Polish
IT Community
Report
2021
New data available in our Polish IT Community Report 2024.
Contents
Demographic profile
Share
Gender
It is an industry that is highly dominated by men. However, the number of women in the IT and high-tech industry is growing year by year. Still, this growth is slow. In 2019 we noted that women are 9% of IT. In 2020 the number reached 14%, which means 5 points increase. However, experts call the tempo of this change "a crawling revolution". We hope that diversity sourcing actions that we can observe among big companies, in particular, will increase this tempo. From a business standpoint, diversity has a great impact. The researches show that it influences the ability to adapt to the changing market and businesses financial results.
Female
Male
Non-binary
Share
Age
Those aged 25-30 years old as a percentage is the biggest group in IT. They are approximately 35 % of the IT market. The adverse population trend and related to this smaller amount of IT students make themselves felt. However, the group entering the market remains the same as last year and is about 16%.
Share
City
On the map of Poland in each of the research conducted (since 2019) the first place belongs to Warsaw. Interestingly, turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and greater availability of remote work hasn't changed the trend at all. Still, the majority of IT-related specialists lives there. We count on a wider picture of the whole situation in 2022. Perhaps, Warsaw won't be the most popular city where the IT specialists work as the opportunity to work from each place of the world will be everyday life.
Share
IT specializations
Among IT specialists, the most numerous group is developers. In the detailed report, you will see that they are mainly backend developers. As we can see, more software testers took part in research, up to 8 % more in respect to last year research.
Admin / DevOps
IT Analyst
IT Architect
PM / Product Owner
Software developer
QA / Tester
Education
Share
Did you graduate from the University
Around 75 % of respondents graduated from the University. That is consistent with what we observed in previous years. Which Universities were the most frequent among study participants? This is the subject of the further part of report.
Currently studying
No
Yes
Share
Degree obtained
IT architect is the best-paid job in the industry. However, as the research shows, this is the role that requires the biggest experience in IT to do the job.
Doctoral studies
Engineering studies
Bachelor
Master
Share
For those who didn't graduate, which level of education did you stop on
Doctoral and postgraduate studies
First-cycle studies
Second-cycle studies
Primary/intermediate school
Secondary school
Share
Which studies does IT chose
The vast majority, in general, 87% of respondents chooses either technical or scientific field of studies. That shows us how many people will direct their education for IT and how many specialists decided to change their career path from the other industry.
Technical
Scientific
Humanistic
Social
Other
Share
Would a better knowledge of languages be useful in your job?
At first glance, it is visible that the vast majority believes that a better knowledge of the foreign language is helpful in the IT industry. Knowledge of foreign languages allows one to take a job in any company and location as well as enables a better understanding of documentation. It became more important during COVID-19 time when remote work became common. That enables IT specialists to decide about relocation to another country or work from their own homes.
No
Yes
Share
Which area of business is your current employer in?
Software houses or Software agencies are the main workplaces of Polish IT specialists. We can't ignore the fact that It is currently present almost in each industry. World digitalization causes that new technologies are applied in each area of business. That is good news for specialists as it offers a multitude of job offers and diversity of the industry where IT specialists can be employed.
Where IT specialists are employed?
Share
Which area of business is your current employer in?
Software houses or Software agencies are the main workplaces of Polish IT specialists. We can't ignore the fact that It is currently present almost in each industry. World digitalization causes that new technologies are applied in each area of business. That is good news for specialists as it offers a multitude of job offers and diversity of the industry where IT specialists can be employed.
Work experience
Share
In current job you are
In term of the internships, the research shows a decrease in the number of juniors compared to the last year. Obviously, the cause of it is pandemic. The limitations in the number of training courses, challenges related to onboarding of people with lower experience influence the number of juniors with lower working experience at the current employer. The dominating group is Mid which means in the nearest future Mids and Seniors will be dominating part of the market.
