IT specialties in 2023 turned out to be the most attractive for Russian applicants

The highest competition was in the medical universities of St. Petersburg

The Ministry of Digital Development calculated that IT specialties in 2023 were the most attractive for applicants. More than 650,000 people sought to enter the budget for “Computer Science and Computer Engineering” alone. Also highly rated among applicants were the areas of “Information Security”, “Computer and Information Sciences”, “Applied Mathematics” and analytics.

Of course, 650 thousand is an impressive result. For comparison, the entire budget for all universities in the country has 626,278 places. The influx of future programmers and others like them is good for the economy, because the other day the head of the Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev estimated the shortage of specialists at all levels in the field of IT at 500-700 thousand people.

And yet, a more complete picture of the demand for admission in areas of study is shown by the totality of revenues to the budget and the paid department. And here medical universities traditionally hold the palm. According to experts from the HSE for 2022, only 50,467 people were enrolled in “health care”, and 45,249 in IT specialists.

There is no such data for the current admissions campaign. But it is known that the general competition in medical universities has grown by 17%. In some universities of St. Petersburg, where this year there was generally the greatest, even in comparison with Moscow, excitement among applicants, the competition reached 200-500 people per place. Also in the most rated medical areas: “General Medicine”, “Pediatrics” and “Dentistry” – targeted sets flourished. In some cases, 77% or more of those admitted were targeted.

Well, while there is no final digital data, the most popular areas of training this year are known. With the exception of future doctors and IT specialists, these are “Education and Pedagogical Sciences”, “Economics and Management”, “Engineering”. And in colleges, the most popular areas were Information Systems and Programming, Nursing, General Medicine, Economics and Accounting, Tourism and Hospitality.

In any case, the motivation is interesting. Why graduates en masse go to the electronic information industry. The survey conducted at the end of spring surprised. For the majority – 63% of respondents – the most important thing was to have a flexible schedule and the possibility of remote work. High incomes in the industry were a priority for 59% of respondents. Also important for the graduates of 2023 was the opportunity for career growth and the “creation of new technological solutions”.

“I work in the IT department of a large company, and in general I have been in the profession for 25 years,” says Ivan Berezin, a programmer from Moscow. – And I can confirm that almost all of these expectations are true. Indeed, there is an opportunity to work outside the office with almost no loss of quality in my specialization, but there are those who only work this way. But I, with some reference to production processes, appreciated this “option” during the pandemic. My wife and I, who can also work remotely, and our child lived outside the city for 7 months. I can also note a stable income growth and a good level of remuneration. It is not difficult for a programmer to find a job even during an economic downturn or crisis. But as for the “new solutions”, I have to disappoint – in any industry, and we, too, have creators and “stars”, there are workhorses. Most of the latter, of course. But, on the other hand, there are so many specializations in IT that everyone will find a use for themselves and their own niche.