IT Labor Research Articles

A Review of IT Investment in Firms: What Can We Do in the New Era

Many studies on IT investment in companies have been conducted in the past, but our team combined them by summarizing the latest research. Compared to previous work, we revise a larger universe of firm IT investment, focus on more recent IT investment researches, refine the focus of current researchers pay attention to and address the problem of insufficient reference for enterprise practice. Through a review of the literature to synthesize the understanding of IT investment to (i) IT investment performance, (ii) IT adoption decision, (iii) IT governance, and (iv) IT labor (worker), we could highlight the research gaps that we encountered. Finally, based on the current research conclusions, we give practical suggestions from the early, middle and late stages of IT investment. This study contributes to the growing amount of literature on IT investment, both academically and practically.

Labour Market of Ukraine and Meeting Post-War Workforce Supply Market Demands

Introduction. Full-scale military actions in Ukraine increased the dynamics of changes in the labour market, caused significant uncertainty in influencing factors, and increased the imbalance of supply and demand in the labour market, which was characterised as a crisis even before the invasion. This strengthened the need for a relevant assessment of the needs of the Ukrainian labour market and the possibility of its personnel support and management of labour resources, taking into account the risks for the country's economy and post-war reconstruction. Aim and tasks. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the labour market of Ukraine in the post-war period and substantiate ways of meeting the market's personnel needs using the example of the construction and IT industries. The tasks of this study are to identify the factors affecting the labour market in the post-war period, assess the dynamics of changes in the balance of demand and supply in the labour market in the post-war period, and develop a mathematically formalised approach to the adaptive assessment of the labour market. Results. The developed mathematically formalised approach to assessing the imbalance of the labour market in individual areas allowed the stabilisation of the demand and supply of the IT labour market in 2026 at a level 1.496 times lower than the maximum in 2023. In the construction industry, differentiation in sectoral priorities of post-war reconstruction has been determined, as evidenced by the expected shortage of personnel in this industry, which is 2.15 times higher than the indicator for all industries. This is also indicated by the differentiation in the demand for qualified workers from 20% to 60% for large and small construction enterprises. Conclusions. The identified reasons for the uncertainty of factors affecting the labour market (losses in the quality of labour resources and forced migration) proved that post-war reconstruction would require an adaptive approach to managing labour resources at all levels. The lack of personnel in the post-war period will require a change in the concept of ensuring the competitiveness of domestic enterprises by using cheap labour. It was determined that the demand for qualified personnel in the post-war period for all industries would grow, which is confirmed by the dynamics of the index of change of employees, which is 30% higher for qualified workers than unskilled workers. Significant differentiation by micro-specialty influences the gap between demand and supply, which does not consider the market's needs.

Diversity 2023: The Missing 756,000

Abstract Last year the BCS analysis of the ONS IT labour market data showed there were a potential 754,000 workers missing from the IT industry. For 2023, that number didn't improve. Brian Runciman MBCS reports.

Структурно-динамічний аналіз ІТ-ринку України: виклики сьогодення

The aim of the article is to study the trends and features of structural transformations of the IT market of Ukraine over the past decade. Taking into account the consideration that there is still no single statistical base and system of indicators that would fully reflect the state of functioning of the IT market in Ukraine, as is revealed by the analyses of many information sources, the main structural transformations of the IT market of Ukraine as of 2013, 2018 and 2023 were analyzed and researched. As result of the carried out study, it is found out what structural changes took place during these periods in the IT labor market, in the market of IT products, in the economics of the IT business in general, etc. This made it possible to better assess the potential of the national IT market, identify potential threats to its development, competitive environment, and form a systematic view of the state and prospects for the development of the IT sector of the national economy, also to outline the key trends that will determine the development of the IT market in the near future. The factors of national and global scale, under the influence of which the IT market of Ukraine will be formed and function in the future, have been identified. In particular, it is the continuation of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine; irregularity of the process of reservation of critical employees of the IT industry and sending them on business trips abroad; lack of free money in the economy; global recession due to the energy crisis; companies’ attraction to optimize costs for the development along with further development of artificial intelligence. It is found that in 2023, for the first time in a decade, there is a downward trend in the volume of the IT market. This is testified by the departure of IT specialists abroad, a drop in the export of IT services, significant layoffs of IT specialists by companies, a long-term delay in the revision of salaries, a freeze in the increase in the level of compensation and bonus payments, a change in the situation in the talent market not in favor of Ukrainian IT specialists, etc. Prospects for further research in this direction are the substantiation of making appropriate managerial decisions to curb the decline of the IT market and the introduction of additional tools to stimulate its development in the dynamic economic conditions that have developed both within the country and around the world.