Mid / regular
Senior
Junior
C-level
Share
Work experience vs seniority level
It seems that Junior in IT is someone who works up to 7 years in the same position. Interestingly, the highest positions, like C-level, are reached typically in about 6 years. Yet, the majority of respondents in this position are those with 10 years of experience and more.
Junior
Mid / Regular
Senior
C-level
Salaries
Share
Agreements in IT
Even though IT employers are more willing to employ on B2B basis than those in other industries, our research shows that the dominating form of employment is still employment contract.
Employment contract
B2B cooperation
Civil or commission contract
Share
Salary vs experience
Employment contract, civil contract and contract of commission - net, B2B -net on the invoice
It turns out that those in a position of Senior/ C-level are more frequently employed on B2B. However, the pay gap between those positions is only 1300 PLN net. The most significant increase in earnings is during the promotion from junior to mid.
Share
Salary vs IT specialisation
Employment contract, civil contract and contract of commission - net, B2B -net on the invoice
IT Architect is the highest paid job in this industry. Nevertheless, as research results demonstrate, this role requires the most extensive experience to do the job.
Should you earn more? Check out fresh job offers matching your role:
Administrator | IT Analyst | IT Architect | DevOps | Project Manager | Developer | QA | Tester
Share
Salary vs cities
Employment contract, civil contract and contract of commission - net, B2B -net on the invoice
Specialists employed in Warsaw are still on top of the best paid in the ranking of Polish cities. However, keep in mind naturally higher costs of living in the capitals. Comparing the data from the previous year we can note the average pay gap with the difference of about 1470 PLN net. Rzeszow, similarly to the previous year, is the city with the lowest earnings in IT. Yet, salaries increased there as well to 1270 PLN net on average.
Moving to a different city? Only with an appropriate salary raise. Check out fresh job offers in major citites:
Share
Does B2B employer give a paid vacation?
More and more employers offer paid vacations to their B2B employees. A few years ago it was a benefit that now starts being a standard. Nevertheless, 46% of employees earn nothing while going on vacation. Undoubtedly, while in Senior and C-level positions the pay gap between B2B and employment contract is so big (in favour of B2B) that the lack of paid vacation in the annual settlement doesn't remarkably influence the financial condition of the employee. However, in lower positions, that gap can be severely felt.
Yes
No
Share
Did you get a pay rise in 2020?
More than half of IT workers got the pay rise in 2020. The following chart shows that 75% of respondents expect to get a pay rise in 2021. This news is the most optimistic as well as the most surprising throughout this year's research. Turbulence on the market that was caused by pandemic was quite worrying for most of the employers. That resulted in a few month suspension in financial decisions. However, we can see that was an effect of uncertainty rather than the lack of data or weaker financial results. That says a lot good about the IT industry.
Yes
No
Didn't get a raise in a while? You can make it happen. Check out fresh job offers with salary ranges.
Your salary can grow faster. Check out fresh tech job offers for:
Share
In what way does your employer give a pay rise?
45% of employers give a pay rise in their own initiative, though, only 26% of them does it according to the predefined rise programme. It shows that there is a lot to be done in the area of personnel management. It is worth remembering that IT belongs to quite developed in this aspect industry, as it was "forced" to this by chronological lack of talents. In a word, we still have what to do to improve.
I don't know
Discretionary, at the employee's initiative
According to predifined pay rise programme
Discretionary, at the employer's initiative
Share
What are your financial expectations in relation to your first job?
Question for those who don't work in IT commercially
Technology
Share
WHAT PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES DO YOU KNOW
Scripting and markup languages also. Multiple choice based on software developers' answers.
The most popular programming language among developers is JavaScript. It is followed by SQL and the technology essential in the web world -HTML/CSS. This year we can observe a growth of TypeScript popularity. 35% of programmers declare knowledge of it.
Share
The most disliked programming language
Scripting and markup languages also. Multiple choice based on software developers' answers.
20% of respondents marked JavaScript as the most unliked programming language. Yet, it is one of the most popular programming languages, especially in Poland.
