Russian programmers no longer need money. Give seniors and middles remote work.

[Father]

Most Russian IT professionals with extensive work experience do not intend to work in an office. Remote access for them is the main requirement, the ability not to appear on the territory of the employer is much more important to them than the size of their salary.

Salary doesn't solve anything

Domestic IT workers have dramatically changed their priorities when looking for a job and choosing an employer. As analysts of the iTrend communication agency told CNews, IT specialists do not put salary at all at the forefront, despite the rapid price growth and official annual inflation of more than 7% (Rosstat data).

The main factor for Russian IT personnel, at least for middle and senior managers, is the presence of remote work in the list of employer offers. The ability to work without appearing in the office at all is important for 75% of experienced IT professionals, and this is the first place among the requirements.

Middle, senior, and june (English – junior) are generally accepted terms that indicate the experience of an IT specialist. June is an employee who has barely joined the IT field, for example, yesterday's graduate of a specialized university, who has almost no knowledge and work experience. Middle is the next level. He has significantly more knowledge and experience, as well as a patch, but in all these points he lags behind the seigneur.

As reported by CNews, by the end of autumn 2023, 40% of all Russian IT specialists worked remotely. And 40% of them are ready to immediately write a letter of resignation in response to the employer's request to return to the office.

The size of the salary offered by the employer, oddly enough, did not even enter the top five in terms of relevance. It concerns only about a third (33.3%) of experienced IT workers, and this is the seventh place in the rating.

The survey was conducted in March 2024 and involved more than 300 high-level IT professionals aged 25 and over, working in the country's largest IT companies. Among them are employees of HRLink companies (engaged in digitalization of business processes, in particular, personnel document management), "Cargo Transportation Exchanges ATI.SU", software integrator MONT, software developer and integrator Corpsoft24, developer of data storage and visualization systems "Aerodisk", etc.

No one needs outdated companies

If the ability to work from home, a cafe, another city or country is the most common requirement of middle and senior managers, then in second place is the presence of an up-to-date technology stack, especially software. 70% of the surveyed IT professionals have no desire to work with outdated software. Completing the top 3 criteria for choosing a new job is the opportunity to develop in the profession – 63% of respondents want to learn something new and accumulate knowledge and skills.

The fourth place goes to the product created by the employer. This is an important criterion for choosing a job for 62% of respondents. Completing the top five most popular responses is choosing a job based on reviews from friends — this is what more than 46% of respondents do.

Among the less significant criteria was the presence of VMI – 44% and the sixth place. And only then comes the size of the salary (33.3%). This is followed by the presence of a well-equipped office (25% – those who do not need remote access), the brand awareness of the IT company (24%), the age of colleagues (16%), the first places of the employer in industry ratings (12%), as well as the mention of the company in business and industry media (4%).

"Several new trends have emerged in the IT labor market in recent years. So, the concept of "Employer-as-a-Service" appeared, in which the brand's strength loses its significance, and the idea of "I get paid here and now for a certain job"prevails among employees. At the same time, IT companies have leveled off on the main parameters, such as working conditions, salary, medical insurance, office conditions and training," iTrend managing Partner Asya Vlasova told CNews.

No one asks the Junes

Novice specialists, so-called "juns", did not participate in the iTrend survey. Over the past two years, the Russian IT industry has developed a very specific attitude of employers towards them – back in August 2022, CNews wrote that they are hired with great reluctance.

In modern Russia, IT juniors are most often graduates of online schools – this is often the fastest way to become part of the IT industry, since training in some professions lasts only a couple of months. However, as reported by CNews, employers are very skeptical about applicants who do not have a specialized higher education and provide not a university diploma, but an online school graduate certificate.

Meanwhile, there are not enough middle and senior managers in the Russian IT industry. CNews wrote that Russian employers often spend up to six months searching for IT personnel with work experience. Some companies are willing to hire specialists without specialized education, as long as they have the necessary knowledge and skills. And often the salary offer becomes a trump card – companies that are willing to pay good money for the work of an experienced IT employee close vacancies three times faster.