Gap-filling model between the labor market requirements and the standards of educational programmes for business analysts in Ukraine

Under global competition, the training of personnel with the demanded competencies in the labor market becomes a guarantee ofcompetitive-ness of enterprises in the digital economy. The purpose of the paper is to identify gaps in the training of business analysts between the requirements of the labor market and the standards of higher education programs in Ukraine. Paper is devoted to analysis of the IT market of Ukraine and the imbalance of competences in the IT labor market in Ukraine; comparingthe requirements of employers for the competencies of IT specialists in the labor market; determiningthe competencies of educational programs in Ukraine according to the standards of the Ministryof Education and Science and their compliance with the requirements of the labor market for IT specialties,developingan experimental model of the impact of competencies of IT majors on the wages of business analysts.Affordablevacancies were analyzed and divided into 5 groups: Banks, Government institutions, IT, Retail and Other. These vacancies were analyzed by gen-eral competencies and specific subjectcompetencies.After comparing, the requirements of Ukrainian employers for the position of busi-ness analyst on the job search sites the most important specific subjectcompetencies for the IT industry were identified.Paper propose methodological approach to revise educational programmes according to market needs of employers.The ability to explain economic and social processes and phenomena based ontheoretical models, to analyze and interpret the obtained results, which determines the average monthly salary increase. The ability to develop business solutions and evaluate new technological proposals leads to a decrease in salary. The ability to form new competitive ideas and implement them in projects reduces the salary, when working inpositions in mature companies. Understanding flexible development processes increases the salary of employees.The proposed approachof reveal-ing statistical significant competences can be applied to any specialty

ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЦИФРОВІЗАЦІЇ СЕКТОРІВ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ ІТ-ФАХІВЦЯМИ: ПРОБЛЕМИ І ШЛЯХИ ЇХ ВИРІШЕННЯ

Досліджено релевантність оцінки забезпечення відповідними ІТ-фахівцями потреб цифровізації секторів національної економіки через упровадження в них базових інформаційно-комунікаційних технологій (ІКТ) (веб-, обміну е-інформацією, розсилкою е-рахунків/фактур, соціальних мереж, хмарних обчислень, аналізу «великих даних» і штучного інтелекту, е-комерції, промислових і сервісних роботів, 3D-друку, ІКТ для екологічної стійкості) наявним практикам ЄС з цих питань (DESI, Digital Economy and Society Index), що важливо з огляду на набуття Україною статусу кандидата в члени ЄС. Виокремлено відмінності практик Державної служби статистики України і Євростату щодо державних статистичних спостережень з питань цифровізації секторів національної економіки, які є інструментом оцінки успішності цифрової, технологічної та освітньої політики держави, що дуже важливо для України, чия економіка перебуває в надзвичайному стані внаслідок широкомасштабної агресії, а також для повоєнного її відновлення на нових технологічних рейках. Встановлено, що з 2013 р. Державна служба статистики України включає в державне статистичне спостереження лише частину секторів економіки, їх перелік не актуалізується, при цьому на сектори, що не досліджуються, припадає майже третина ВВП. Цю ситуацію необхідно терміново виправляти. Досліджено проблеми екосистеми ІТ-освіти. Встановлено, що за три роки роботи в умовах пандемії вона набула певної гнучкості, запроваджено дистанційний режим навчання і атестації, проте цього недостатньо при тривалому функціонуванні в надзвичайних умовах війни. Недоліками є жорсткий графік навчання, його тривалий термін, перенавантаження нормативної і вибіркової частин навчальних планів значною кількістю гуманітарних предметів. Запропоновано об’єднати їх у інтеграційні курси, скоротити термін навчання на бакалавраті, сприяти програмам короткого циклу (молодший бакалавр) для швидкого виходу здобувачів на ринок праці в ІТ, пом’якшити кадрові умови ліцензування ІТ-спеціальностей з огляду на їх належність до креативних індустрій.

Data mining of vacancy data to identify the current labor market needs

As a result of manufacturing digitization and the transition to new technologies, the labor market requirements for specialists’ skills and abilities are changing. Employing an appropriately qualified workforce is critical to stimulating economic growth. In October 2021, the federal project “Development of the IT industry human resources” of the national program “Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” was approved by the Government of Russia. The project is being implemented as part of the list of initiatives for the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation until 2030. In the context of changing technological trends, it is crucial to adapt the educational programs of higher educational institutions in timely manner to ensure training of such specialists who meet the demands of the labor market. The article proposes a data mining toolkit to analyze vacancy data in order to identify relevant skills and abilities required in the labor market. Based on the IT labor market data collected from the hh.ru service, I analyzed the key skills indicated in the vacancies posted on the site. Additionally, vacancy clustering was performed. Educational institutions can regularly use the suggested approach to update educational program curricula.