Share
Which operating system do you use at home?
54%, the vast majority, are Windows users. That is a constant trend in Poland, though, in the scale of the world wins Linux as 56 % of respondents declare that they work with this operating system.
Share
Which operating system do you use at work?
This question is like a litmus test- we hoped that at least here Linux will win :) The difference is even bigger in favour of Windows.
Professional development
Share
What motivates you to development and learning new things at work the most?
We have been tracking the issue of motivation to develop having a job board on Bullgodjob for years. This factor is of great importance and employers constantly check what motivates their employees. The second year in a row, we can see that personal growth depends on personal will and the need for self-development. It is worth asking what motivated our candidates during job interviews.
Desire to develop,self-improvement, no matter where you work
I don't learn new things
Project that I work on
Changing market, necessity of being up-to-date
Share
Where do you get knowledge from?
That is an important question for us as we are the creators of the IT blog and we make valuable content for you. The way you answer this question confirms that our work is necessary and we are greatly responsible for what we do. Over 160 thousand IT people visit us few times a month. We are happy that it's another year when you mark blogs and IT services as the main source of knowledge!
Share
What professional aspirations do you have?
In each of the IT jobs mentioned, we can observe the big trend to develop yourself as an expert in their own area, yet personnel management is the secondary direction. From all the IT the most willing to manage are IT Analysts, almost 40% would like to develop in this direction.
Share
Do you act as a Team Leader
22% of IT specialists are those who work as a Team Leader. That role requires not only developed soft skills but extensive technical knowledge of the given area. Not often the Leader without technical knowledge can get credit from the team.
No
Yes
Work environment
Share
What is the most important at work?
Development, money and people are the factors which are mentioned every year as the most important for the employees. That is why it's so important to show them in job offers in a proper way. People and their development directions are the individual choices that's why it is worth showing how it really is. As a Bulldogjob, we notice that every year more and more specialists are willing to share their knowledge in IT blogs. A similar situation is with companies. Fruit Wednesdays and fancy pictures will never replace real people and what and how they think. That can be done sincerely and directly, e.g. by writing.
Share
IT company of your dream is
Open question
Google is on podium. Congratulations to Microsoft and Netguru!
Share
How important is it to have somebody at work, who you can talk not only about work
An introverted geek who doesn't need contact with other people is rather a stereotype than a reality. As the chart shows, only 3% of the IT community declares that they don't like talking to their colleagues about private things, for 9% are neutral. Still, 50% of respondents say that it is greatly important.
Very important
Good if you can but it's OK without it
Doesn't matter for me
I don't like talking about private stuff with my colleagues
Important
Share
Do you make friends with your colleagues?
Multiple choice
Interpersonal relationships are a greatly important element of life, also in IT. At last, we spend the majority of our time or at least half of it at work. 69% of you declared to be friends with workmates. As seen, COVID-19 and remote work didn't have a negative impact on this area.
I don't make friends with my colleagues, I have a lot of friends outside work
No, I don't know such person
Yes, I have such person
Yes, I have more than 3 people who we are friends outside work
Changing a job
Share
Where did you get to know about current employer from?
The most frequently mentioned source of information related to the market situation again is people we know. We do our best for you to get up-to-date information about job offers and the IT market situation from our portal.
Share
What should appear in a job offer?
Multiple choice
Salary transparency, list of technology and description of the projects. Apart from that, we add our observations from the Bulldogjob portal -salary range guarantees more CV. Offers with the salary range have almost 4,5 times more applications than those without. What's more interesting, offers with low salary ranges but still visible have better statistic than those without that might hide a higher salary range. The lack of information about the potential salary strongly limits the visibility of the job offer as well as decreases the number of applicants.
Share
How often do you change your job?
It might seem that the IT market is very dynamic, nevertheless, our research shows that the majority of respondents in three out of six specializations change their work less than once a five years. QA/ Testers, Developers and IT Architects change their work about every two years.
