Ігор Вишневський Історії 5 November 2026, 09:00

From developer to realtor. How and why a developer with 10 years of experience switched to a new profession and launched his own coffee marketplace

Senior Full-Stack/PHP Developer with 10 years of experience, Mykola Siryk, was laid off at SoftServe in July. He posted an ad on LinkedIn about looking for a job in the IT field, but at the same time, he didn’t wait long for the dream offer from an "IT" company in a difficult market, and quickly found another activity where he could earn money here and now.

So Mykola went to realtors — and on the eve of our conversation he closed the second deal to sell an apartment. In addition, he is seriously considering another option: to become an electrician, because his previous education and skills allow it — but he has no experience. Mykola Siryk is also developing his own project — a coffee marketplace called CupCult, which presents products from craft Ukrainian roasters.

Between an IT guy, a realtor, and an electrician

Mykola continues to apply for vacancies in the IT sector, but at the same time, he does not rely solely on his long-standing profession, but on anything in which he has qualifications, skills, and can bring in adequate income.

"I don’t lose hope and am simultaneously looking for employment in IT, I send my resume when vacancies appear, because ideally I want to have a remote work option. But even compared to what it was a year ago, when I was also looking for a job, there are noticeably fewer vacancies," the IT worker admits.

On the eve of the interview, Mykola, as a novice realtor, closed his second real estate deal under the “EUSelya” program. Almost immediately after being laid off from SoftServe, he joined a real estate agency, and in this, in particular, his own experience with “EUSelya” helped him. Aitivets also bought an apartment under this program, and in the process of choosing options and studying the conditions, he himself gained some understanding of the market and a lot of useful information. As a result, he was able to use this in a new profession, where he is taking his first steps.

“This is a new agency, but they are now very actively promoting themselves and specialize in this state program. That’s why I joined them back in late July-early August. We also took an apartment for ourselves under the EU Housing Scheme in May. And I immersed myself in this process and, in principle, realized that there is money in this area. So I decided to try. There is nothing to lose, because they have already cut back. Something is going well — we’ll see what happens next,” said Siryk.

Also on the Threads network, a dev.ua journalist saw Mykola’s post about him considering becoming an electrician and discussing the "pros" and "cons" of this step with other IT professionals. So we asked him about this prospect as well.

“My education is systems engineering, so it’s also a bit related to electricity. Well, in principle, I used to do electricity at home when I was younger — street wiring, panel boards, etc. That is, it’s a relatively clear area for me, which is not so difficult to enter. The demand is quite high now. Plus, you can somehow combine it with real estate — I sold an apartment and immediately offered to do the wiring,” he jokes.

Jokes aside, the IT realtor is convinced that for a comfortable existence, it is better to have different areas of self-realization in your arsenal. Of course, Mykola realizes that in order to fully enter this field, he will have to learn many nuances or gain experience as an assistant under someone’s guidance.

“I don’t have any experience, so I’ll have to learn how to make the right calculations, correctly select wires and circuit breakers, and correctly assemble apartment wiring,” our interlocutor says.

Among other things, Mykola also told us about his unsuccessful foray into the miltech industry. According to him, at the end of last year he had a short experience in one of the companies, but he is not ready to publicly disclose information about it. In addition, Mykola Siryk specializes more in web solutions, and in miltech, as he says, there are not so many such vacancies, so he does not see any special prospects for himself in this industry.

AI optimization and the future of the market: a developer’s vision

In his explanation of the market situation, Mykola Siryk does not reject the impact of AI on the industry, which everyone is talking about en masse.

“AI has played a significant role, because now companies do not need many skilled developers — one professional lead in the team is enough. Instead, you can recruit cheaper non-senior-level developers: you can pay them less, but they will use AI and cover the lack of their own knowledge and skills. Companies are optimized thanks to this approach,” he shares his thoughts.

In Mykola’s view, it is precisely because of this situation that many professional and experienced developers are unemployed in a highly competitive market, and the situation is unlikely to change in the near future, especially in Ukraine, which, due to a full-scale war, also has a large number of individual problems.

According to Mykola Siryk, it was at this very place that he was suddenly caught off guard by the notice of his dismissal.

In addition, he sees a general trend towards the gradual “extinction” of IT outsourcing. As a result, according to Mykola, the future will be for small companies that will “pull” large projects with the help of AI.

“I don’t think that anything will change radically for the better in Ukraine, especially if the fighting doesn’t stop. In addition, IT outsourcing is dying, because clients often try to meet their own needs with the help of AI. And in Ukraine, a lot of people relied on outsourcing, there aren’t that many product companies. I think that in the coming years, many developers will create their own small companies. We will have much more micro-companies that will run quite large projects with the help of AI and several developers,” the IT expert predicts.

Coffee for every taste

One of Mykola’s sources of income and a major personal project is the coffee marketplace CupCult, which he created. "Coffee from Ukrainian roasters at their prices: whole beans, ground to your liking, drips and equipment. Tell us how you drink your coffee, and we’ll pick yours," the website states in its "summary."

Screenshot from the CupCult website — Mykola Siryk’s coffee marketplace

Aitivets shared that the idea of creating such a marketplace came to him when he saw a “coffee subscription” service abroad.

“I wanted to create a “coffee subscription” first. I saw such analogues abroad. But I came to the conclusion that first you need to have an assortment, and then create a subscription based on that. That’s why I went this route — I launched a marketplace, and now I’m preparing a subscription model for launch,” explained Mykola Siryk.

According to him, the CupCult marketplace allows sellers to attract an additional audience and is another placement platform for them, in addition to their own sales and presentation channels. “People come to us, can choose products from different roasters, and we motivate them to taste different coffees, discover new flavors, new roasts. This subscription will work in the same way — it will constantly be adjusted to people’s tastes,” the IT specialist said.

For customers, that is, craft coffee consumers, Mykola sees convenience in the marketplace.

“This is an opportunity not to run anywhere, but to buy from us at the same price as from these sellers — but they are all collected in one place, you don’t have to look for these roasters, you can compare everything and pay right here,” says Mykola.

The programmer is currently investing resources in increasing the visibility and ranking of his own marketplace in Internet search.

“Now a normal number of people come from both Google shopping and simple searches. But I am gradually improving this direction as well, learning something myself and developing my project,” says Mykola.

He is currently working on launching an order consolidation service so that buyers can order goods from several roasters at once, rather than receiving each package separately. “We would collect it — the packages come to us, we consolidate them, collect them into one and send them, and the person already saves a lot on delivery,” the IT guy explained the idea of the innovation.

Mykola monetizes his project, which he calls Ukraine’s first multi-roaster specialty coffee marketplace, through commissions from roasters. Currently, it features 15+ roasters.

“The model is this: roasters give the marketplace a wholesale price, the buyer pays their regular retail price and does not overpay, and the difference is CupCult’s income,” shared Mykola Siryk.

The IT guy’s AI also found its application on the coffee marketplace — offering the client a selection of coffee based on their tastes. We tested this service, where the AI asked questions about our tastes and brewing method, and we answered them. In the end, the author of the material, together with the AI, settled on “several options with notes of dark chocolate for brewing in a cup.” Why not try it?

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