You're reading: Nearly 9,000 IT specialists leave Ukraine in past two years

The growth of Ukraine's information technology market to $2.5 billion by the end of 2015 did not lead to an increase in the number of industry professionals. In fact, there is a serious shortage of young IT specialists.

Up to 9,000 IT specialists have left Ukraine for Europe and the United States in the past two years alone, the press service of SmartMe University quoted Managing Partner Oksana Bila as saying.

“Unfortunately, over the last two years up to 9,000 IT professionals have left Ukraine, they immigrated to the United States and Europe. But the released vacancies are quickly offset by an influx of young professionals and ‘switchers,'” she said.

The company also cites IDC, which reported that Ukraine’s share in the world’s information technology market is 1 percent nowadays. However, according to forecasts, the IT market in Ukraine could grow by 5-10 percent in 2016.

“At the moment, there are about 90,000 – 100,000 IT specialists in the country. Even though it is one of the highest rates in Europe, there is still a lack of qualified professionals. In India, for example, the IT industry employs more than 1 million programmers,” Bila said.