The Russian IT market is entering a protracted crisis: a mass exodus of engineers, a meager return of personnel, and a sharp decline in the influx of foreign specialists are depriving companies of their competencies, and the industry of its manageability and pace of development.
The Russian IT market is entering a protracted crisis: a mass exodus of engineers, a meager return of personnel, and a sharp decline in the influx of foreign specialists are depriving companies of their competencies, and the industry of its manageability and pace of development.
The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine reports that over 20,000 IT workers have left the country in the past three years, while only about 300 return each year; the contribution of foreign personnel to staff growth has fallen from the previous 20% to 0,4% in 2024.
According to the SZRU, companies are forced to «patch holes» with internal reserves, often of lower qualification, which directly affects the quality of products and deadlines. At the same time, repressive pressure is increasing: the exemplary sentence of 15 years to a former Yandex developer for only transferring $500 to a Ukrainian fund creates an environment of fear in which specialists do not see a safe future for themselves in the Russian Federation.
The personnel gap is superimposed on technological isolation: due to sanctions and export controls, the Russian Federation loses access to modern microelectronics, cloud services and key development tools, and «import substitution» leads to fragmentation of stacks and additional costs for supporting its own forks. The exit of international vendors and the cessation of joint R&D initiatives shorten the «window» of access to global practices, undermining the productivity of teams and their ability to scale products.
Before the full-scale war, the market partially compensated for the shortage of specialists through open migration and international teams. Now these mechanisms have been destroyed: mobilization pressure, criminalization of «disloyal» activity, decline in purchasing power, and growth of cyber threats stimulate further relocation. The «middle class» of engineers is disappearing within the country: seniors have left, juniors do not have time to grow up without mentoring, and businesses are increasingly «cutting» complex products into utilitarian services. Against the background of losing access to modern chips and components, hardware areas are being reduced, data center support is becoming more expensive, and security culture is degrading. Taken together, this is transferring the Russian IT industry from growth mode to survival mode and preserving technological lag for years.
Previously, dev.ua also wrote about how active layoffs of IT specialists began in Russia at the end of 2024 — both in technology companies and in IT departments of companies in other areas. However, employers are complaining about the shortage of IT personnel and are ready to hire in Zimbabwe and Kenya.
