Ukrainian Tech Job Market During Wartime
When the initial shock passed two months after the start of the all-out war with Russia and the Ukrainian IT started adapting to the wartime conditions, we decided to analyze the labor market
specifically, what job offers for Tech Specialists are there and how they have changed during the war.
The number of job offers plunged to 40% of the pre-war level for all kinds of Tech Specialists. At the same time, salary forks remain largely unchanged.
The job offer geography changed dramatically. The portion of remote job offers increased, and some Ukrainian companies started actively placing job offers abroad (first of all, in Poland).
How we analyzed the data
Our analysis is based on the array of job offers placed on jobs.dou.ua between January 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022. We used data on a total of 138,857 job offers placed on our website during this period. We analyze the data month by month since every job offer is active on the website for 30 days.
This array DOES NOT contain information on all the job offers that have existed on the Ukrainian IT market since the start of 2021 because not all of them get published on DOU. It is also important to note that a single post on DOU could contain several job offers (e.g., similar jobs in different cities or looking for similar specialists of different levels). Nevertheless, we believe this data is a good representation of the changes and trends in the IT labor market.
The number of job offers plunged for all specializations, whereas that of job applications grew
March 2022 saw the lowest number of job postings on DOU at only 4,341 new job offers. The steepest plunge was observed during the first days of the war: only 370 new job offers were published in a week between February 28 and March 6 versus the pre-war average weekly of
The trend changed to growth almost immediately after that, and the number of new job posts on DOU has stabilized at 1,000 every week since the end of March. The number of new job offers on DOU is currently
Total monthly/weekly number of job offers
There were fewer job offers for all specializations. DOU posted 2,265 Developer job offers in April 2022 versus 4,283 in January 2022 (down 47%). During March—April 2022, we observed the most dramatic decrease in job offers for HR Specialists (-76% in March and −71% in April compared to January), DBA Specialists (-84% in March and −68% in April), Project Managers (-69% in March and −61% in April), and Analysts (-68% in March and −64% in April). The smallest drop was seen in job offers for Developers (-46% in March and −47% in April), DevOps (-50%), and Design Specialists (-52% in March and −48% in April).
April saw an emerging uptrend in job offers for several specializations. The number of jobs for
Also, Sales Specialist jobs surged from 92 in March to 155 in April (70% of the January 2022 figure).
Total monthly job offers by categories
Along with the decline in new job offers, interest in the existing offers increased. On average, there were four applications for each job on DOU in 2021. This number increased to nine in March 2022 and six in April 2022.
Average monthly/weekly job applications
Applications grew for all specializations, and most of all, for jobs in HR (24 applications on average in March and 16 in April versus seven in January), PM (23 in March and April versus nine in January), Marketing (20 in March and 11 in April versus six in January), Support (18 in March and 10 in April versus six in January), and QA (18 in March and 13 in April versus seven in January).
Average monthly/weekly job applications by categories
People were more actively applying for jobs in Ukraine and remote jobs than for those abroad. There were seven applications on average for one job offer in Ukraine and six for a remote job offer. At the same time, each foreign job offer had four applications on average, in particular, three for a job in Poland.
Average monthly/weekly job applications by geography
Tech market still needs Seniors and doesn’t seem to want Juniors s at all
Like before the war, the majority of active job offers were for experienced specialists. Specifically, 38% of jobs posted in April required specialists with
Total monthly jobs by experience
For specialists with low to no experience, it has become even harder to find a job than before the war. The number of new jobs for these specialists plummeted by 67% in April 2022 compared to January 2022. There were 64% fewer job offers for Junior Specialists in April (albeit a little more compared to March) and 81% fewer Intern jobs.
The shrinking number of entry-level jobs resulted in skyrocketing applications for each one of them. Each Intern job got around 76 applications in April and 91 in March versus 31 in January 2022. A QA Intern job requiring no prior experience and posted in
Total monthly jobs by seniority
Job offers for specialists with over three years of experience declined the least—by 44% in April compared to January. Those for Senior Specialists shrank by 41% in April versus January.
April saw an uptrend in new job offers for specialists with management responsibilities. Those for Head Specialists almost doubled from 33 in March 2022 to 65 in April 2022, while Lead Specialist jobs grew by 20%, from 209 in March to 247 in April.
The share of non-Ukraine jobs has increased 1.5 times
The vast majority of job offers on DOU were in Ukraine before the war, amounting to 82% of total offers in January. Most were for jobs in Kyiv (57% in January 2022), Kharkiv (18%), and Lviv (12%). Also, 48% had a remote work option. Foreign jobs accounted for 8% of the total.
In March—April 2022, foreign jobs took 26% of the total (8% in Poland and the rest in other countries, mostly Europe). The portion of remote jobs also increased (62% in March and 70% in April).
Total monthly job offers in Ukraine, remote, and non-Ukraine
The number of job offers in Ukraine tumbled more than three times over March: from 7,872 in January to 2,542 in April. The most dramatic plunges were observed in Kyiv (-72% jobs in April compared to January), Kharkiv (-82%), Sumy (-78%), Odesa (-72%), Dnipro (-69%), Chernihiv (-73%), and Mykolaiv (-75%). There was a minor increase in new jobs in Odesa and Dnipro in April compared to March. At the same time, the decline continued in Kharkiv.
The number of new jobs in the west of Ukraine decreased, too, albeit not as fast. There was a 27% downturn in Lviv in March compared to January, and similar trends were seen in Ternopil and Chernivtsi. The smallest decline was observed in Ivano-Frankivsk (-13% in April compared to January 2022), Lutsk (-16%), and Rivne (-11%).
Despite the plans to open an IT cluster in Uzhhorod, the number of new jobs there halved in April on the month and shrank by 48% compared to January 2022.
