The era of mass IT personnel shortage in Russia has ended. Demand for ordinary programmers fell by 47%, for testers by 55%. The total number of IT vacancies decreased by 36% year-on-year, and the need for technical support, network and system engineers almost halved. This is stated in a TsMAKP study.
The reason is automation and large language models, which take over the routine writing of basic code. More than six people now apply for one vacancy instead of the previous three: graduates of courses who massively retrained during the years of shortage have entered the market.
New growth points are analytics and security. Demand for BI analysts increased by 38%, for data and machine learning specialists by 15%. The main employers for security specialists were not technological giants, but traditional industries: in the food industry, vacancies increased by 88%, in medicine and education by 36%, in logistics by 33%, in construction by 31%.
Experts do not expect the window for newcomers to close completely: the market is changing directions for career starts, and it is easier for young people to adapt to new demands. Graduates of short-term courses will have a harder time - competition has increased. Applicants are advised to look beyond the IT industry and master data and cybersecurity.