Interview of the Director of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation Vadim Glushchenko.
There has been a lot of talk about increased attention to IT workers as well as support measures for IT workforce and companies engaged in domestic technological development. However, the truth is that this trend started during the 2020–2021 pandemic. At the time, companies were cutting costs, moving employees to remote work or looking for alternative ways to optimize business processes.
Naturally, when the pandemic started, the labor market experienced a lull in terms of both new job openings and CVs posted by jobseekers. Later, the demand for online services increased significantly, and so did the demand for experts who were ready to develop and maintain them. In 2022, there has been no big change in trend, which is the active development of the IT industry. Of course, since late February, the market has faced the challenge of foreign software developers’ withdrawal on various occasions. And yes, there have been experts who have decided to relocate. This is our reality. However, it is important to keep in mind that relocation became a topic of discussion during the pandemic, and it was during the pandemic that authorities placed great emphasis on solving the import substitution issue. Companies’ withdrawal from the market actually encouraged domestic software implementation and development. Also, taking into account a wide range of benefits and exemptions granted for IT companies, it wasn’t long before new jobs were added. Now, let’s review the numbers provided through the courtesy of the HeadHunter company.
What about supply and demand?
Looking at the bigger picture, the number of CVs increased by 27 % per annum, and the number of vacancies, by 35 %, compared to January 1, 2021. This seems rather encouraging, but everybody knows that usually, the employer is the one to choose between applicants, not the other way around. Therefore, it would be more accurate to compare the number of CVs with the number of vacancies. During the last week of March 2022, the openings-to-applicants ratio in the IT industry was 1:3. Anyone can decide for themselves whether it is good or bad, and nonetheless the ratio for the legal industry was approximately 1:10.
Willingness to relocate is also worth talking about because this information is usually included in a CV. In March 2022, 40.4 % of jobseekers engaged in IT were ready to change their places of residence. When separated from the context, this might sound like a shocking number. However, in 2021, 39.1 % of applicants were ready to relocate as well. Moreover, relocation usually means moving to another region or simply being ready to go on business trips—to various regions of Russia, in most cases. The important thing for applicants is to demonstrate their mobility to the potential employer. Willingness to relocate is not to be confused with a ticket to another city or country. Only 3 % of applicants are consciously including “willingness to relocate” in their CVs, but one should not forget about the downside to much-discussed relocation.
Let’s address the topic of personal finances of those IT experts who have made a considerate decision to continue building their careers in Russia. In 2022, the average monthly income has increased by 16 % and amounted to ₽71,000. In Moscow, it has increased by 13 %, reaching ₽113,000. In February 2022, the expected salary was the same as the offered one (₽73,000, to be precise). In March, the offer was already ₽75,000. However, the survey respondents’ expectations were higher and reached ₽78,000. Let’s wait for the April data. There are growing signs that the offer is going to increase.
Who is waiting for your CV?
IT experts’ CVs are in high demand indeed. The results of the first quarter of 2022 can best be presented as a ranked list of companies. Here are the top 10 companies engaged in various industries by number of job openings. Each company is ready to hire thousands of workers; the most active employers, up to 12,500 people.
1. Yandex
2. Sberbank
3. Tinkoff
4. MTS
5. Innotech
6. Ozon
7. Gazprom Neft
8. Rostelecom
9. VK
10. IC SIBINTEK.
If we look at it from another perspective, if we take the perspective of job seekers engaged in the IT industry, then, according to the study posted on habr.com in late February 2022, most developers would like to get a job at Yandex (43 %), Tinkoff (28 %) or Sber (25 %). In other words, the list of employers preferred by applicants starts the same way as the previous one, which means that everybody who shows enough commitment, both employers and employees, can have their self-actualization needs met.
So, what exactly do the top 3 companies offer, according to their HeadHunter job descriptions? Yandex is looking for iOS developers to work on the “Home with Alice” application at ₽250,000 per month; mobile app analysts are offered a salary of up to ₽170,000; web analysts can earn up to ₽300,000. At Sber, system analysts and DevOps engineers are going to be paid up to ₽300,000; iOS and Java developers, up to ₽200,000; team leaders can be offered more than ₽400,000. As for Tinkoff, applicants are mostly invited to negotiate salary during the interview. However, every month you can find plenty of Tinkoff job advertisements in which salaries of more than ₽200,000 are included in the description as well.
Keep in mind that today, most companies, even the smaller ones, offer employees extended health care coverage, a flexible work schedule—including the opportunity for remote work—rich company culture, additional training, various bonuses and benefits. The IT professionals’ level of income gives an opportunity not only to benefit from the recently announced program of preferential mortgage, but also to constantly grow professionally, have enough rest, do what one loves and enjoy the fruits of one’s labor today.
A “shortage” of tech workers is an issue that arose long before the beginning of 2022. This is the reason why the so-called tax maneuver was carried out in Russia’s IT industry in the summer of 2020. The second set of support measures, adopted in 2021, included 62 incentives that aimed at supporting the industry as well. The measures adopted this year have once again highlighted the role IT plays in Russia’s digital transformation. Today, there is basically no other country that could boast such variety of support tools for IT development. Therefore, huge advances are lurking just around the corner.
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