Salaries in the Polish IT industry in 2025
Are the circulating stories about the fortunes made by programmers and other IT specialists myths or facts? Are wages in the sector rising and will they continue to rise? And finally, who earns the most and where?
Many have decided to start a career in IT precisely because of the vision of big money. Many are considering this path for the same reason. What about you? Have you been working in the industry for some time and wondering what to do to join the ranks of the highest-paid? Let's look at the facts.
Our IT Community Survey Report 2025 is out. We surveyed nearly 5,000 people working in the sector, and the results are presented in an in-depth report. So let's take a look at the current real financial situation of IT specialists in Poland.
Form of Employment and Salary Levels
When analyzing IT industry earnings, we present salaries separately for 3 forms of employment: Employment Contract (Umowa o pracę), B2B contracts, and Mandate/Specific Task contracts (umowy zlecenia/o dzieło). In each case, we present the "take-home" (net) amounts. However, one should approach comparing the amounts for a given specialization across different forms of employment with a degree of caution.
One must consider, for example, the costs of ZUS (social security), accounting, and others that come with running a business, and the fact that some people billing B2B do not have paid leave covered by their employer, which was unfortunately confirmed by as many as 51% of our respondents employed on B2B contracts.
53.8% of our respondents from this year's IT Community Survey have an Employment Contract, 38.5% are employed on a B2B basis, while 6% have a Mandate or Specific Task contract. 1.7% of people responded that they have various contracts signed.
Where are wages the highest?
Summarizing and averaging the earnings of our respondents according to the latest report, we can confirm that, considering Employment Contracts, the highest earnings are in Krakow (11,511 PLN), Warsaw (10,743 PLN), and Wrocław (10,137 PLN). In contrast, the lowest earnings in this form of employment are in Białystok (6,617 PLN), Rzeszów (6,619 PLN), and Toruń (6,811 PLN).
Looking at B2B contracts, the highest average earnings are offered in Wrocław (22,583 PLN), the Tri-City (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot) (22,503 PLN), and Warsaw (21,575 PLN). Conversely, the lowest average B2B rates were recorded in Bydgoszcz (17,992 PLN), Poznań (18,371 PLN), and Rzeszów (18,610 PLN).
The situation is similar regarding earnings relative to company size. On Employment Contracts (UoP), the highest average earnings are offered by very large companies (over 5,000 people) – 11,391 PLN, followed by large companies (501-5,000 people) – 10,449 PLN. In medium-sized companies (51-500 people), the average net salary is 8,963 PLN, and in small companies (up to 50 employees) – 7,737 PLN.
On B2B contracts, the trend is similar, and earnings increase with company size: in small companies, net earnings average 19,377 PLN, in medium - 21,029 PLN, in large - 23,669 PLN, and in very large - 24,696 PLN.
However, considering Mandate/Specific Task contracts, the situation looks different: the highest rates are offered by medium-sized companies (10,900 PLN), followed by small companies (8,794 PLN). Large companies pay an average of 8,267 PLN, and the least is paid by very large companies (7,397 PLN). Here it is clear that medium-sized companies pay the most in these forms of employment, and the largest companies pay the least.
However, generalizing and simplifying the view of IT earnings according to the latest report, in terms of cities and company sizes, the thesis that the largest companies ("the big and rich") pay the most can be maintained, at least regarding Employment Contracts and B2B. The situation of those employed on Mandate and Specific Task contracts, where medium-sized companies offer the highest rates and very large ones the lowest, remains an interesting exception to this rule.
Who Gets Paid the Most?
Now for the most interesting part: how much do people earn in Polish IT in 2025 across different specializations.
Thanks to our respondents, who broke the taboo of talking about earnings and willingly shared their salaries with us, we can present you with information that has the potential to influence your future career path. So draw your own conclusions and plan your future career in such a way as to be among the highest-paid.
Below you will find IT specializations in general terms without a detailed distinction between different positions within a given specialization and without distinction based on the level of experience (such in-depth analyses can be found in our detailed reports).
Also note that the numbers below are average values, so the salary range for a given position in different companies and for different employees can be very large. It is obvious that a junior developer starting their career, employed on a mandate contract in a small company in one of the lowest-paying cities in the industry, e.g., Białystok, will earn incomparably less than a senior developer employed in one of Warsaw's corporations.
Also, as above, we look separately at the declared net earnings for those employed on an Employment Contract, separately at the net earnings for people billing B2B, and separately for those employed on a Mandate/Specific Task contract. Then, for comparison, we juxtapose the salary data with the results of our 2024 report (if we had data from our respondents about a specific specialization in 2024).
