IT Career in 2023: What to Expect, What to Do

Yesterday Lesya Arnold joined a panel discussion “IT career in 2023: what to expect, what to do” organized by Innovecs.

Together with Mike Black, President of Talent Stream, and Vladyslav Kopanko, VP Delivery and Account Management at Innovecs, they covered such topics as:

✅ The change in companies’ hiring strategies

✅ Recommendations for tech talent to lend a job offer

✅ How an employer-driven market affects tech specialists

✅ Skills companies are searching for in 2023

✅ Expectations when it comes to 2023: what employment and workforce trends are

Thanks to Adam Bozsoki, Managing Director CEE at Innovecs, for moderation and excellent questions.

Find below the discussion summary.

Adam. What did change regarding the strategy related to the IT Talent? What recommendations can you provide for tech talent to lend a job offer?

Lesya. This is an excellent time to hire A-Players.

The real challenge here:

• To build a hiring system to optimize the process

• To put as many talents as possible on the top of the funnel

• To bring them through the funnel as fast and efficiently as possible

From a candidate’s side, I would suggest to understande where you stand on the market in terms of role, location, salary, etc. Being well-informed is essential to get the best job offer.

Also: improve skills, especially soft ones, and do whatever you can to get noticed.

Among soft skills, my top 3 would be:

• Problem-solving

• Creativity

• Communication skills.

Also, the ability to be a generalist rather than a specialist in an area. I’m a big fan of specialists, but this is not the best time for them, unfortunately.

Mike. Companies are much pickier with who they’re moving forward with in their process. They are trying to be more efficient with their dollars.

What we’ve seen from a lot of our clients – they’re putting people on a performance plan. If they can’t perform, they are being laid off. Thus, it’s not just about getting a job but also successful performance.

In the US, there is a lack of follow-ups after an interview. Remember to do it, let people know that you appreciate their time. When interviewing with a company, don’t just apply to jobs, reach out to the hiring managers (as many as possible).

If you’re at the beginning of a journey, I would recommend getting your hands on stuff. If that means taking a lower salary or working for free, do it. Because what matters is experience.

If you’re a little bit later in your career, I’d still consider jobs where you can get a valuable experience over dollars.

Vlad. Regarding our strategy:

• We analyze risks together with clients.

• One of our goals is to keep the people who are already in the company. We act proactively if we see some risk with a project.

• We’re moving people from project to project.

• We’re paying a lot of attention to training and development.

It’s necessary to look for new markets and customers and develop new expertise. It’ll help bounce back after the crisis.

Adam. According to Glassdoor and also Indeed hiring and workforce trends report, 2023 will continue to see a tight labor market with employers vying for top talent. What does this mean for tech specialists? How easy will it be for them to find a job? And how will it affect the salaries?

Mike. If you’re excellent at what you’re doing, I wouldn’t be worried. If you’re on edge there, getting another job at the same rate you used to have might be harder. Set your expectations correctly.

Lesya. Bigger companies (10K+ people) are having much more difficult times. Startups are in better positions, especially ones that raised money before the economic downturn. That’s the best area of the market. You're in a great place if you are a qualified talent for that market.

It has always been much easier for top talent to get a great job. Now it’s essential to get into that category.

Vlad. I don’t believe hiring will become easier for both sides (companies and candidates). Employers will no longer compromise in terms of requirements to the candidates. There will be no rush with decisions.

Adam. What are the skills you’re searching for specifically?

Lesya. From our research, top talent shares the same qualities. They’re:

• Smart and curious 

• Have a high level of integrity

• They care about what and with who they do it with

• Have high standards of quality for everything 

• Have a strong sense of ownership

• High achievers 

Hard skills, by default, are core, but then (because many people have similar hard skills) it comes to soft ones. The importance of hard skills didn’t decrease, but the importance of soft skills increased.

Adam. What are the most difficult vacancies to fill? Which one proved to be easier than you thought?

Mike. Site reliability, platform, ML, and data engineering roles have always been difficult. Front and backend engineering roles are much easier now.

Lesya. I would look at this from the perspective of a specific company. If you have a name, it’s always been easier to attract top talent. For startups, because they don’t have branding, it was harder. But now startups have a better advantage for funding.

Even though it’s an employer-driven market now, employees also change their strategies while looking for a job. They became much more cautious about where they go and whether they change a job. It is harder to headhunt people from companies with great culture (that haven’t laid off people or did it nicely). The company itself is a much stronger factor than a role.

I would say the hardest roles – very specialized engineers, and the easiest ones – business operations roles.

Vlad. It will be more challenging to fill the positions with cross-functional skills.

Adam. What are your expectations when it comes to 2023? What are the employment and workplace trends for the next 12 months?

Lesya. AI boom that will shape:

• For which roles we’re hiring for

• How we’re hiring

• Which companies will get funds the most

Companies will be much more cautious about money. They'll be:

• Saving money

• Thinking about how they spend on hiring

• Paying much more attention to retention

• Prioritizing flexibility in everything

We’ll see more project-based hires for specific tech-related and services roles. Companies will hire fewer internal recruiters and more external recruiting partners on a success-based fee or out-stuff model.

Mike. Also, a lot of companies are going under in 2023. Series B and C funding are almost gone. It’s much easier to raise Seed funding these days.

As a result, we’re going to see many people starting businesses.

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