March 13, 2014 at 12:49Web Developer Labor Market Research
Hello, Habr! We are announcing the results of a study conducted by RIK business school with Ruward expert support on the situation in the HR market of web developers in Russia.
As part of the study, an analysis of nearly 400 profiles of company representatives from the web development segment was carried out, as well as the monitoring of the popularity of vacancies in large employment portals.
This is not the first year that we regularly hear from managers and directors the question: "where can I get programmers?" Therefore, we decided to get down to business and begin to resolve this issue. To begin with, we had to figure out what kind of programmers are needed - and in what quantities - that's why we launched an open survey in November 2013.
Research methodology: online questionnaire of company representatives from the web development segment, own analysis of profile open vacancies at large employment portals.
According to the results of four months of research, diluted with a month of New Year's holidays and a month of the Olympiad, we finally publish the results.
In total, 368 questionnaires were analyzed as part of a survey for eliminating obvious inadequacy. In total, 368 companies require 2,658 developers of various levels, from trainees to technical directors. On average - 7 people per company. This characterizes the continuing hunger for several years in this segment of the market. Programmers on simple platforms are most in demand: PHP, HTML, JavaScript. More sophisticated Java and .Net platforms have proven to be much less popular. It should be clarified that the study was mainly attended by companies that develop software products in the Internet environment.
Roughly speaking, PHP is most popular for developing Internet products than other languages. Exotics like Python, C ++, Ruby on Rails, Django are not very popular: 65% of respondents strictly adhere to the classics (PHP, Java, .Net) and generally do not use rare new-fangled technologies.
The most popular of the "exotic" Python is used in the work of only 17% of companies.
An interesting relationship was revealed within the study: on simple platforms, more ordinary developers are needed, and on “complex” ones there is a significant bias towards technical directors.
The distribution of the need for developers by skill level within the framework of simple platforms (PHP, Frontend) and within complex (Java, .Net) is almost the same.
The terminology for “grades”, in the framework of which the study was conducted:
According to the results of the analysis, it became clear that most of all companies need ordinary PHP developers and ordinary interface developers. This is a rather strange fact, given that you can learn how to become a regular PHP programmer or typesetter in just a year from forums, books and inexpensive courses at renowned educational institutions. As part of the study, more than 500 applications for technical directors in one direction or another were identified. If we add to this our personal communication with representatives of Internet companies, the problem will become obvious: there are very few real managers with IT specialization.
The results are quite expected: 1C-Bitrix wins in PHP with a huge margin, Jquery among JS libraries, .net developers like raw ASP.NET, and Java developers like classic JavaSE, JavaEE and Spring.
From interesting points: more than a third of companies use XSLT in their projects. Also unexpected was the second place with C ++ among the "exotic" (for the web) technologies: after all, it is a rather difficult to understand low-level programming language.
Some chaos was also revealed in compiling a set of technological tools. If, among the companies surveyed, someone has a PHP department, then in the list of used PHP platforms, as a rule, there are 1-2 different frameworks. .Net developers are also quite conservative in this regard. But JavaScript and Java developers use a whole bunch of frameworks: for the most part, up to 3-4 different platforms are used, and in some cases up to 6-7.
85% of companies surveyed use a version control system. It is unclear how the remaining 15% work ... Probably, they do simple projects that are created by one developer in one week.
If we talk about the popularity of version control systems, then the “trendy” GIT expectedly won, and not the trendy SVN won silver by a wide margin from rivals. With the use of task trackers, everything is also quite prosaic: Jira and Redmine have been confident leaders for many years. 13 companies still use self-written trackers, and two of the respondents do not manage tasks at all. By the way, these 2 companies are included in 15% of those who refused version control. There are opposite situations: 5 companies use 4 different trackers at the same time.
Statistics on the cities where developers are needed also did not bring revelations: Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region are leading by a wide margin. Nizhny, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Samara and Tomsk are long-known clusters of Internet developers. However, in many ways this may be a consequence of the channels used to attract respondents.
Our survey accidentally became international: about 30 companies have representative offices in Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
70 companies (19% of respondents) work with remote employees outside the office.
Most companies are willing to pay one salary for training or hunting a person for a developer position. About 30% of respondents refuse to pay for such services or refrained from answering this question. It is worth noting that in general, employers are willing to pay more for training than for hunting.
Of 368 applications, 23 people wrote a detailed comment. Basically, it was about the fact that the programmer needs not only engineering skills, but also the so-called soft-skills: the ability to work in a team, the skills to solve non-standard creative tasks, risk assessment, time management.
Key findings of the study:
By the way, after analyzing the results of our own research, our colleagues from RIC quickly took a look and organized a new educational course " Technical Director ", which we recommend with both hands for pumping our own skills.
Yura Gugnin, managing partner of RIC, added a few words about him: "The main task of the course: to convey to technical top managers that they are not only engineers, but also managers. We will talk about tools for managing profitability and motivation, we will highlight hunting and development techniques good programmers, we’ll take a closer look at the process of managing the quality of a software product . "
As part of the study, an analysis of nearly 400 profiles of company representatives from the web development segment was carried out, as well as the monitoring of the popularity of vacancies in large employment portals.