ІНФОРМАЦІЙНА ТЕХНОЛОГІЯ ОЦІНКИ ЯКОСТІ ЗНАНЬ ФАХІВЦІВ В ІТ-ГАЛУЗІ

Urgency of the research. The topic of the research is the quality of the specialist's training and knowledge. The sources do not have a single definition of the terms "quality of specialist training" and "quality of specialist knowledge", but theyall mean general "quality". The quality of a specialist means that they have properties that allow them to perform their professional work in accordance with their specialty, to be an active citizen, to constantly improve their qualifications and, if necessary, to change their profession.Target setting. In the modern IT labor market, there are many areas, such as UX/UI designers, Front-End, Back-End specialists, network specialists and cyber security specialists. In Ukraine, there are more than 212 thousand IEs working in the field of IT. In 2021, the increase in the number of IEs increased by 16%. Currently, the growth in the number of IEs has decreased compared to 2018-2020. Ukraine has many CTEAs related to IT, including computer programming, informatization consulting, data processing, publishing of computer games and other software.Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. In his research, P.I. Kanivets defined the quality of a specialist as a setof properties and characteristics that defines them as a specialist of a certain profession and specialty. The skills of a specialist can be divided into technical and communication skills, and they are determined by the level of productivity and the ability to do a job well. In the field of IT, there are many different levels of technical specialists with different levels of knowledge, skills and experi-ence. Differences between levels determine the ability to solve various problems and the ability to learn and improve oneself.Uninvestigated parts of generalmatters defining. There are general skills that IT professionals need, but there are also many other skills that have different levels of value depending on the position. At the moment, there is no universal way to automatically detect the level of specialists' skills, which concerns both "hard skills" (technical skills) and "soft skills" (inter-personal skills).The research objective. The purpose of the work is to study the general skills and abilities of an IT specialist and an attempt to derive a universal formula for calculating the reference model of the competencies of an IT specialist. The statement of basic materials. In particular, a methodology has been developed that allows to assess the compliance of the level of training of graduates with the requirements of vacant positions in the design department. A survey of managers and leading employees of UX/UI design departments from various organizations was also conducted in order to determine the most important qualities of employees in UI/UX design.Conclusions. On the basis of the opinion of the heads of the IT industry, the dominant professionally significant and personal qualities necessary for specialists to successfully implement professional activities in the field of UX design wereidentified.Based on the requirements of the reference competency model of an IT specialist, a methodology that allows to assess the level of training of candidates for the position with the requirements of IT department managers, as well as to provide assistance in supporting decision-making when choosing the most suitable employee has been created.

Back to the Future: How the Convergence of Globalization and Technology is Changing Labour and Mobility

Abstract Throughout this research we reflect on how the convergence of technology and migration is changing highly skilled labour mobility and the relationship between place and value production. We reflect on the impact of these transformations on the tech sector and IT labour market in Cluj-Napoca. We aim to understand how the pandemic coupled with the current trends in labour mobility and value production have affected labour markets and highly skilled labour migration. The paper stems as reflection from a fieldwork which are currently conducting in Romania with a focus on transnational entrepreneurship, social networks of innovation and labour migration in the tech industry. The article brings forward findings from the field, drawing on the developments that accelerated and changed the way we work in the post-pandemic period and analysing what implications these trends could have on the nature of migration and the connection between value production and place.

Regional Labor Market of it Specialists in the Conditions of Digital Transformation of the Economy and Social Sphere