Stuck in your current job? Check out new job offers for your role:
Administrator | IT Analyst | IT Architect | DevOps | Project Manager | Developer | QA | Tester
Share
Which benefits do you think are the most attractive?
Multiple choice
Secure while being sick and opportunity to develop- those benefits are needed in IT. The "Training" tab on Bulldogjob is responsible for one of those needs. Additionally, external training is at a good price, especially from Bulldog:)
COVID i remote work
Share
How many days a week can you work remotely?
Only 7,6% of respondents don't work remotely. On the contrary, 73% work fully remotely. Will this trend remain? To our mind, not in 100%, we predict that it will change in hybrid mode.
Share
Where do you like to work the most?
43% of respondents prefer the hybrid model. That is a kind of compromise in the needs of employer and employee.
Hybrid
I don't have opinion
At the office
Remotely, outside the house
Remotely, at home
Share
What kind of support during the remote work do you expect from employer?
36% of respondents chose "the opportunity to split the time flexibly between work and home duties". We understand it as the opportunity to account employees for tasks, not for hours spent in front of the computer in hours meant for that. Trust is necessary for that- so maybe it's another idea of a benefit for the best employees?
Share
How often would you like to work remotely after pandemic
Only 2,2% of respondents want to work from the office after the pandemic. Undoubtedly, It is the industry that transferred to remote work the fastest and the least painfully. It became possible in the institutions that deal with National Security and financial security. It looks like we are the witnesses of the workstyle transformation.
Share
What interrupts you the most at home office?
25% of the IT community believes that the home office is the most efficient form of work and nothing disturbs them. Simultaneously, the group of 27% declares that a mix of home and work duties makes them a problem.
Share
What do you think of relocation due to work?
More than 31% of recipients declare they may consider relocation due to either financial aspect or an interesting project. However, the majority doesn't want to change the place of living. The movement at the real-estate market in Poland within the last half-year in connection to the opportunity to work remotely could have predicted greater openness to change the place of living but the results of the research don't prove it.
I don't want to change my place of living for another job
Relocation isn't a problem for me
I'll consider relocation if the location is attractive
I'll consider relocation if the offer is financially interesting
I'll consider relocation if the project is interesting
Moving to a different city? Only with an appropriate salary raise. Check out fresh job offers in major citites:
Share
Which direction of relocation is the most attractive for you?
68% of those thinking about relocation are checking the foreign markets. The most attractive destination remains Europe.
Share
Which city would you like to relocate?
Wroclaw and Warsaw are the most attractive cities for IT relocation
Methodology
- The research was conducted on 5.01.2021 - 16.02.2021. As for the moment of publishing, this is the newest source of data about the IT industry. The respondents were IT specialists and people preparing to work in the IT Industry.
- Study recruitment was via bulldogjob.pl webpage, social media, internet publishers and by email.
- The research was fully anonymous and it is impossible to match the specific answers to specific candidates based on statistics.
- However, candidates had the opportunity to voluntarily provide their email addresses to get the research results. The questionnaire included a full range of questions: opened and closed questions, questions using the scale and matrixes. Not all the questions were obligatory (e.g. the question related to salary).
- The questionnaire was designed in a way that allowed to fulfil it on desktop (laptop, PC) and mobile (tablet, smartphone) devices.
- 7171 questionnaires were sent with the required questions fulfilled. However, only verified in terms of data quality candidates were analyzed.
- The sample stands at 6482 respondents (5572 specialists with commercial experience and 890 preparing/studying to become IT specialist)
- Not all the questions were addressed to all the respondents. The questionnaire included filtering questions that limited the testing group to respondents who meet the defined criteria related to the specification of IT specialization in particular.
Partners
Interesting report?
Would you like to take part in the next edition as an employer?
Contact me:
[email protected]
It's a time for promotion! Check out fresh tech job offers for:
Junior | Mid / Regular | Senior