Лонги

Ukrainian defense tech has long ceased to be a niche industry. Companies attract hundreds of millions of hryvnias in investments, launch new production facilities, compete for engineers, and create technologies that reach the front every day. But how do the people who run these companies actually see the market? In the new dev.ua column, we ask seven identical questions to the heads of Ukrainian defense tech companies. About the main problems of the industry, the shortage of personnel, overvalued technologies, the future of war, and the skills without which it is difficult to work in the defense industry today. The first guest of the column is Oleksiy Kolesnik, director of XTI Engineering. The company specializes in the development and production of equipment for humanitarian demining and operates in the Kharkiv region, one of the regions where the war has the greatest impact on the daily work of engineers.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Ukrainian IT product company Genesis Tech, its founders, and a number of affiliated companies. At the request of the regulator, a federal court temporarily suspended the activities of some Genesis-related structures in the US — they are suspected of deceiving consumers through hidden charges and artificially complicating the cancellation of subscriptions. We tell you the details.

Today, the editorial team of dev.ua turns five years old.

Is it possible to simultaneously ensure the quality of software products and write Ukrainian fantasy that sells in tens of thousands of copies? The heroine of a new interview on dev.ua proves that two seemingly completely different spheres can not only successfully coexist, but also complement each other. We talked with Iryna Grabovska about how development methodologies like SDLC and estimates help in writing books, why artificial intelligence will not be able to replace real creativity and automate the entire QA process, as well as the challenges of finding a job in the modern IT market.

It seems that never before in the history of Ukrainian parliamentarism have deputies been put on the «jackal express» for not supporting porn. Or rather, its decriminalization.

Why have global giants suddenly started taking their data from America back to Europe, while Ukrainian companies are moving servers underground? We visited Anton Khvastunov (co-founder of the largest Ukrainian cloud GigaCloud) to find out what’s happening with clouds, why hardware prices have skyrocketed, and when a Ukrainian replacement for 1 °C will finally appear.

In Threads, a mobilized IT guy with the nickname oncceuponatime_dude keeps a diary about how he ended up in the army. We’ve already told you about his experience from «gentle busification» and a night in the CCK barracks to his first day in the battalion . In the second part of the AIT man’s confessions and discoveries, he talked about the BZVP, «NATO shots on the lips,» and «playing stormtroopers.» In the third part of the diary, the AIT member shared his thoughts on why those who were converted to the military did not flee the army, how different the conditions of service are in the staff and infantry, and weapons in the blanket. The fourth part of his observations — about intimidation in the army and the redeployment of the unit — is not without surprises . Today we are publishing the fifth part of the frankness — about intimidation in the army, losses, and life in a front-line city.

The Ukrainian labor market is going through a period of constant change: businesses are adapting to new economic conditions, increased competition, talent migration, the development of remote work formats, and rapid digitalization. In such conditions, companies that demonstrate active growth are faced not only with the need to increase sales or expand their market presence, but also with the need to quickly restructure internal processes.

15 червня росіяни зруйнували Київський інноваційний термінал «Нової пошти». Раніше журналіст dev.ua побував на території комплексу, щоб на власні очі побачити роботу найсучаснішого сортувального центру. Тоді ми дізналися, що там не лише роботизовані системи допомагали сортувати та доставляти сотні тисяч посилок, але й працювала ціла команда над розвитком логістичних інновацій. Пригадуємо, як виглядали технологічні новинки та масштаби компанії до ворожого удару.

Surely every dog ​​has already barked after seeing this week’s video speech by famous journalist Vitaly Portnikov.

The Ukrainian Intellectual Property Office and the Ministry of Economy are entering the final stretch in adapting the Ukrainian IT and real sector to EU standards. The National Committee for Economic and Social Development has received the text of the Strategy for the Development of the Intellectual Property Sphere of Ukraine until 2030 for approval.