Relevance. The Russian economy is steadily moving towards digitalization. The corona virus epidemic caused a rapid pace of digitalization, accelerated the processes of automation and digitalization of the economy and social life of society.These objective processes have led to the need to access the IT labor market in order to identify trends in meeting the sharply increased demand of companies for IT specialists.The purpose of the study to assess the current situation and problems that have developed in the labor market of the Kursk region in the field of supply and demand of IT specialists.The objectives were to assess: the job market in the region, the requests and proposals of employers; the structure of vacancies; activity and portrait of applicants.Methodology. The research methodology is based on system, resource and process approaches. Traditional methods for theoretical and applied research were used - statistical analysis, indexing of information, comparison, generalization. The research material was statistical data of the federal all-Russian database of vacancies and summaries of the labor market of IT specialists.Results. Analyzed and systematized the data of the Internet recruitment portal Bounty Hunter (based on the parsing of resumes and vacancies). The analysis of the composition and structure of this part of the labor market is carried out, the indicators of supply and demand on it are compared. Studies have revealed a significant imbalance of supply and demand in the regional labor market in the IT sector, including in terms of employee specialization. There is a significant difference in professional specialization in the offers of applicants and in vacancies of potential employers.Conclusions. The demand for IT specialists has grown significantly. The lack of personnel is the main obstacle to the accelerated development of the IT sector of the region's economy. It is possible to eliminate the imbalance between supply and demand by implementing the following measures: targeted training of IT specialists for the real needs of employers; organization of additional professional education with a specific specialization; improvement of the external HR brand of companies and motivation of IT specialists.

Effective Reskilling of Foreign-Born People at Universities - The Software Development Academy

Contribution: An intensive three-month educational program can be used for rapid integration of foreign-born people into the IT industry. A novel method for integrating industrial needs with the practical parts of a bachelor’s Computer Science program. Background: The program was motivated by (1) the societal need to increase the meaningful integration of immigrants into the workforce, and (2) the demand for IT specialists in the IT labor market. Intended outcomes: An effective intensive software developer program with a high level of industrial integration and a working matching model for employment. Application design: The program consists of three different phases; recruitment of participants, training and job matching. The training is divided into six modules using five different teaching methods. An evaluation model, based on passive and active data, is implemented with fast learning loops for teachers and participants. Findings: The program has been run seven times with 263 unemployed participants of different nationalities. On average 82.6 percent of the participants found employment in the IT industry within 5 months of the course ending. Female participants are in the majority and are more successful in securing employment. The findings suggest that it was possible to rapidly prototype and deliver an advanced reskilling program within a university setting and use it as a positive method to support newcomers find meaningful work that has a direct benefit for the local IT industry, as well as for the wider society.

Human resources management simulation in the IT-labor market

The article developed a mathematical model of personnel management, taking into account the specifics of the activities of IT companies. The relevance of this study is due to the fact that the tasks of personnel management are subjective. This creates certain difficulties when choosing a mathematical apparatus for building a model for the effective distribution of specialists on projects in IT companies. The purpose of the research is to study modern methods and models of personnel management and develop a mathematical model for the selection of specialists with the necessary qualifications for an IT team. The article sets the following tasks: to analyze the theoretical and methodological foundations of economic and mathematical modeling of personnel management; to develop a personnel management model in the IT labor market. The authors describe the features of the activities of recruiting specialists in IT companies. The essence of the methods of personnel management in the IT labor market is analyzed. The specificity of the work of HR-managers (human resource managers) in outsourcing and outstaffing IT companies is considered. The use of a systematic approach to personnel management is proposed, in which an IT enterprise is considered as a subsystem of an economic system of the "fragment-aspect" type. The economic and mathematical model for recruiting specialists in an IT team, developed in the article, includes two components: "Model for the formation of the qualitative composition of IT personnel" and "Model for the formation of the quantitative composition of IT personnel". Forming an effective IT team requires a certain number of specialists with professional skills and universal competencies. The constraint conditions of the model describe the qualitative characteristics of applicants, such as profession, qualifications, hard skills and soft skills of candidates, and quantitative requirements. The model is built on the basis of heuristic methods for managing socio-economic systems and allows you to form a step-by-step list of applicants for vacancies in an IT team, taking into account the professional and personal qualities of specialists and the stated requirements for them from employers. The objective function is to minimize the total time spent by HR managers to form an effective IT team, taking into account the needs of customers. The result of the model's work is the formation of a list of candidates that should be recommended for concluding an agreement with customers.

The use of WEB-oriented technologies in the process of WEB-programming teaching for technical universities students

The realities of the XXI century - informatization, digital transformation, high technologies, WEB-technologies in particular - put Ukraine state in front of global challenges of creating a digital state. It is the implementation of a number of digital projects which form the digital space of the state, in particular those coordinated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The development of a significant number of applications requires the state to constantly update them, maintain them working, which requires qualified programmers. The task of technical universities is to train competitive specialists in the IT field. This study analyzes the results of a survey of students of NTUU "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Igor Sikorsky ”, the purpose of which was to find out what integrated development environments and programming languages ​​senior students independently choose when developing programs within the educational and professional programs of the faculty, and which correlate with software used by programmers in the implementation of large IT-enterprises, in particular WEB-programming languages. The results of the study showed as well that the rating of programming languages and the use of integrated development environments meet modern requirements for software development. 76.7% of graduates, while being students, are already employed in IT companies as full-time employees. The high percentage of employment suggests that graduate students of the Faculty of Informatics and Computer Engineering of Igor Sikorsky NTUU KPI are competitive in the modern IT labor market.