Total monthly job offers in the biggest cities by categories
Among developers, the biggest decline is in Mobile, PHP, Vue, Java, JS, .NET
The number of job offers for PHP Developers plummeted by 56% in April compared to January 2022. A similar trend was seen in Vue Developer jobs: a 53% decrease in March and 55% in April compared to January 2022. April saw a significant decrease in JavaScript (-51% in March and −57% in April compared to January 2022) and .NET Developer jobs (-50% in March and −57% in April). Besides, new job offers went down for Java Developers (from 297 in March to 256 in April), Angular Developers (from 110 to 88), and Go Developers (from 58 to 44).
Total monthly job offers by programming language
The least decline was seen in new offers for Ruby (-42% in April versus January 2022), Unity (-43%), React (-44%), and Node.js Developers (-46%).
The number of jobs for iOS Developers shrank by 50% in April compared to January, that for Android Developers by 55%, and overall jobs for Mobile Developers by 51%.
The downturn was the slowest in Full Stack Developer (-44% in April compared to January 2022) and Back-End Developer jobs (-43%). The number of Front-End Developer job offers tumbled more significantly, losing 49% in April compared to January.
Total monthly job offers for different type of Developers
New jobs for Testers decreased more than those for Developers
New jobs for QA Specialists decreased more than those for Developers, losing 58% in March and 61% in April compared to January.
The situation was somewhat better for Automation QA Specialists. March saw roughly the same pace of decline as in overall QA jobs, but there was no further downturn in April.
Total monthly job offers for different Tester categories
Almost all companies decreased the number of job postings
Out of Ukraine’s top 10 companies, most either stopped or reduced hiring in Ukraine and some switched to hiring abroad right after the outbreak of the war. However, the companies became a little more active in April.
Total monthly job offers of the most active companies on jobs.dou.ua
- EPAM
EPAM placed only two job offers on DOU in March but increased the number to 43 in April (the company posted some 61 job offers every month in 2021). Most of their offers were for remote jobs and around a quarter for jobs in the west of Ukraine.
- SoftServe
SoftServe reduced the number of its job offers in March 2022 but increased it again in April (53 jobs in April versus 25 in March), though it was still below the pre-war level (the company posted 89 new jobs on average every month in 2021). However, only 14 out of 53 posted offers were for jobs in Ukraine (predominantly the western regions), whereas the rest were in Europe (mostly Poland).
- GlobalLogic
GlobalLogic almost did not change the number of its offers on DOU after the start of the war, having posted 36 jobs in March and 43 in April versus 41 in January 2022. However, almost all of their jobs posted during the war required the relocation to Poland. Meanwhile, 265 job offers were posted on the company’s website as of May 5, including jobs in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv.
- Luxoft
Luxoft placed 24 job offers in April and 29 in March, which was close to their monthly average job postings in 2021 (23 offers). On May 5, over 100 job offers were posted on the company’s website, looking for specialists in Ukraine—specifically, Kyiv and Odesa as well as remote jobs.
- Ciklum
Ciklum noticeably reduced the number of its jobs posted on DOU as early as late 2021. In December, they placed 105 new jobs versus the 2021 monthly average of 186, and then the number continued going down every month. It hit the bottom in March 2022 at 25 jobs but then increased to 66 in April. Only 18 of their offers posted in April were for jobs in Ukraine. Most of the new jobs were in Poland.
- NIX
Kharkiv-based NIX practically stopped hiring after the start of the war. They posted six new jobs on DOU in April versus 97 in January 2022, and there was information about four job openings on their website as of May 5.
- DataArt
DataArt posted 10 jobs on DOU in April, out of which nine required working in Europe. The company’s website had nine offers for jobs in Ukraine on May 5.
- EVOPLAY
EVOPLAY started posting much fewer jobs on DOU as far back as August 2021, going from a monthly average of 32 in H1 to eight in H2. The company placed a DevOps Engineer job and a QA Specialist job in March and April 2022.
- Intellias
Intellias, like Ciklum, substantially reduced its new job postings on DOU before the war. While their monthly average was 223 in 2021, January 2022 saw only 17 new jobs. The company posted 25 job offers in March and April, out of which three were in Ukraine, and the rest were in Poland or remote jobs. Their website contained 130 job offers in Ukraine as of May 5, most of which were remote.
- ZONE3000
ZONE3000 placed only nine new jobs on DOU in March and 25 in April versus 43 in January 2022. All of their offers posted in April were remote jobs.
Salary forks in jobs have hardly changed
The salary fork was unveiled in only 11% of job offers on DOU, which significantly narrowed our ability to analyze salaries before and after the start of the war.
Most job offers that had these details demonstrated no decline in salaries. Moreover, there was even an occasional uptrend.
Median salaries by specialization (two figures represent the upper and lower ends)
Developers’ median salaries stayed largely unchanged in the job offers for Senior, Middle, and Junior Specialists alike. They stood at $2,500–4,500 in April versus $2,500–4,000 in January 2022. Besides, there was no difference in the salary forks of jobs in Ukraine, abroad, or remote jobs.
The April 2022 salaries in QA job offers were also generally the same as the pre-war levels. Median salaries varied between $1,800 and $3,000. The upper end of Automation Specialists’ salary fork even increased from $4,000 in January to $4,500 in March—April 2022.
Median salaries for Senior, Middle, and Junior Developersr
Despite the fact that the number of vacancies abroad has increased significantly, salary forks have remained unchanged — from $3,000 to $5,000.
Median salaries for Ukrainian, remote, and foreign jobs
Data Analytics: Iryna Ippolitova
Data Visualisation: Ihar Yanovski
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