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In recent years, the IT industry in Poland has undergone a hyperdynamic transformation. And now, the current economic slowdown, exacerbated by galloping inflation, has contributed to changes in levels of earnings. Check out the latest Devire Report, which presents earning levels in the IT industry, and makes forecasts for the second half of 2023.
Financial expectations in the IT industry in Poland
For the first time in almost a decade, there has been a decrease in financial expectations. Having said that, the first half of 2023 has seen a stabilisation in terms of wages, financial expectations and staff budgets across the entire IT industry.
These days it is much easier to recruit IT specialists, because candidates are more flexible and open to negotiation. At the same time, employers are no longer willing to meet excessive financial expectations, choosing to offer lower rates in order to secure their own bottom line.
Salary levels in the IT industry are mainly influenced by the dynamics of employment. New recruitment processes reflect the financial condition of companies, which is presently something of a mixed bag. Currently, there is an awareness on the part of employers that they can find IT specialists ready and willing to change jobs. However, because of stated budgetary constraints, it is increasingly difficult for IT specialists to secure higher earnings or raises.
“The dearth of new IT projects, which has led to a commensurate increase in the “candidate per project” ratio, has resulted in increased competition among those potential candidates interested in switching jobs. This has been confirmed by the growing number of responses to published vacancy advertisements” — says Agata Miller, Business Unit Manager, IT Permanent Recruitment.
Flexibility remains the key
The pandemic has completely changed the work landscape in the IT industry. Remote work and flexibility have become the new standard and the preferred model of cooperation, something which IT specialists wish to retain at all costs.
“Although there will be no return to the work systems which dominated prior to March 2020, recently an increase in the number of offers in the hybrid model or with occasional visits to the office can be observed. Employers are therefore willing to be flexible, but with conditions attached” — says Yana Ruzhantsava, Team Leader, Recruitment Process Outsourcing.
Is this the end of the IT employee market in Poland?
The first 6 months of 2023 brought a noticeable change on the Polish IT employee market. Fewer recruitment projects led to an increase in responses to new job advertisements. Just a few months earlier, it had almost been impossible to generate such interest for these vacancies.
Interestingly, the IT employee market is not due to a shortage of specialists. In Poland, there are vacancies for tens of thousands of IT specialists (and in the European Union even hundreds of thousands). So why are we still talking about an employee’s market in the IT industry when there has been a r educed demand for new staff among technology companies. Well, the unfreezing of headcounts as a result of the improvement in the financial condition of IT companies may soon bring back the days when we saw staff shortages across the industry.
The IT industry in Poland — forecasting the second half of 2023
Let’s take a look at what short-term changes are forecast for the IT industry:
Earnings
Many people are wondering how earnings in the IT industry will develop over the next six months – are we going to see stasis, increases, or cuts?
Based on data from the first half of 2023, we can talk about the stabilisation of rates and financial expectations in the IT industry. However, even a slight improvement in the financial situation of companies may result in a return to the expansion of teams and higher financial demands from current and prospective employees.
However, in order to talk about an increase in salaries, they must be analysed from a long-term perspective, which means that not all the answers are available to us at the current time.
The number of job offers
After several years of significant increases, a visible decrease in the growth rate of employment in the IT sector can be observed. However, the improvement in the financial situation of companies may lead to a short-term boom when it comes to job offers.
“However, the still uncertain situation on the global markets may mean that this sudden increase is only a blip; and so, it may not represent a return to what was an exponential demand for new employees” — says Karolina Nowicka, Business Delivery Manager, IT Contracting.
The most sought-after specialists
Due to the growing interest in AI solutions, couled with their popularisation and increasingly common commercial use, we can expect an increased demand for specialists in this area of the IT industry. It is most likely that projects related to AI will develop the fastest, particularly once the financial situation of companies improves.
Specialisations related to e-Commerce, as well as the development/cloud, full-stack and Big Data positions will remain unchanged.
Raises only for the select few
Not all IT specialists are experiencing a drop in earnings. There are certain specialisations in which employees can aim really high, particularly specialists in the fields of Devops/Cloud, Big Data or AI.
Although we are currently talking about the stagnation of salaries in the IT industry, specialists with strong experience can still count on an increase in their earnings to an average of 6%-8%.
Key employees for teams, projects or companies can also expect an increase in earnings. These raises will underpin their position in the organisation and provide welcome financial support during an uncertain economic situation.
The report “IT Salaries in Poland — the first half of 2023” is a must-read for HR experts who want to keep abreast of the changes taking place in this dynamic sector.
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