The share of IT specialists in Ukraine who have a reservation from their main employer has increased from 13% to 17% in six months. The highest rate among cities was recorded in Kyiv, where every fifth specialist has a reservation.
The share of IT specialists in Ukraine who have a reservation from their main employer has increased from 13% to 17% in six months. The highest rate among cities was recorded in Kyiv, where every fifth specialist has a reservation.
According to the study, in December 2025, the responses of 7,187 men working in IT and staying in Ukraine were analyzed. In addition to 17% of those who have a reservation from their main employer, another 5% have a reservation or deferment at a second job. 14% of respondents have a deferment, and 21% are not subject to mobilization for various reasons. The share of those who do not have a reservation at all has decreased from 44% to 39% in half a year.
More experienced specialists are most often booked. Among Lead+, 31% are, among managers, 34%, among Senior, 17%. Among Middle, 12% have reservations, among Junior, only 4%. There is also a noticeable dependence on specialization. The highest rates are in Leadership, Management, Analysts, Support, system administrators, and DevOps/SRE. Among Software Engineers, the share of those booked has also increased, from 11% to 14%. In QA, there has been almost no change during this time: the rate there remained at 12%.
Work experience also plays a role. Among specialists who have been in IT for over 10 years, 24% have reservations. In the group with 6-9 years of experience, 18% do. Among those who have been working for 3-5 years, the figure is 13%, and among newcomers with up to two years of experience, only 7%.
The largest number of reservations is in the DefTech/Miltech sector, where their share has increased from 48% to 58%. High rates are also found in government agencies and IT departments of non-IT companies, such as banks, telecoms, or retail. In product companies, 19% of specialists have reservations, in service companies 14%, and in startups 13%. A simple pattern also holds: the larger the company, the higher the chances of a reservation. In businesses with over 1,000 employees, 26% of IT professionals have it, and in companies with up to 10 people, only 7%.
Separately, the study shows that the median salary of specialists with reservations has decreased to $3,500, although this is still more than the overall median of $3,000. In cities after Kyiv, Chernihiv and Lviv have relatively high rates. On the other hand, the least reserved are in Sumy, Chernivtsi, and Kharkiv.
The bottom line is that IT bookings have become more common, but they are growing unevenly. Experienced professionals, employees of large companies, the government sector, and teams related to defense technologies are the ones who get it the most.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how 15,000-18,000 IT specialists out of 330,000 were booked in Ukraine across all possible booking options.