This is not the first year that we regularly hear from managers and directors the question: "where can I get programmers?" Therefore, we decided to get down to business and begin to resolve this issue. To begin with, we had to figure out what kind of programmers are needed - and in what quantities - that's why we launched an open survey in November 2013.
Research methodology: online questionnaire of company representatives from the web development segment, own analysis of profile open vacancies at large employment portals.
According to the results of four months of research, diluted with a month of New Year's holidays and a month of the Olympiad, we finally publish the results.
Thousands of them
In total, 368 questionnaires were analyzed as part of a survey for eliminating obvious inadequacy. In total, 368 companies require 2,658 developers of various levels, from trainees to technical directors. On average - 7 people per company. This characterizes the continuing hunger for several years in this segment of the market. Programmers on simple platforms are most in demand: PHP, HTML, JavaScript. More sophisticated Java and .Net platforms have proven to be much less popular. It should be clarified that the study was mainly attended by companies that develop software products in the Internet environment.
Roughly speaking, PHP is most popular for developing Internet products than other languages. Exotics like Python, C ++, Ruby on Rails, Django are not very popular: 65% of respondents strictly adhere to the classics (PHP, Java, .Net) and generally do not use rare new-fangled technologies.
The most popular of the "exotic" Python is used in the work of only 17% of companies.
And the king is naked!
An interesting relationship was revealed within the study: on simple platforms, more ordinary developers are needed, and on “complex” ones there is a significant bias towards technical directors.
The distribution of the need for developers by skill level within the framework of simple platforms (PHP, Frontend) and within complex (Java, .Net) is almost the same.
The terminology for “grades”, in the framework of which the study was conducted:
- trainee: can write code under supervision;
- developer: makes simple projects himself, medium and complex - under supervision;
- lead developer: he makes a project of any complexity;
- team lead: manages a development team on one or more projects;
- architect: designs complex systems;
- Technical Director: manages the development department as a business manager, is responsible for the profitability and development of the department.
According to the results of the analysis, it became clear that most of all companies need ordinary PHP developers and ordinary interface developers. This is a rather strange fact, given that you can learn how to become a regular PHP programmer or typesetter in just a year from forums, books and inexpensive courses at renowned educational institutions. As part of the study, more than 500 applications for technical directors in one direction or another were identified. If we add to this our personal communication with representatives of Internet companies, the problem will become obvious: there are very few real managers with IT specialization.
Popular frameworks
The results are quite expected: 1C-Bitrix wins in PHP with a huge margin, Jquery among JS libraries, .net developers like raw ASP.NET, and Java developers like classic JavaSE, JavaEE and Spring.
From interesting points: more than a third of companies use XSLT in their projects. Also unexpected was the second place with C ++ among the "exotic" (for the web) technologies: after all, it is a rather difficult to understand low-level programming language.
Some chaos was also revealed in compiling a set of technological tools. If, among the companies surveyed, someone has a PHP department, then in the list of used PHP platforms, as a rule, there are 1-2 different frameworks. .Net developers are also quite conservative in this regard. But JavaScript and Java developers use a whole bunch of frameworks: for the most part, up to 3-4 different platforms are used, and in some cases up to 6-7.
The order on the table - the order in the head
85% of companies surveyed use a version control system. It is unclear how the remaining 15% work ... Probably, they do simple projects that are created by one developer in one week.
If we talk about the popularity of version control systems, then the “trendy” GIT expectedly won, and not the trendy SVN won silver by a wide margin from rivals. With the use of task trackers, everything is also quite prosaic: Jira and Redmine have been confident leaders for many years. 13 companies still use self-written trackers, and two of the respondents do not manage tasks at all. By the way, these 2 companies are included in 15% of those who refused version control. There are opposite situations: 5 companies use 4 different trackers at the same time.
Broad my native country
Statistics on the cities where developers are needed also did not bring revelations: Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region are leading by a wide margin. Nizhny, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Samara and Tomsk are long-known clusters of Internet developers. However, in many ways this may be a consequence of the channels used to attract respondents.
Our survey accidentally became international: about 30 companies have representative offices in Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
70 companies (19% of respondents) work with remote employees outside the office.
Training and Hunting
Most companies are willing to pay one salary for training or hunting a person for a developer position. About 30% of respondents refuse to pay for such services or refrained from answering this question. It is worth noting that in general, employers are willing to pay more for training than for hunting.
Study Summary
Of 368 applications, 23 people wrote a detailed comment. Basically, it was about the fact that the programmer needs not only engineering skills, but also the so-called soft-skills: the ability to work in a team, the skills to solve non-standard creative tasks, risk assessment, time management.
Key findings of the study:
- There is a sharp staff shortage in the web developer market;
- It is worth noting the widespread lack of IT managers;
- Companies, for the most part, use stable, run-in technologies;
- The main development centers are located in the capitals of Russia.
By the way, after analyzing the results of our own research, our colleagues from RIC quickly took a look and organized a new educational course " Technical Director ", which we recommend with both hands for pumping our own skills.
Yura Gugnin, managing partner of RIC, added a few words about him: "The main task of the course: to convey to technical top managers that they are not only engineers, but also managers. We will talk about tools for managing profitability and motivation, we will highlight hunting and development techniques good programmers, we’ll take a closer look at the process of managing the quality of a software product . "