We don’t have many young people everywhere

The average salary of IT specialists in the Russian Federation began to decline: in July-December 2023 it decreased by 15%, as calculated in Habr Career. According to HeadHunter, for some positions the drop was almost a quarter. The labor of game developers is falling in price the fastest. Analysts clarify that incomes are decreasing mainly for “entry-level” employees, while for management personnel, on the contrary, they are growing. Experts believe that this divergent trend will continue in 2024.

The average salary of IT specialists in the Russian Federation for the second half of 2023 decreased by 15%, to 141 thousand rubles. per month, follows from the annual study “Habr Careers”. According to analysts, the bulk of the decline occurred in the regions and affected the development, design, testing, etc. segments. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, over the course of six months, the average salary decreased by 7% (to 187 thousand rubles) and 14% (to 150 thousand . rub.) respectively.

“A reduction in wages is one of the signals of market oversaturation with a predominance of junior specialists who are primarily looking for experience rather than a high salary,” says Habr Career product manager Artem Zyza.

IT specialists themselves also spoke about a decrease in income; in surveys at the end of last year, almost 35% of respondents (see “Kommersant” dated December 14, 2023). Habr Career estimates the average salary using its own calculator. In it, in addition to salary, the IT specialist leaves data about location, specialization, qualifications, and place of work. Over the last six months, 34 thousand IT specialists used the calculator.

According to HeadHunter, for some positions the average salary actually decreased, among them “product analyst” (by 24%, to 114 thousand rubles), “head of analytics department” (by 6% year-on-year), etc. HeadHunter confirms , that mainly the drop in wages “is present in those vacancies for which applicants without experience apply.” But for “more demanding vacancies,” the service claims, the rates are rising: the average salary of the head of the development group over the year increased by 36%, to 205 thousand rubles, the technical director – by 19%, to 140 thousand rubles. Also, HeadHunter clarifies, the trend may be distorted by the methodology: for example, junior specialists began to more actively provide data on their salaries, which reduced the indicator. Promo IT CEO Denis Firsov notes that the average salary of junior specialists “in certain groups of the IT sector in some regions” has decreased by more than 25% over the year, so “many are forced to look for work remotely in other regions.”

In addition to the increase in the number of IT specialists without experience, the reason for the decrease in salaries could be the massive departure of Western vendors from the Russian market in 2022, says ITentika HR Director Elena Nikisheva: foreign companies offered higher salaries than domestic ones.

“In 2024, the number of Junior/Middle level specialists will continue to grow due to educational courses in the IT field, and therefore salaries will continue to fall,” believes Mr. Firsov. At the same time, the average earnings of experienced specialists may increase by 10–15% by the end of the year, added Veronika Elikova, director of the talent management department of the Innotech group (part of the T1 holding).

Both Habr Career and HeadHunter note the strongest drop in income in the game development industry.

Thus, according to Habr Careers, game developers in the second half of 2023 saw their average income decrease by 28% compared to the first half of the year, to 128 thousand rubles. According to HeadHunter estimates, the salary of game designers decreased by 13% over the year, to 75 thousand rubles.

However, official representatives of game developers deny the fall in employee income. According to HR business partner of VK Play Maria Ponamareva, “weighted average wages could decrease due to the fact that many companies attract young specialists.” President of the Russoft Association Valentin Makarov emphasized that the average earnings of game developers could decrease, since the main sales markets for their products are outside the Russian Federation: “To continue working, companies were forced to transfer resources abroad.”

Timofey Kornev