Salaries vs. IT Specializations in 2025 compared to 2024
Employment Contracts (Net PLN)
- 16,663 PLN (16,636 PLN in 2024) - IT Architect
- 13,817 PLN (11,392 PLN in 2024) - Project Manager / Product Owner
- 10,849 PLN (9,756 PLN in 2024) - Developer
- 10,617 PLN (9,686 PLN in 2024) - Data Science / ML / AI
- 10,210 PLN (9,153 PLN in 2024) - IT Administrator / DevOps
- 9,105 PLN (8,525 PLN in 2024) - IT Analyst / BI
- 9,899 PLN (10,160 PLN in 2024) - Other Specializations
- 9,182 PLN (8,095 PLN in 2024) - UX / UI
- 8,304 PLN (7,554 PLN in 2024) - Tester / QA
B2B Contracts (Net PLN)
- 30,934 PLN (34,564 PLN in 2024) - IT Architect
- 24,725 PLN (24,437 PLN in 2024) - IT Administrator / DevOps
- 24,118 PLN (22,887 PLN in 2024) - Data Science / ML / AI
- 21,730 PLN (21,767 PLN in 2024) - IT Analyst / BI
- 22,068 PLN (22,032 PLN in 2024) - Developer
- 23,431 PLN (23,453 PLN in 2024) - Project Manager / Product Owner
- 25,326 PLN (24,812 PLN in 2024) - Other Specializations
- 17,755 PLN (18,664 PLN in 2024) - Tester / QA
- 15,918 PLN (15,893 PLN in 2024) - UX / UI
While comparing IT wages in 2025 to 2024, let's touch upon the topic of raises. 70.1% of those participating in our survey declare that their salary increased over the last year, while 57.6% of respondents expect their salary to increase in 2025. This is still quite good news, especially in the face of rampant inflation and ongoing changes in the sector.
Unfortunately, we received less positive information from 29.9% of participants – their salary did not go up in the last year. Moreover, 22.3% of respondents state that they do not expect a pay rise this year, and 20.1% chose the answer "I don't know" to the same question.
What Drives Earnings in IT?
Certainly, in IT, you earn primarily based on the value you bring to the company. In different companies, the same job title covers a larger or smaller range of responsibilities, requiring a narrower or broader range of skills, experience, programming languages, frameworks, or knowledge of specific tools characteristic of a particular organization and the specifics of the projects being carried out. Not all developers are equal. Similarly, not all testers are equal, nor analysts.
The salary level for a given position increases with the level of experience, which increases with seniority. It's no secret that junior positions earn the least. Seniors can earn several times more than their junior colleagues, and the most is earned in managerial positions.
Let's see how the earnings of our respondents shape up in relation to their level of experience.
For Employment Contracts we have, respectively: 5,995 PLN for Juniors, 8,849 PLN for Mid/Regular level employees, 12,516 PLN for Seniors, 15,002 PLN for Tech Lead / Team Lead level, 16,345 PLN for Mid-level Manager, and 22,455 PLN for Director / C-level.
For B2B contracts we have: 9,736 PLN for Juniors, 16,573 PLN for Mid / Regular, 25,467 PLN for Senior level, 26,971 PLN for Tech Lead / Team Lead, 28,472 PLN for Mid-level Manager, and 31,659 PLN at the highest possible level, i.e., Director / C-level.
For Mandate/Specific Task contracts we have: 6,399 PLN for Juniors, 10,526 PLN for Mid / Regular, and 16,974 PLN for Seniors.
Looking at experience in the IT sector, we are of course talking not only about experience within one specialization but also about "cross-functional" experience. After all, the biggest financial careers are made by people who grow beyond their original specialization to positions like Team Leaders, DevOps, Project Managers, Analysts, and further IT Architects. These positions require significant commercial experience and a broad, holistic, and conceptual view of the projects being implemented.
Crucial for these positions is also the ability to manage teams efficiently and effectively. Careers are made by people actively involved in the projects being carried out and in the company's development, who willingly share their knowledge and experience with colleagues with less seniority and therefore less experience.
Remember that responsibility for your future in the industry rests on your shoulders. Sometimes failures in communication with the boss result in a lack of raises, and sometimes it is necessary to change jobs because a given company will have nothing more to offer. These are always individual choices.
Summary
We strongly encourage you to also familiarize yourself with our Salary Report, which is updated continuously and has separate reports for most specializations. Check below.
Knowing the current salary realities will certainly help you make beneficial career decisions 👌🏻