August 2024. Bitcoin loses almost 30% in three days — not because of a stock market crash or a regulatory ban, but because the Bank of Japan raised its interest rate by a quarter of a percent. Part of the market was operating in a mode of reduced summer activity. Liquidity was noticeably lower. The market simply had no one to put out the fire. That's when I realized: summer in crypto is not a pause or a rest. It's the season when the market becomes most vulnerable to any stimulus. A thin shallow water where an ordinary wave turns into a tsunami. But there is a nuance. The same market subtlety that in August 2024 turned a minor macro signal into a collapse, in another context gives the completely opposite effect - a sharp, uncontrolled upward movement. The question is not whether it is a "weak" or "strong" summer. The question is in what state the market enters this shallow water. That's what we will talk about.

Burnout, a feeling of stagnation, loss of motivation, a desire to try something new — almost every IT worker has at least once caught himself thinking: «Maybe it’s time to quit?» But there is often a gap between short-term fatigue and a real desire to change companies. And then there is a stable salary, a team, familiar processes and the fear of making a mistake with the next choice. In Ukrainian IT, the decision to change jobs has long ceased to be as simple as during the boom of 2020–2021. If then experienced specialists could receive several offers at the same time and change employers almost without risks, today the market has become much more cautious. There are fewer vacancies, competition is higher, and therefore the question of «stay or go» is increasingly turning not into an emotional impulse, but into a strategic career decision. dev.ua asked representatives of Ciklum, Railsware, and ZONE3000 how to understand that it’s time to move on, when it’s worth trying to change something within the company, and why a counteroffer is not always a reason to stay.

Over the past eight years, I have worked with several leading Ukrainian software development companies and helped build and scale their marketing functions. Despite the different sizes of companies, positioning, markets, and business goals, I have consistently seen the same problem: many IT outsourcing companies are looking for one channel that will consistently bring in leads. Some are betting on SEO. Some are betting on LinkedIn outreach. Some are betting on conferences. Some believe that content marketing alone can provide a steady stream of opportunities. But in today's B2B marketing, individual channels are performing worse and worse. Competition is increasing, customers are taking longer to make decisions, and trust is built through multiple interactions with a brand. That's why I stopped looking at marketing as a set of separate activities a long time ago. For me, marketing in IT outsourcing is a system of three areas: ABM, Inbound Marketing, and Branding. Each of them is important individually. But the real result comes when they work together.

A high-profile draft law from the Security Service of Ukraine has been submitted to the National Commission for State Regulation of Electronic Communications (NCEC) for approval. The document has an ambitious goal — to adapt Ukrainian legislation to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime for accession to the EU.

Three Ukrainian developers — Artem Ivanenko, Maksym Shymon, and Serhiy Krasilnyk — have set themselves an extremely ambitious task: not only to create a «Ukrainian analogue of BlaBlaCar» as a product, but also to bite off a certain number of users from an international competitor. To begin with, at least directly in Ukraine.

In June 2026, Google introduced Search Profiles , a new type of profile for content creators, publishers, and brands. At first glance, it might seem like just Google’s own version of Linktree. But if you look closely, the launch of Search Profiles could be one of Google's most important steps towards search built on entities, not websites.

Payments from a smartphone, acquiring without IT quests, accounts for sole proprietors and LLCs in one environment — for small businesses, these are no longer advantages, but basic expectations. dev.ua figured out how FUIB is trying to close the entire financial operations of an entrepreneur in one service — and why this relieves unnecessary stress in daily work. This is especially noticeable in small businesses, where the owner is often the CEO, accountant, HR, and operations manager at the same time. Therefore, entrepreneurs are increasingly choosing a bank not only based on rates, but also on how much it facilitates daily work: from opening an account to acquiring, payroll, and access to financing. It is in this segment that FUIB is currently actively competing, focusing on digital services.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off tomorrow. The World Cup is no longer just a sports tournament, but a global event that will take place in three countries for 48 teams and billions of viewers. Behind the goals and emotions in the stands lies a colossal layer of technology that makes this championship the most advanced sporting event in history. We tell you how the organizers created an environment where innovation works seamlessly, allowing fans to focus on the game while artificial intelligence and high-performance servers ensure safety, refereeing accuracy, and the comfort of watching the game both in the stadium and on TV.

