The demand for talented IT professionals today is higher than ever. Due to the total digitalization of business, developers have become the most valuable resource for companies. However, it is extremely difficult to find suitable people for the team, the lack of qualified personnel has already become a chronic problem.
Shortage of personnel in the IT field
The portrait of the market today is as follows: in principle, there are few professionals, they are practically not taught, and there are no ready-made specialists in many popular areas. Let's look at facts and figures.
1. According to a study conducted by the Foundation for the Development of Internet Initiatives, secondary vocational and higher education brings only 60 IT specialists to the market per year. According to experts, in 10 years the Russian economy may not have enough about two million developers to compete with the West in the field of technology.
2. There are already more vacancies than qualified personnel. According to HeadHunter, in just a two-year period (from 2016 to 2018), Russian companies have published more than 300 job offers for IT professionals. At the same time, 51% of ads are addressed to people with experience from one to three years, 36% - to professionals with at least four years of experience, and only 9% - to beginners.
3. According to a survey conducted by VTsIOM and APKIT, only 13% of graduates believe that their knowledge is sufficient to work in real IT projects. Colleges and even the most advanced universities do not have time to adapt educational programs to the requirements of the labor market. It is difficult for them to keep up with the rapid change in the technologies, solutions and products used.
4. According to IDC, only 3,5% of IT professionals are fully up to date. Many Russian companies are opening their own training centers to fill in the gaps and prepare workers for their needs.
For example, Parallels has its own laboratory at Moscow State Technical University. Bauman and close cooperation with other leading technical universities in Russia, and Tinkoff Bank organized courses at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University and a free school for fintech developers.
It is not only Russia that has faced the problem of a shortage of qualified personnel. The figures are different, but the situation is approximately the same in the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Germany, France ... There is a total shortage of specialists all over the world. Therefore, there is a real struggle for the best. And such nuances as nationality, gender, age are the last thing that worries employers.
Migration of Russian IT specialists abroad
It's no secret that Russian developers dominate international programming competitions. Google Code Jam, Microsoft Imagine Cup, CEPC, TopCoder - this is just a small list of prestigious championships where our specialists receive the highest marks. Do you know what they say about Russian programmers abroad?
- If you have a difficult task in programming, pass it on to the Americans. If it is very difficult - to the Chinese. If you think that it is impossible, give it to the Russians!
No wonder companies like Google, Apple, IBM, Intel, Oracle, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook are poaching our developers. And the recruiters of these organizations do not even need to try very hard, most Russian IT specialists themselves dream of such employment, and most importantly, moving abroad. Why? There are at least several reasons for this.
Salary
Yes, salaries are not the smallest in Russia (especially for developers). They are higher than in a number of Asian and African countries. But in the US and the EU, the conditions are more attractive ... by about three to five times. And no matter how much they say that money is not the main thing, it is they who are the measure of success in modern society. You can’t buy happiness on them, but new opportunities and a certain freedom are completely. This is what they go for.
The United States ranks first in terms of wages. Software developers at Amazon earn an average of $121 per year. To make it clearer, this is approximately 931 rubles per month. Microsoft and Facebook pay even more, $630 and $000 a year, respectively. Europe motivates less with material prospects. In Germany, for example, the annual salary is $140, in Switzerland - $000. But in any case, Russian salaries do not yet reach European ones.
Socio-economic factors
A weak currency and an unstable economic situation in Russia, together with idealistic ideas about what is best abroad, also encourage talented developers to leave their homeland. After all, it seems that in the abstract abroad there are more opportunities, and the climate is better, and medicine is better, and food is tastier, and in general life is easier and more comfortable.
In general, thoughts about moving begin to visit IT specialists during their studies. In our corridors of the country's leading educational institutions, bright and alluring banners "Job in the USA" flaunt, and recruiters' offices are located right at the faculties. According to statistics, four out of six programmers go abroad to work within three years of graduation. This "brain drain" deprives the country of the skilled workers it needs to keep the economy going.
Is there a way out?
First of all, youth policy should influence the reduction of the outflow of personnel abroad. It is in the interests of the state to recognize that the most important condition for national economic development is not only the training of the next generation of computer engineers, but also the search for ways to attract and retain qualified personnel at home. The competitiveness of the country depends on this.
Given the rich human capital, Russia should be one of the technological centers of the world. But so far this potential has not been realized. Modern realities are such that the state is slowly responding to the "brain drain". Because of this, Russian companies have to compete around the world for the same talent.
How to retain a valuable developer? It is important to invest in his education. The IT sector requires constant updating of skills and knowledge. Professional development at the expense of the company is what many want and expect from their employers. Often the desire to move to another country is associated with the conviction that in Russia it will not be possible to develop professionally or learn new technologies. Prove otherwise.
In principle, the issue of personal development can be solved in different ways. It does not have to be paid courses or expensive international conferences. A good option is to give a work task that will allow you to master new technologies or programming languages. Preferably the ones everyone is talking about. Developers love challenges. Without them, they get bored. And linking training directly to company projects is a win-win option for both employees and business.
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Talented developers do not want easy and mundane work. They are interested in solving problems, finding original solutions, going beyond the usual models. In American giant companies, our IT experts are not in the first positions, they are rarely delegated complex things. So interesting tasks that allow you to develop skills in the comfortable environment of Russian organizations are an excellent counter to the attractiveness of high salaries in the US and Europe.
Source: habr.com