russian software developing industry and software exports

Chapter 6.
Human Resources and the Labor Market Situation
(with the turnover from 4 MUSD to 20 MUSD) their
first place among most wanted specialists can hardly
be disputed.
The smallest companies hired C# developers
and UNIX system administrators more rarely than
other companies. But the demand for UNIX system
administrators is low for all companies. Even the largest
companies practically have not employed them.
15%
12%
9%
6%
3%
0%
Share of companies which didn't hire new staff in 2008
14%
turnover
up to 0.5 MUSD
10%
turnover
from 0.5 MUSD
to 4 MUSD
The interest in Win system administrators is also
low across all respondent companies. Still 14% of the
major companies hired them in 2008. Consequently,
the demand for Win system administrators is higher
than for UNIX system administrators.
The demand for C/C++ and Java developers was
not influenced by the crisis. The recruitment of other
specialists has reduced. However, the demand for
test engineers started to decrease already 2 years
ago. If in 2006 they were actively employed by 27%
of companies, in 2008 it was only 9%. The training
of these specialists was provided over several years
in many Russian cities, therefore their employment
enabled to fill a big number of vacancies available
several years ago.
Other specialists were in demand only for 8%
of respondents. Delphi developer was the most
frequently mentioned, and 6% of companies
employed professionals in this area.
Companies primarily oriented at external markets
rather than home market were more active on the
labor market. It was them who created demand for
UNIX system administrators. At the same time, Win
system administrators were employed only by the
companies who mainly focus on the internal market.
Companies with the export share less than
50% most frequently recruited PHP/MySQL webdevelopers.
The PHP technology is more often used
for the web-site development by Russian companies
and organizations, while ASP.Net/MS SQL is better
suited for complex orders that are usually placed in
Russia by international companies.
In St. Petersburg all companies were employing
specialists. The biggest proportion of companies
that have not hired new staff in 2008 was registered
0%
turnover
from 4 MUSD
to 20 MUSD
0%
turnover
over
20 MUSD
9%
all
respondents
in Moscow. The highest demand for Java developers
was recorded in St. Petersburg. C # developers were
approximately twice more often recruited in Moscow
and St. Petersburg than in other cities. The bigger the
city, the higher the demand for test engineers.
UNIX system administrators were offered jobs only
in St. Petersburg, whereas Win system administrators
were not recruited at all in St. Petersburg, Moscow
and Novosibirsk.
According to the survey results, companies are
not planning to massively recruit in 2009. Based on
their intentions, the staff of export companies should
grow by 7% on average. In previous year respondents
stated a totally different projected growth (30%–
40%). As a rule, the plans of the majority of companies
(mainly small ones) have turned out unrealistic.
Actually, only the major companies have significantly
increased their staff and sometimes even more than
initially planned.
Developer
(C/C++)
Developer
(Java)
Web-developer
(PHP/MySQL)
Developer
(C#)
Web-developer
(ASP.Net/MS SQL)
Tester
Developer
(DB)
System
administrator
(Win)
System
administrator
(UNIX)
Others
Most hired in 2008 specialists
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
9%
4%
2%
2%
8%
16%
21%
20%
29%
42%
Given the fact that the projected increase of
staff in previous years always exceeded the actual
growth, it may be assumed that at the year-end
2009 the forecast the 7% increase of staff will not be
achieved. At any rate such growth is not expected in
departments of software development companies in
Russia. A significant increase is possible only owing to
foreign branches.
Recruitment agencies data show that during the
crisis IT companies both reduce their staff and hire
new employees. Many of them do this simultaneously
thus ensuring staff rotation. Using the present
situation companies fire employees that were not
properly suited to perform current tasks and replace
them with more qualified specialists or those who
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