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Вікторія ГорбікWork
10 April 2025, 09:00
2025-04-10
The evolution of Junior through the eyes of recruiters. Or what has changed in the approach to hiring novice developers with the advent of AI tools and market oversaturation
According to the current trends in the IT development labor market, employers no longer need the same skillset of 2020-2021. Today’s early-stage developers in the AI era must have a completely different set of stacks to qualify for an offer. This is confirmed by both experienced Ukrainian tech specialists and co-founders of the startup Hello Interview Evan King and Stefan May. They believe that the results of candidates who would have secured an offer in 2021 may not even make it to the selection stage today.
According to HR experts, the opinions of experienced developers on this issue and the position of the business are slightly different. We decided to look towards the latter and find out how the requirements for junior developers have changed in recent years, what skills the employer is looking for in beginners, and how juniors can generally «hook» the employer.
According to the current trends in the IT development labor market, employers no longer need the same skillset of 2020-2021. Today’s early-stage developers in the AI era must have a completely different set of stacks to qualify for an offer. This is confirmed by both experienced Ukrainian tech specialists and co-founders of the startup Hello Interview Evan King and Stefan May. They believe that the results of candidates who would have secured an offer in 2021 may not even make it to the selection stage today.
According to HR experts, the opinions of experienced developers on this issue and the position of the business are slightly different. We decided to look towards the latter and find out how the requirements for junior developers have changed in recent years, what skills the employer is looking for in beginners, and how juniors can generally «hook» the employer.
Changes in Junahs and the Impact of AI
Recruiters almost unanimously confirm that the requirements for juniors have indeed changed, especially with the advent of AI tools in mass access. Expectations from beginners are much higher, and basic knowledge after courses or university or knowledge of one framework is no longer enough to qualify for a position.
Taras Popovych, Tech Recruiter at Sunvery, says he’s already seeing a lot of job openings in his LinkedIn news feed with wildly inflated requirements for Junior developers. He says tools like Copilot and ChatGPT have emerged that can help with routine tasks.
«So the emphasis gradually shifted to understanding logic, the ability to solve problems and adapt, and find certain patterns in the work itself,» he adds.
Summarizing the changes that have occurred in the skills requirements of novice developers over the past few years, Co-Founder of IT company Codica Natalia Klimenko notes that:
Junis are expected not just to know tools or programming languages, but also to be able to adapt to new technologies quickly. What is needed is not just a set of technical knowledge, but systems thinking — an understanding of how a software product works, how its components interact, and how certain processes can be optimized.
Soft skills and teamwork remain important. Then and now, not only the ability to write code is valued, but also the ability to communicate, express technical opinions, and work with colleagues on a common task.
But can AI replace developers, even beginners? Taras Popovych is sure that automating a certain part of the work is possible, but completely replacing it is not. «The main task of the client is to solve the problem. However, understanding the code, changing something, rewriting something is a completely different issue, which AI is far from always able to solve,» he explains.
And here Natalia Klymenko adds that currently the most important skill for novice developers is the ability to critically evaluate AI results, because automation does not guarantee correctness. June must be able not only to use AI to speed up tasks, but also to verify the result obtained.
«Because AI will write something for you, but will it work?» the expert asks.
«The candidate decided to start right away with Hard Skills»: the recruiter received a resume in the form of code. Will such creativity help get a job — the IT community discusses
Are Junes needed right now?
Referring to the words of his colleagues, Taras Popovych says that on the one hand, five years ago it was easier, since the market was well saturated with a large number of open positions and getting an internship or finding a Junior role was not a huge problem.
And as Lead Talent Acquisition Artem Nikityuk from the consulting and auditing company Deloitte emphasizes, the image of «June 2016» and «June 2025» is different.
«It’s natural — the market has changed, technologies, tools, and requirements have changed,» he notes, confidently asserting that Junos are not just needed, but always needed.
«The basic truth remains the same: newcomers bring new ideas, speed of thinking, and a fresh perspective to teams. And a desire to grow, which is of immense value to the business,» he explains.
On the other hand, Taras Popovych is confident that trends are cyclical, that is, the candidate market is far from eternal, just like the employer market.
«Such situations are a reality in our profession.» A recruiter denied a candidate an interview because he was blacklisted by her colleagues. What does the community think about this: a discussion with 300+ comments
Business requirements
So, there is no doubt that employers have changed their requirements and approaches to hiring juniors. But the question remains, what do business representatives pay attention to when hiring novice developers?
Artem Nikityuk is confident that it is not an expectation that a June will have enough practical skills.
«Beginners in the IT field are mostly chosen not by their level of coding, but by their soft skills, analytical thinking, English, flexibility, and curiosity,» the specialist notes.