"In conditions of affluence and even an excess of specialists at the junior level (juna-approx. CNews), middle and senior level specialists have plenty to choose from. Such specialists receive up to 10 working offers per day. This forces businesses to compete fiercely for finding and retaining experienced employees, as well as change their approach to building an HR brand, look for media platforms that have authority among experienced IT professionals, and generally pay more attention to communications," Asya Vlasova told CNews.

Employers opinion

As practice shows, not only IT specialists working in the relevant organization put remote work at the forefront. A similar situation has developed, for example, in retail.

"Like many companies, we were faced with the fact that during the pandemic, many employees of the head office, including IT, effectively worked remotely from different regions of Russia," representatives of the M Group told CNews.Video-El Dorado". – Now we continue to search for and recruit IT employees from all over the country, relying primarily on the competence of specialists. We are interested in high-potential employees from all regions of Russia who are ready to develop, learn, and take on responsible roles and tasks. Currently in our company " M.Tech – an IT solutions developer and digital partner of the M Group.Video-Eldorado " – we build a hybrid work schedule, which on the one hand meets the company's business objectives, and at the same time gives flexibility to the schedule for employees. In other words, we are fully building a hybrid schedule, understanding that this is important for IT specialists."

"Of course, for many specialists, the ability to work remotely is an advantage. However, we cannot say that this is relevant for all employees – "Fyodor Chernov, head of the development department of the corporate messenger Compass, told CNews. – Some specialists, after the experience of being forced to work remotely during a covid lockdown, on the contrary, refuse to work remotely in favor of the office. This helps you focus on your work and separate your personal and work experience. As for our company, we are considering both remote and office work formats. But if the employee is located in the city where the company operates, we are in favor of the specialist working in the office. Offices in this case are the cores around which remote employees unite."

"In the last couple of years, large IT employers have leveled off in terms of salaries, so this criterion is no longer as important as it used to be," Ekaterina Sarantseva, Development Director of the iTrend communication agency, told CNews. – In addition, senior-level specialists think in the format of hackathons – they are used to keeping track of time, calculating the cost of an hour, and evaluating the amount of benefits brought to the company during this hour. In this approach, they prefer to focus their working time on product development and not spend it on lower-priority tasks that do not bring tangible results - for example, on the road."

 

[Carding Forum]

The Russian IT industry was occupied by inept programmers

In Russia, there are a lot of IT specialists whose competencies in their field are not high enough. They are faced not only by direct employers, but also by recruiters – they regularly communicate with candidates for IT vacancies who have a small amount of knowledge and experience. One of the reasons is the emergence of a large number of specialists in the industry who have come from other fields and completed retraining courses. The worst situation is in the areas of system analytics and frontend development.

Flow of unskilled personnel

In Russia, there were difficulties in selecting competent specialists for various positions, representatives of the Nordcore consulting company, which is engaged in the selection and provision of personnel, told CNews. According to the company's analysts, in general, 54% of recruiters speak about problems in various industries with the search for highly qualified personnel.

If we consider only the Russian information technology industry, then the number of personnel search specialists who are dissatisfied with the level of knowledge of job applicants is much higher. 66% of recruiters speak about the insufficient level of competence of candidates. The situation is similar in the telecommunications sector.

Also, when looking for a candidate for an IT vacancy, recruiters face another problem – they often do not have time to complete the hiring process of a particular specialist – he goes to another company. This was indicated by 40% of the HR specialists surveyed by Nordcore.

The reason lies on the surface

Experts attribute the drop in the level of competence of Russian IT specialists to the current shortage of personnel in the industry. Companies are constantly looking for employees, and demand creates supply – people who previously worked in completely different industries are trying to enter the IT sphere.

"The decline in the competencies of IT specialists is caused by the high demand for them in all industries, which, in turn, is caused by the unstable economic situation and the outflow of personnel," Nordcore CEO Larisa Katunina told CNews. "Today, businesses need to replenish their human resources fairly quickly due to widespread digitalization."

