As information technology industry grows, firms face shortage of qualified programmers
ing out of qualified programmers, which has left some firms with lucrative Western contracts but not enough specialists to do the work.
Experts say educational centers can’t produce enough IT programmers to meet demand. At the same time, programmers, seeking higher salaries elsewhere, are leaving the country in droves.
“Many firms complain that they can’t find enough qualified information technology specialists,” said Viktor Spiridonov, executive director of the Ukrainian Association of Software Developers.
Highly trained computer programmers, project managers, software designers and quality-control personnel are in demand worldwide – even in Ukraine.
“It is a very serious problem,” said Volodymyr Bilodid, director of Tessart, a Kyiv firm that employs 42 IT specialists. He said there are plenty of IT specialists, but very few of them are up to par. As the field becomes more competitive, the workers require additional training. Ukrainian firms that once lured Western firms with the promise of a large pool of inexpensive IT specialists are afraid to admit they may have too few workers to get the job done.
“We are offered new contracts almost daily, but we are forced to turn many of them down because we simply can’t find enough qualified developers anymore,” said one manager of a Kyiv-based IT firm that employs more than 20 developers.
The dozens of private training centers scattered throughout the country aren’t filling the current demand for IT specialists, Spiridonov said.
For more than three years, Ukraine’s high-tech firms have been advertising abroad, promising a large number of IT professionals willing to work for a fraction of the cost of their Western counterparts.
That approach worked, resulting in a 20 percent increase in new contracts nationwide, Spiridonov said. Even large multi-national firms signed on small Ukrainian IT outfits.
The first indication that demand was exceeding supply became evident two years ago, but the problem became especially serious earlier this year, Spiridonov said.
Demand for Ukrainian programs was on the rise as programmer, began leaving the country in search of better jobs. More than 2,500 IT specialists leave for Russia, Europe and the United States annually, Spiridonov said.
To fill the gap, some firms are hiring inexperienced university graduates, mostly for one-month paid training programs. IT firms like Lviv’s Softserve and Kyiv’s Tessart have established close ties with regional universities to help prepare future specialists. They provide short-term internship programs and part-time jobs upon graduation.
Many IT firms complain that universities are not keeping pace with the industry’s fast-developing trends and technologies; IT training is primarily theoretical and doesn’t provide students with the practical experience required. It can take up to a year for newly hired developers to work effectively, Spiridonov said.
The shortage is leading some firms to establish their own training centers, which could help meet industry demands while generating a profit, he said.
One information technology firm that has created such a center is Kharkiv’s Telesens KSCL Ukraine, one of country’s largest software companies. The firm currently employs more than 150 IT specialists.
“We first began to notice a decrease in the number of available qualified developers last year,” said Serhy Platonov, director of Telesens’ IT training center. “So we decided to open a school and train [specialists] ourselves.”
Launched in January, Telesens’ half-year training program costs $750. The center has already graduated 60 students. Another 60 students are currently enrolled in the program.
The training center hopes to become accredited by the Education Ministry, which would give it university status, and the chance to be recognized by international IT educational institutions. The center plans to expand its curriculum in future years, Platonov said.
“The training that students receive from our center is not theoretical like in other universities, it is practical,” Platonov said.
“In addition to courses on programming languages and software development, students are trained in areas like project management and quality assurance.”
About half the instructors come from Kharkiv universities, while the rest are IT specialists working at Telesens, he said.
Students are not guaranteed jobs at the company upon graduation. The majority of this year’s graduates, however, quickly found jobs with IT firms inside and outside Ukraine, Platonov said.
The training center will benefit both Telesens’ and Ukraine’s information technology industry, he said.
“The school is not losing money,” Platonov said.