He adds that basic technical knowledge is enough to get started — what is important is an environment that will allow growth. In addition, according to Artem, blaming only candidates for poor preparation is a wrong position. According to him, the responsibility here is shared: educational platforms, the market, and the companies themselves, which either create an environment for development or are just looking for «ready-made people.»
However, a basic understanding of one framework and OOP theory, as Nataliya Klymenko emphasizes, is no longer enough. And here she notes that employers often expect to see almost a midget in the position of a Juniper: with experience in several technologies, practical skills, and an understanding of real projects. Summing up, the specialist reports that when hiring Juniper developers, employers pay attention mainly to:
Learning ability. And it’s not just about the speed of learning new things, but about the willingness to learn at all stages of your career.
Analytical thinking. Programming is not just a set of commands, it is the ability to see a problem, structure it, and find the optimal solution. Code analysis, logic, and error-finding skills remain basic skills for any programmer.
Ability to concentrate. Working on a task requires high concentration and attention to detail.
Communication skills. Both five years ago and now, it is important to be able to explain your thoughts, clearly formulate questions, and successfully conduct a dialogue with colleagues.
«By the way, we don’t pay attention to education, three-month courses, etc. We also don’t look for people obsessed with work, because this leads to burnout. For us, practical skills and readiness for real work are important,» adds Natalia Klymenko.
Taras Popovych sees that expectations differ among different companies, but there are common things, including:
confident command of basic tools in the tech stack you work with;
real projects, even small or educational, but with good code and description (pet projects are also projects);
the ability to understand your code;
basic knowledge of version control systems (Git), API requests, error handling;
English — even if not perfect, but sufficient to read documentation and communicate (this is the Intermediate+ level); a higher level gives you more scope for finding a job;
at least a general idea of the work processes in the team (Scrum, task managers, code review, etc.).
What skills of a candidate prevail to get an offer? Hard or soft: arguments of tech leads, IT professionals and recruiters
What does the employer «peck» at?
Artem Nikityuk, Talent Acquisition Lead at Deloitte
Today , there are certainly fewer opportunities for Junens than there were a few years ago. And there are objective reasons for this: the global cooling of the market, the war in Ukraine. But trends are starting to turn for the better — and there will be more entry points in the future.
And to those who are just starting out, I want to say: don’t give up. Go to interviews, even if you’ve already had dozens of them. This is experience. Improve yourself every day, read, try, look for not just «any company for experience,» but your own — the one that will allow you to grow. The market needs these kind of people.
Natalia Klymenko, Co-Founder of IT company Codica
In my opinion, nothing has changed — the basic principles remain relevant. To interest a recruiter, you should pump up your personal brand — this means running a technical blog, participating in specialized events, and sharing cases and projects.
The resume should be structured, without unnecessary «water», with a clear emphasis on specific skills and experience. Ideally, it will be tailored to a specific vacancy. In general, it is impeccable if there is a polite cover letter. Salary expectations should be formulated realistically — this always demonstrates adequacy and understanding of the market. The test task should be completed on time! thoughtfully and qualitatively.
It is important to maintain a businesslike tone during communication — politeness and professionalism are always appreciated. It is worth preparing for the interview in advance — think over answers to typical questions and prepare for technical discussions.
It is also important to show interest in the company and its products; this shows your motivation and willingness to cooperate.
Taras Popovych, Tech Recruiter at Sunvery
It is important for companies to see not just «I took the courses», but that you created something yourself. This could be:
pet project on GitHub (habit diary, small ToDo, bot, web page, parser — anything where your logic is visible);
participation in Open Source (even small pull requests with bug fixes);
a thesis project that you yourself support or improve.
Many Juners have profiles that are superficially filled out or completely empty. And this is the first place a recruiter/recruiters go when they receive a CV.
Mini-recommendations:
on LinkedIn — clearly indicate your stack, a brief description of yourself, the desired position, in English (even basic);
on GitHub — keep 2-3 best repositories pinned, with README, a description of the functionality, a stack, and a clear structure.
Recruiters, in most cases, do not understand what kind of code is written, but when discussing it with a technical specialist, this can play into your hands.
Many people wait for vacancies as soon as they check the «Open to work» box and are afraid to take the first step. But recruiters are often open to incoming messages, so don’t hesitate to write to us. If there is an interesting role open, great, if not, then at least there is a contact with a person who can knock with something interesting in the future.
«Results that would secure an offer in 2021 may not even make it to the selection stage today.» The requirements for Jun developers have increased dramatically. What to expect next?
«Be glad that they haven’t asked the Jun to pay to be hired yet.» The AIT people in Threads discuss the Jun’s salary: «Come on, $500 is like 21,000 UAH. Well, that’s very little.» Do you agree?