The head of Nordcore confirms that IT companies have to pay attention to "defectors" from other professions. "Many companies consider reskillers – people who have retrained to become an IT specialist from other fields," Larisa Katunina told CNews. – And here lies one of the main problems: the motivation for retraining is often based on a fast career track and high wages. This approach does not imply a depth of knowledge."

According to Katunina, HR specialists see that open vacancies in the field of information technology are now being filled by people "with completely different experience." She cited logisticians and accountants, in particular, as well as housewives who have completed retraining courses. "At the same time, many of them do not fully objectively assess the specifics of their future specialty – whether this area is interesting in general, the pool of tasks to be solved, the teams to work with," the Nordcore CEO added.

Most often, retraining courses are taught at various online schools, which, in the wake of the growing popularity of the IT sector, began to offer an abundance of relevant courses. Among them, there are so-called "intensive courses" that allow you to master a particular IT profession in a few weeks, and sometimes even days. CNews wrote that IT employers are suspicious of graduates of such schools and are in no hurry to hire them.

Main risk areas

Larisa Katunina revealed to CNews several specialties where the problem with low - and unskilled personnel is particularly acute. According to her, this is primarily system analytics and frontend development.

"This can be attributed to the fact that the stack in frontend is slightly simpler than in backend development-the JavaScript language can be learned faster than, for example, C#," said Larisa Katunina. – Thus, most novice specialists today go to the specialization that is easier to learn. And only a few continue to try to "get" knowledge inside the company."

At the same time, the head of Nordcore also drew attention to the fact that unskilled IT specialists do not seek to stay in one company as long as possible. "Often, specialists work in one company for about six months and, having secured a line in the resume, increase the position in another," she said.

Industry Opinion

Large Russian IT companies confirm the presence of a large number of incompetent specialists in the industry. "Yes, recruiters face a low level of competence of candidates for IT vacancies," Maria Grigorovich, HR Director of SL Soft (software developer, part of Softline Group), told CNews. – The labor market in this area is very competitive, and both small and large companies compete for specialists. The requirements for senior positions are very high, so the number of interviewees is increasing."

According to Grigorovich, many candidates for IT jobs "have inflated expectations for salary and compensation package", and that they often " simultaneously consider offers from several companies, and some simply estimate their market value, without having the intention to change jobs."

"Companies compete not only for new candidates, but also for retaining current employees," added Maria Grigorovich. – The situation is complicated by the fact that the market lacks qualified specialists, despite the large number of vacancies. This shortage is particularly acute after the pandemic, when demand for IT professionals has increased dramatically."

The HR director of SL Soft emphasized that IT is not easy for IT companies to find candidates for highly qualified positions – this, according to her, "is still difficult and requires considerable effort and time." "Thus, the problem of a low level of competence of candidates for IT vacancies exists, and recruiters face it regularly," Maria Grigorovich summed up.

Alexander Kovalev, HR business partner at Bazis (a Russian developer of software for cloud services and dynamic infrastructure platforms), told CNews: "The more popular IT is, the more people who want to get into it, the higher their salary expectations in the market, and the lower their level of knowledge. The situation when a candidate with less experience and knowledge wants to earn more money than more experienced colleagues who are already employed in the company is sad, but typical. As a vendor, we also face this problem. The key to success is to train and nurture your specialists and track the relevance of market conditions for employees and index them in a timely manner.

 

[Carding Forum]

There is no one to hire-programmers are rented out. In Russia, the boom in demand for IT workers without registration in the state with hourly pay

In Russia, the demand of employers for the so-called "rental" service for IT specialists has sharply increased. They are hired for temporary work, are not registered in the state, and are paid according to the number of hours worked. This is beneficial for companies, as there are no costs for hiring and firing staff, and IT also simplifies the search for IT specialists in conditions of their shortage.

IT employees for rent

Russian companies have changed their attitude towards IT professionals. If earlier they absolutely wanted to get them in their state, now they are more and more willing to just rent them, without legal and bureaucratic delays.

