Ukrainian IT professional and founder of the QA Ukraine community Oleksa Mashchyts believes that you shouldn’t choose the IT industry without any interest in this direction, but only out of a desire to make money. What do other IT professionals think about this?
Ukrainian IT professional and founder of the QA Ukraine community Oleksa Mashchyts believes that you shouldn’t choose the IT industry without any interest in this direction, but only out of a desire to make money. What do other IT professionals think about this?
He wrote about this in a post on his LinkedIn profile.
«I remember IT before it became what it is now. When IT people were „nerds“, they didn’t earn much and no one wanted to be an IT person. I had older friends who were already working in IT at the time and I studied myself. Back then, we studied not because „tomorrow“ there would be thousands of dollars a month, but because we believed in the future, and also, of course, because we had a certain sympathy», said Mashyts.
He noted that he enjoyed spending hours at home researching different technologies «without any thoughts» that it was a waste of his time without pay.
«All my friends who were already working in IT at the time, then of course, began to rapidly climb the career ladder and earn more. They, then and now, still have a liking for IT. A liking that arose not because of money, but when they were even harassed for this liking», recalls the IT worker.
Oleksa Mashyts advises to think «a second time» before going into IT just for the money.
«This is not an easy industry (if you want to earn a lot) and without a certain „love“ or at least interest, it will be difficult for you, and for many, this is what will prevent you from „getting in“ at all. Don’t waste your life on something you don’t understand and aren’t interested in learning about. Don’t waste your life doing something you don’t love. It’s not worth it», he added.
In the comments to Oleksa Mashchyts’s post, many IT specialists wrote that there are quite a few people who came to IT specifically for the money. However, they may face difficulties in career growth and burnout.
«This note made sense 5 years ago. In 2025, people will go to the agricultural sector for money, but not to IT. This is about Ukraine. In Western Europe, the average IT professional has long ceased to be about big money,» Terenbro CEO Igor Berezka disagrees.
«I think between the choice of working for 15,000 UAH and working in IT with much greater prospects, most will choose IT and that’s normal. Unfortunately, the world is not ideal and you have to choose. Stories about doing what you love and you will earn millions are far from reality and this is more like one case in a million,» noted Project Management Expert Oleksandr K.
«For me, IT is primarily about interesting products and management culture. And I don’t know of any other industries where there is such a concentration of people who have undergone therapy,» said Executive Coach Anna Zdor.
«I always say that going into IT for the money is normal. But if a person doesn’t have a love for solving problems and writing code, the motivation to sit at a computer for many hours in a row, thinking about solutions to certain problems, there won’t be that money. Or there will be, but pretty quickly a person will burn out,» says Android Developer Artem Pelevin.
According to him, it is impossible to do something you don’t like for a long time, even for a lot of money. Other IT people noted that such people are unlikely to be able to rise above the middle level.
