Reductions in IT: Why are Senior and Middle-specialists released

At the beginning of 2025, the EP summarized the work of the IT industry: it outlined key changes, challenges and problems that determined the market in 2024. This review was embodied in the heading that began with words « crisis, but stable ».

After a rapid fall in 2023 2024, he became a period of relative stabilization. The reductions continued, but their pace was declining. The industry seemed to be looking for a new balance and went out to the plateau. True, lobbyists The IT market was promised « Plateau » in 2022 and 2023, but its onset was postponed every time. It seems that 2025 will not be an exception.

Research Dou revealed an important detail: the most abbreviations did not have junior specialists, but for Middle and Senior experts. This trend was observed not only in Ukraine but also among domestic Avita abroad.

The priority in the release of medium and high level experts is contrary to the usual idea of ​​business processes. Experienced specialists are usually a team support and knowledge. However, 2025 recalled once again that experience does not guarantee confidence in tomorrow. What happens to the technological sector?

Less stock, more uncertainty

According to the Lviv IT cluster research, in 2024, almost 43% of the Aiters changed their place of work. Most often the initiators of the change were companies.

A quarter of DUU surveyed experts said they had been released. Another 13% went to partial employment or left in the state with salary, but did not bring in the projects – the so -called Bench. It arises when the previous contract is completed and the new has not started, the customer has put work on a pause or the company hired a specialist « On Stock » for future projects.

In 2023, at least for some time, 12% of specialists were in the reserve, for every sixth it was unpaid. In 2024, the proportion of Bench experts fell up to 8%. The practice of hiring almost disappeared: in the fourth year of the Great War, it is increasingly difficult for companies to keep specialists without active projects.

The reduction of the number of specialists in Bench can be explained primarily by the fact that business in business is less. This applies to outsourcing and product players. In particular, in 2024, Grammarly, Airslate, Macpaw, Ria.com and Reface were informed about the reduction – a total of 620 dismissed workers.

The Avtivtsi surveyed in April noted that Middle and Senior-specialists were most affected by the abbreviations: 72% of Ukraine and 71% abroad. Moreover, outside the country, the share of Senior and LEAD was higher (60% versus 47% in Ukraine). More than 50% of the released worked for grocery companies, about a third – for service. The reductions were recorded in companies of different scale and profiles.

The Lviv IT cluster and the IT Ukraine Association confirmed that there are release of Senior specialists, but they are not massive. « Against the backdrop of demand and security risks in Ukraine, it is more difficult to attract clients, so they are reduced by those who have been in Bench for a long time, even if it is Middle or Senior. It is not about mass release of people in this category, » says IT Ukraine Executive Director Maria Shevchuk.

What are the reasons for the dismissal

EP interlocutors among IT company executives and companies agree that the main reason for the dismissal of experienced professionals is financial instability and desire to reduce costs. This generalization is many stories. For example, in early 2024 startup Refece Reduced 35% of the team, officially explaining it with the need to optimize expenditures and get on profitability.

« Reface before the war was purposefully sought by experienced specialists, so most teams were Senior positions, Middle was almost gone. However, when the crisis came, it was such employees, as we were explained, it became too expensive, »-mentioned one of the released Senior specialists at that time.

A similar situation arose in other startups, which after reducing the investment were forced to « live on their own. » It is difficult to find a common denominator for such abbreviations.

However, not all release was the result of a crisis, often it is a fee for risks. It happened with Macpaw, which invested in several projects, but some of them were not implemented. This terminated the cash flow. The most notable failure-Setapp Mobile: In addition to him in 2024 without clear rules of the game, Macpaw did not get the expected result, explained Company founder Alexander Kosovan.

Another reason is the change of strategy or business restructuring. According to DOU, about a third of the release is related to companies. Thus, in February 2024, Grammarly reduced 230 people (21% of state), of which 37 in Ukraine, within the framework of the transition to a new strategy focused on artificial intelligence. Although in the previous five years the company has grown from 200 to more than 1 thousand employees.

If in product companies the reason for the release was an internal strategy, then in outsourcing firms, reductions depended on foreign markets. After many years, the export of IT services began to fall. First of all, because of the situation in the United States, which is a key market for Ukrainian outsource.

« We still feel the inertia of » Kovid Boom « when the technological sector has grown very quickly. Now the revaluation is ongoing and the companies are more careful into new IT projections.

In such circumstances, companies can reduce Senior specialists and even whole teams, especially if the number of customers decreases. The most protected those involved in the project from the very beginning and have critical knowledge, notes one of the Tech Leaders (technical leader of the team responsible for architecture, code quality and technical decisions) of a large outsourcing company in Ukraine.

Most of the service companies did not hire employees in 2024, but did not plan mass abbreviations. This testifies to structural optimization: unnecessary people were released, and new ones were hired only for specific projects.

IT release does not always have an economic basis. Often the human factor works. According to DOU, 23% of Timlides called the reason for the release of conflict with management – this is the highest indicator among all positions.

Another reason that is not always voiced is the reduction of efficiency. Not every Senior is an automatically valuable specialist. When the company views the results, even experienced specialists can be threatened.

Do not forget about the factor of war: during the year, the interlocutors of the EP repeatedly mentioned the problems associated with mobilization. The situation is gradually stabilized: at the beginning of 2025 the number of booked has grown up to 15-18 thousand

Is there a future after release

Finding a job in an IT industry is no longer as difficult as it was in the first years of the Great War, but this process has features. In April 2025, 6 308 vacancies were published on the DUO platform – this is the third year when six thousand exceeded their number. For comparison, in April 2024 there were 1,200 less.

This indicates that it is possible to find a new job, but now the main thing is how long it is ready to spend a candidate for job search and what compromises are ready to go. In recent years, the search process has been noticeably delayed. If 49% of candidates were found in Ukraine in 2023 in Ukraine, only 35% were now.

In the current environment, the initiative goes to employers. Companies not only make decisions, but also often reduce wages for Middle and Senior positions. Sometimes companies deliberately replace experienced specialists cheaper. IT Ukraine confirms that this practice exists in particular when launching projects.

« Companies sometimes choose candidates with lower » seniority « because of a limited budget. This practice is not massive among medium and large players, because such a replacement can affect the quality and speed of implementation of decisions, » Shevchuk explains.

The Avita, who communicated with the EP, agree: finding a job is not too difficult. Most often, it is reduced to the balance between patience and a financial cushion.

« I was not in a hurry. I was released in December, and January was not the best period to search for holidays. In February, I started watching vacancies. There were options with a lower salary, but I decided to not hurry. In the third month, I got offers on the same conditions as before, »-says one with Senio.

The source of such confidence is evidenced by the level of salaries of experienced Avita. « I received $ 6,000 a month and realized that the monthly salary would cover my expenses for four to five months. There was nowhere to hurry, » says Aitovets.

The level of remuneration in IT depends on many factors: the specialization and experience to the market where the company operates and its financial strategy. Therefore, not all specialists can not rush to find a new job.

In order to remain competitive, 40% of candidates reduce expectations. In Ukraine, it is more commonly done by sisadmins, HR specialists and designers, abroad-the managers of the projects. Analysts, Devops and Data specialists are less likely to concess.

« Expectations of candidates’ skills are stable: projects still need technical examination. At the same time, attention is increasing to flexibility, adaptability and ability to quickly embed into a team. The market is gradually proceeding to more weighted expectations for compensation: candidates are focused on open salaries.