans

The future of recruitment is influenced by several global trends that directly affect Truss’s strategy:

1. AI-driven recruitment and automation. Organizations are seeking quicker, more accurate hiring solutions, and AI is becoming an essential tool for screening, matching, and minimizing time-to-hire.

2. Shift toward emerging markets. As traditional markets grow more saturated and expensive, companies are looking towards Central Asia, where professionals offer loyalty, robust technical skills, and competitive salaries.

3. Remote work. The global shift towards long-term remote collaboration is underway. Companies are less limited by geographical boundaries, making the EOR model increasingly sought after.

4. Early-stage talent channels. Businesses require access to young, rapidly developing specialists—a trend that aligns with Truss’s partnerships with universities and academies in Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan.

Truss is gearing up for these changes, placing a strong emphasis on AI and regional growth.

“In the next two years, our main objective is to become the leading recruiting and Employer of Record provider in Central Asia. We aim for every international company considering the region to immediately identify Truss as the essential partner capable of efficiently and reliably assisting them in hiring specialists of any profile.

To accomplish this, we are constructing the largest developer database in the region and enhancing collaborations with universities, academies, and training centers. This will allow us to recruit both top senior specialists and the most promising graduates.

Another significant focus is the integration of artificial intelligence. We intend to incorporate AI into our platform to drastically reduce time-to-hire. Our objective is straightforward: to enable companies to onboard employees in days rather than weeks,” stated Kadir Fuzaylov.

This blend of regional leadership and technological advancement underpins Truss’s development strategy for the next two years.

Uzbekistan has the potential to emerge as one of the foremost markets for IT outsourcing and remote hiring globally. It is an evolving market with several strategic advantages:

1. A rapidly growing pool of qualified IT professionals

2. Increasing availability of academies and training programs

3. A highly motivated youth demographic eager to work for international companies

4. Strong government support for the technology sector

5. A talent pool that prioritizes loyalty and long-term commitment

For these reasons, Uzbekistan presents a unique opportunity in the global technology landscape: a workforce of highly skilled, motivated professionals with reasonable salary expectations.

“At Truss, we see this every day. Companies from the United States, and increasingly from Europe, show growing interest in hiring our specialists. With strong university partnerships and a large candidate base, we are confident that over the next decade Uzbekistan can become a major hub for global remote hiring,” stated Kadir Fuzaylov.

The example of Truss clearly demonstrates the role that IT Park Uzbekistan plays in fostering a sustainable ecosystem for international technology businesses. Through initiatives such as Zero Risk, the development of regional IT clusters, and systematic collaboration with foreign companies, IT Park has created predictable and competitive conditions for entering the Uzbek market. This not only enhances the country’s export potential but also cultivates trust among global partners, positioning Uzbekistan as a significant growth area on the global map of technology and talent.