Ukrainian IT: A snapshot of what is happening with the IT industry now and what to expect

27. April 2022

Ukrainian IT is a true representation of Ukraine itself: holding up in the face of immense challenges and performing significantly above expectations. Here are some encouraging statistics and the stories behind them.

Conscensia’s Operations Manager in Ukraine states:

“Like other companies, we are actually still recruiting in Ukraine. In the Lviv office during March and April, we welcomed almost the same number of newcomers as last year during the same period. My favorite saying now is: We are soldiers working on the home front, and we know perfectly well that the Ukrainian army needs a strong back line that will definitely lead us to victory.“

Iryna continues: „And we see now that Ukranian IT industry as well as each Ukrainian person who isn’t physically holding a gun at the front, continues to work hard, pay taxes, and show to the world that we can do business in these hard times with the same level of efficiency and dedication.“

Iryna explains: „About 15% of our specialists moved abroad, and continue to work with us from Poland, Germany, Spain, and other countries.
We have also recently moved to our new office, just as planned before the invasion, and we see that our teams are returning to see their dear colleagues, work closely with newcomers, brainstorm, and have team cup of coffee on the sofa.”

Current Status of the IT Industry in Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been going on for more than 2 months. During this time not only the defense industry, but all sectors of the economy, including IT, have had to move to a war footing. Like the soldiers on the front, the performance of the IT sector in these incredibly difficult times has forced the rest of the world to sit up and take notice. Ukrainian IT specialists, thanks to their dedication, mobility and flexible working models, continue to maintain extremely high levels of productivity.

Despite the first shock and a notable migration to safer places, the forecasts from Ukrainian experts for the future market are optimistic: the demand for IT skills remains high and the IT sector, above all others, may increase its significance as a driver of the Ukrainian economy. The global trend towards digitalization continues, and demand for IT talent will remain high.

„Our industry has suddenly been resilient to this situation, and at a very high level. According to a recent survey, almost 85% of companies operate in a normal business rhythm, and this is an achievement“ – said Konstantin Vasyuk, Executive Director of the IT Ukraine Association. “We have survived the first test. Now it is important that our clients continue supporting us and maintaining the contracts. We are able and absolutely ready to provide services at the highest level even under these conditions,” he added. (source)

The website DOU.ua is a cornerstone in Ukraine for stats, trends and analysis. It has conducted research into the status of Ukrainian IT since the start of the war. Information from Ukrainian IT specialists – both those who remained in Ukraine and those who went abroad was collected and analyzed. This information centered around what had happened to them over the past month.

The key takeaways are:

  • over 80% are working full time;
  • the vast majority is at 100% productivity
    • 84% of respondents work full time, another 7% – part-time. Almost all DevOps (93%), 88% of developers and managers, 87% of QA specialists, 86% of Data Scientists, and 85% of HR specialists are hard at work full time;
  • this despite 61% of the interviewees having left their homes and moved to a safer place after the foreign invasion. Almost half (47%) moved to a safer place in Ukraine, whilst 14% went abroad.

The Lviv region (where Conscensia has one of our development centers) is the most popular destination for IT specialists wanting to relocate inside Ukraine – 23% of those who moved since the beginning of the war – went to Lviv. Among foreign countries where IT specialists have gone since the start of the war, Poland is the leading destination (35%) followed by Germany (10%).

Personal Experiences From Ukrainian Software Developers

We asked some of our IT specialists about their situation and how they manage to keep delivering despite the circumstances.

Volodymyr Boryslavskyy (Software Developer, Norsk Byggtjeneste team) states:

“I am in Lviv and I’m not planning to leave, because this is my home. I try to be useful here in Ukraine – I continue to work and also volunteer. Together with my friends, I collect money and cover some parts of what the military lacks.
As long as our military is skillfully working in the east, we in Lviv have the opportunity to feel relatively safe. We try to do our job well because every gear of the mechanism must work, so that our economy does not stop. I’m thankful to everyone who did not stop and continues to do what he loves and what he can. We at Conscensia know how to code and are happy to support the military in parallel.”

Yevhen Shokur (Software Developer) explains:

“On February 24th, the first day of full-scale Russian invasion, my wife and I were in Germany, visiting a friend, and due to return to Ukraine on March 2. My first reaction was that it just can’t be, it’s not real, but then came the realization, and a period of watching the news began; constant watching, and thoughts that something needs to be done to keep family, friends, and relatives in safety.“

Yevhen continues: „The first working days were very difficult, productivity was quite low, all that worried me at that time were the things happening in Ukraine, the latest news. This was followed by the realization that something needs to be done to help our boys and girls in Ukraine who are defending our country and those who have been left homeless. The realisation that we need to continue working, to earn some money to help and support, and also try to find things for our army.
Speaking about work, our customers have shown full understanding. In the very first days, it was clear for me that they were also very concerned about the situation and were worried about us. They have continued to support us, always asking how we are, how our relatives are, whether we need anything and making sure we know that our safety was their priority. We are very grateful to them for this, so we continue to do our job and to perform our daily tasks in the best way possible. That is what we do and continue to do.”

Together with the whole of the Ukrainian IT sector, Conscensia is open for business, delivering results, and is even taking on new colleagues. All of the above is only possible thanks to the continuous and overwhelming support and flexibility from our customers and the dedication and work ethic from our Ukrainian developers and operational staff.

So let’s keep supporting Ukraine and its incredible people – and continue to work and expand the cooperation for a strong Ukrainian economy.