Head of Talent Acquisition Viktoriya Potyagaylo asked the community if IT professionals have a plan to leave IT and what field they are considering for this. «Have you had (or do you have) thoughts about leaving IT? If so, where would you move, what would you do?» she asked.
Head of Talent Acquisition Viktoriya Potyagaylo asked the community if IT professionals have a plan to leave IT and what field they are considering for this. «Have you had (or do you have) thoughts about leaving IT? If so, where would you move, what would you do?» she asked.
The discussion turned out to be revealing — with humor, self-irony, and very honest answers.
Yevhen Turovets, Engineering Team Lead, probably jokingly wrote: «A long time ago, the project manager and I agreed that if we go anywhere, it will only be on Onlyfans.»
CEO Tim Vlas proposed a more ambitious scenario: «Become a realtor, make billions, and become president like Trump!»
Serhiy Skrynnikov, IT Project Manager, also mentioned Onlyfans as a way to maintain remote work and income: «If I’m serious, I would choose something that would allow me to work remotely and earn no less. So online wins here.»
Many people in AIT dream of escaping closer to nature.
Oleksandr P., Product Manager, wrote: «If your financial cushion allows, you can build a farm — a small one, purely for yourself.»
Stanislav Kirichenko briefly reported: «I opened a farm.»
Max Dreshpak, Unity Technical Artist, also supported the direction: «Farming».
And Olena T., Product Manager, added: «What’s missing is a picture of a house in the Carpathians and sheep near it.»
And Artur Derda, Project Manager, is ready to become a librarian in some very small town)
Among the alternatives, there were also: yoga — from Evgenia Shcherbina, cooking — from Artem Snitko, maternity leave as a «cool sabbatical» — from Khrystyna Odukha, and a gaming business with an unexpected profile — from Ksenia Chernyakova, who went to work in an agricultural company and plans to return to IT.
Some have already changed direction.
Anna Shakhoval, a wellbeing coach, wrote: «I went from IT to psychology, but now I work as a psychologist in IT.»
Iryna Bobryk, ICF Coach, supported: «I don’t want to go back to work. I value freedom too much.»
Among the serious options is the defense sector.
Oleksiy Kryuchkov, front-end/back-end developer, wrote: «I’m thinking of going to MilTech. There’s a shortage of specialists there right now.»
And Oleksandr Romanenko answered briefly: «In the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Isn’t it fashionable? Well, that’s it…»
One of the most apt remarks came from Ivan Podlyasnyak, Junior Manual QA: «Of course, you can leave IT, but whether IT will leave us is a big question.»
His opinion was supported by Iryna Bobryk, noting that IT leaves behind systematic thinking, an approach to processes, and constant development — even if a person changes their field.
Igor Malovanyi, Senior iOS & macOS Engineer, frankly wrote that the current state of the market forces him to rethink the value of time and income and that he has been in a mode of increased discipline for several months, looking for a quality solution.
Hryhoriy Shtanko, Java Developer, admitted: «Right now, it seems, only such thoughts are raging.»
To this, Victoria Potyagaylo replied that it was possible to get into IT, but it had become much more difficult to do so.
Despite the jokes about online and monasteries, the discussion revealed several things: fatigue from market instability, the search for autonomy and freedom, the desire for meaning, not just a salary, and at the same time, the reluctance to completely lose the IT identity.