As representatives of the B2B marketplace SkillStaff told CNews, in the first half of 2024, the number of requests for renting IT specialists in Russia jumped by almost a third compared to the first half of 2023 – by 30%. This service is called "IT outstaffing".

Various companies in the financial sector, including banks, were most active in renting Russian IT specialists – they accounted for 37% of the corresponding requests, SkillStaff analysts told CNews. The third place is occupied by companies from the retail segment with a share of 20%, and the second place is occupied by the IT industry with a result of 28%. Telecommunications accounted for 7%, while all other sectors (industry and manufacturing, tourism and transport, public sector, real estate and construction, etc.) together accounted for 8%.

What is the benefit?

One of the main reasons companies are interested in hiring IT specialists is the money they can save by not hiring them in their staff. "IT companies often use the services of IT outstaffers for their own projects, as this form of hiring helps reduce the costs associated with attracting and retaining full-time employees," Polina Bialiatska, Executive Director of SkillStaff, told CNews.

Also, this approach greatly simplifies the search for IT personnel in the context of their shortage in Russia. "Businesses get access to a database of experts, including highly qualified ones, which is especially important given the shortage of personnel," Polina Bialiatska told CNews.

Where they search and how much they pay

Hiring IT specialists does not imply contributions to the pension fund. Also, they are not entitled to vacation pay and all other payments that are typical for full-time employees. They pay by the hour, but it can be completely different and depend on a wide range of factors.

One of them is the area in which the hired employee specializes. For example, in the first half of 2024, Bitrix developers were paid the least-2,350 rubles per hour, and product managers were paid the most (5,115 rubles per hour).

At the same time, the average cost of system analysts, auto-testers, and Java developers ranged from 3,200 to 3,600 rubles per hour. The total average salary of IT personnel hired through SkillStaff was 3,491 rubles per hour.

According to SkillStaff statistics, during the reporting period, companies most actively hired IT outstaffers from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk, Bishkek and Krasnodar. Most often, such specialists are hired for no more than six months (36% of cases). Rent for a period of 6 to 12 months is a slightly less frequent phenomenon (35%), in third place (21%) – rent for an indefinite period.

The share of applications for rent for a period of more than a year, as well as under other conditions, is identical and amounts to 4%, SkillStaff noted. According to analysts, approximately 90% of customers consider candidates for fully remote work, another 7% prefer the office format of cooperation, and only 3% choose a hybrid schedule.

What specialists are required

In the first half of 2024, employers were most often interested in hiring system analysts, auto-testers, and Java developers. A year earlier, the top 3 most popular IT specialists were almost the same, except that manual testing specialists were in third place, and not Java programmers.

What is especially important, "landlords" for the most part are not at all interested in novice specialists – juns. 68% of companies require a minimum of middles, and it is better-seniors or even leads. A year earlier, there were 69% of them, which means that there was almost no increase in interest in juns during the year.

The number of applications for mid – level candidates has increased year-on-year and now stands at 31% compared to 22% in the first half of 2023.Only 1% of requests are for specialists with an initial grade (in 2023-2%).

Companies from various fields are looking for different IT specialists. In the first half of 2024, Java specialists and business analysts were most often needed by retailers, and fintech companies were mainly looking for specialists in automation and load testing. But at the same time, system analysts were the most popular in both industries.

Retailers, as it turned out, are more interested in highly qualified specialists (67%), while in fintech this indicator is 60% "Preferences for mid – level specialists also differ: fintech – 38%, retail – 31%," SkillStaff representatives told CNews. – The percentage of applications for entry-level applicants is stable in both industries and is equal to 2%."

"Retail and fintech are leading the way in the digital transformation process and have an impact on creating a new, sustainable future for the economy. These areas need not only to adapt to current trends, but also to be one step ahead of the competition, introducing innovative solutions before others. This approach requires the involvement of experts in a short time frame, so IT outstaffing is becoming an important tool for companies seeking market leadership," Polina Bialiatska summed up.