Student startups that came to IdeasLab in the spring with only ideas now have their first customers, sales, thousands of app downloads, and the opportunity to present their projects internationally.

There is a certain irony in the fact that IT professionals try to protect their children from the negative impact of gadgets, online games and social networks. The examples of technobillionaires, founders and top managers of large technology companies are especially illustrative in this regard. For example, Steve Jobs kept children away from the iPads produced by his own company, Bill Gates forbade children from using mobile phones under the age of 14, and Mark Zuckerberg strictly limited his children’s screen time on social networks to avoid «doomscrolling».

The Ministry of Economy, together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, announced the launch of a beta test of a new digital labor market ecosystem called «Obriy». This was announced during the presentation by the Minister of Economy Oleksiy Sobolev and the Acting Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Bornyakov.

Recently, the Association of Manufacturers of Unmanned Systems and Related Technologies «ARMADA» shared information that is extremely useful for businesses and owners of critical infrastructure facilities in wartime — how to organize the work of private air defense in accordance with current legislative requirements.

There’s a long-standing joke in civilian IT that any project sooner or later turns into a struggle with legacy code, endless approvals, and a calendar filled with sonnets and status meetings. Large companies spend years building processes that are supposed to make development predictable, but often slow it down so much that months pass from the appearance of an idea to its implementation. Ukrainian miltech today lives in a different reality. When a product is tested not in a focus group, but in real combat conditions, and a request from the military can come in the evening with a requirement to receive a solution the next day, the usual corporate rules begin to work differently. That is why defense technology companies are gradually forming their own development culture — faster, tougher, and much less tolerant of processes for the sake of processes. dev.ua spoke with representatives of SKIFTECH, Himera, BlueBird, DevDroid, WIY LLC, The Fourth Law, and Odd Systems to understand how modern defense tech teams actually work, whether they need Scrum and PM, how they use AI, and why combining hardware and software remains one of the industry’s most difficult engineering challenges.

This week, the news of the abolition of mathematics as a mandatory subject at secondary schools shook Ukrainian society. Representatives of the IT community and business, university teachers, and the military spoke out on this topic. But how do they see the situation in the classrooms themselves? dev.ua collected the opinions of mathematics teachers from an elite city lyceum to an ordinary rural school.

While some in the industry are debating whether AI will replace programmers, the market is already moving forward. Roles that didn’t exist two years ago are appearing in job openings: AI Solution Engineer, LLM Engineer, AI Security Engineer, MLOps specialist, AI coach for teams, or even someone who manages agent systems.

This morning, Bitcoin briefly dropped to levels around $61K, however, unlike ETH and SOL, it did not renew its local lows.

On June 2, 2026, a group of people's deputies registered a bill proposing to make mathematics an optional subject rather than a mandatory subject at the National Secondary Educational Test (NSTE). Against the backdrop of this news, which is gaining momentum in the media space, dev.ua decided to analyze the results of the NSTE for four years, starting from 2022, when this test was introduced instead of the external assessment test.

The Verkhovna Rada registered a resonant bill No. 15254-1 dated June 2, 2026, which proposes to radically change the rules of the game for future applicants in 2027. A group of people’s deputies led by Yulia Grishina took the initiative to remove mathematics from the list of mandatory subjects of the National Multi-Subject Test (NMT).

Most financial losses in business happen according to one scenario. The team is guided by intuition, copies competitors' features or relies on "iron logic" - and launches a product, a new service or a major update. And after the release it becomes clear: the audience does not care, or cares in a completely different way, or they think in different categories and buy according to their own, unknown scenarios. At best, the company loses several months of work. At worst, the budget is drained, and the team loses motivation to make any changes. And the most annoying thing is that many of these mistakes can be caught earlier - before the engineers write the first line of code, and marketing starts to "speed up" what doesn't work.