Home Did you know?Indestructible IT. How the Ukrainian IT industry starts 2023
Indestructible IT. How the Ukrainian IT industry starts 2023

    Let’s briefly recall the state of the IT industry in Ukraine before the enemy’s full-scale invasion a year ago. Perhaps it should be said that Ukraine has become one of the largest exporters of IT services in Europe. According to a report by the IT Ukraine Association, the Ukrainian IT industry grew by 36% from $5 billion to $6.8 billion in exports in 2021. The number of IT startups in Ukraine continued to grow. For example, in 2021, there were more than 4000 IT startups in Ukraine.
    As of 2021, a total of 285,000 specialists worked in the Ukrainian IT market, increasing by more than 40,000 over the year. Thus, over the past three years, the IT industry has doubled its exports and increased the number of specialists by more than 50%.
    The biggest challenges for IT companies in Ukraine in 2022 were:

    • the forced migration of employees and their families;
    • relocation of companies to other, safer locations;
    • the ban on IT professionals traveling abroad;
    • conscription of IT specialists into the army;
    • retention of clients and minimization of risks in working with clients;
    • currency regulation and restrictions imposed by the NBU;
    • blackouts and problems with the Internet last fall;
    • safety at work.
    According to a report by the largest Ukrainian IT community DOU.ua, in 2022 the number of vacancies in the IT sector decreased by 13%, while the number of IT professionals increased by 23%.
    Despite the war, the country’s IT industry managed to demonstrate impressive flexibility and resilience in 2022 compared to other business areas. Thus, the report of the IT Ukraine Association shows that by October 2022, the industry generated $6 billion in export revenue, which is 10% more than last year. Most tech companies were able to resume their operations and, in some cases, even achieve positive growth dynamics by June-August last year.
    The IT market in Ukraine continues to grow. Due to a large number of people willing to work in this industry, thanks to graduates of universities, colleges, and various retraining courses, more than 300,000 specialists are already working in the industry.
    The positive performance in the industry was made possible by the large-scale and rapid business reformatting during the war. Most companies were able to effectively implement business continuity plans, switch to flexible work models, relocate teams, and diversify offices in Ukraine and abroad. Companies continue to operate and implement projects even in the face of blackouts, pay taxes on time, attract new customers, and actively enter the global market.
According to the CEO of GLOBRECS | Global Recruitment Solutions, the main trends in 2023 will be as follows:
  • the situation on the labor market in Ukraine will gradually level out – that is, if 2022 swung the labor market towards employers, then 2023 may gradually equalize supply and demand, provided that Ukraine can withstand;
  • wages, which in 2022 remained at the level of the previous year, will gradually increase, on average by 5-10%;
  • Ukrainian companies will be even more interested in entering Western markets and will open offices there and look for business development specialists, those with good skills in selling IT services or products, and fluent English. This is also a chance for many Ukrainians who have been scattered around the world.
    more and more startups will appear in the areas of alternative energy and the military-technical sphere.
  • the issue of providing businesses with power generators and fuel for them will also remain relevant, as well as the issue of uninterrupted Internet supply (currently, this is being addressed through the services of various Internet providers, as well as Starlink from Elon Musk);
  • cloud solutions will be increasingly used for the operation of key enterprise systems;
  • bomb shelters should appear near offices in case of new shelling;
  • remote workers, who now account for more than 50%, will be paid for coworking spaces that are convenient for them, where there is always electricity and the Internet.
    We are facing another difficult year, but Ukrainians are no strangers to hardship, and we are unstoppable.