The IT Labor Market Amid the Pandemic: The Case of the United States

The IT Labor Market Amid the Pandemic: The Case of the United States

Possibilities of Virtual Reality Technologies for the Development of Gaming Applications

The rapid development of virtual and augmented reality technologies is currently taking place in almost all spheres of activity. Elements of virtual and augmented reality are used in such areas as education, medicine, transport, gaming, tourism and others. The active spread of these technologies causes the emergence of special competencies in the IT labor market and, as a result, the formation of new professions.Many Russian universities are training students in IT training areas. Specialization in the development of computer games and virtual reality applications has begun recently. The provision of practical classes is accompanied by specific tasks, which gives students the opportunity to improve the use of software and technical devices.The relevance of the research is determined by the current demand for the use of the latest technologies by IT developers in the field of creating computer games. Today, technologies that provide a player’s immersion in virtual reality are becoming more and more popular. One of these technologies is a suit with wearable sensors that track a person’s position in space in real time. However, there are quite a few real described projects in the literature and on the Internet. This study examines the process of developing a task for creating a game application using virtual reality technology: a suit with wearable sensors for teaching students.Materials and methods of research. Timely identification of the needs of the IT market in personnel training allows educational organizations to form new training programs of different levels of training. This approach makes it possible to target the educational and methodological materials being developed to use the latest achievements in the development of the field under study.Using a systematic approach, the study characterizes virtual reality suits and sensors for monitoring the position in the user’s space. Thus, the goal of the task was to ensure the immersiveness and convenience of interaction between the player and the game environment.Based on materials on software, position sensors in space, the approach of pedagogical design was applied and the procedure was formed for a practical task, reflecting the relevant competencies.Results. The study was conducted on the basis in the framework of laboratory and practical work of students, as well as at a real enterprise. Training in the new profile of the direction of training “Applied informatics” is fully equipped with all the latest technologies in this field. As a result of the work, the content of the practical task was developed.Real development of virtual and augmented reality applications is conducted jointly with students. Almost all projects used a suit with body sensors.Conclusion. Our study examines in detail the process of developing an application using a suit with wearable sensors for further training of students. Based on the results, work can be carried out on real projects for any field. Based on the research materials, it is planned to issue a textbook for students with the profile of developing computer games and virtual / augmented reality applications.

Entering or advancing in the IT labor market: The role of an online graduate degree in computer science

Online graduate degree programs, particularly in technical disciplines, represent a fast-growing market for higher education institutions. Yet, it is unclear how online degree programs fit within students' educational investment decisions and career goals. Based on a foundation of human capital theory, and using data from a 2017 survey of students enrolled in an online master's degree program in computer science at a highly ranked US university, this study explores how motivation for seeking an online graduate degree in computer science varies by student demographics and professional background/preparation. Results show two student markets: one for career mobility, including job advancement and/or career change, and another for skill building without consideration of mobility. Our results also show that while students come from diverse backgrounds, the primary driving factor for seeking the degree is determined by relevant professional experience. Implications for future study and online instructional design are discussed.

Analysis of approaches in teaching the introductory programming course in universities

The importance of the effective study of the initial programming course (CS1), on the one hand, and the need to take into account the requirements for IT professionals today, on the other hand, encourage universities to flexibly change educational components, adjust curricula and disciplines. The relevance of finding approaches that positively affect the effectiveness of learning the basics of programming, due to the complexity of this course for students and the high level of dropout in the first session.The paper analyzes the approaches of foreign universities in teaching the CS1 course. The tendencies of the Ukrainian IT labour market concerning the need for adjustment of the content of the Algorithmization and programming course (Ukrainian analogue CS1) are investigated.It is established that there is no universal solution to the problems associated with teaching the initial programming course in the universities. Important factors that positively affect the success of programming training are the motivation of students, a set of didactic processes and methods, as well as good knowledge of the subject by teachers. To increase the effectiveness of training, researchers propose to change the programming language used in the introductory programming course and to introduce new classes of tasks in the curriculum. The effectiveness of the solutions depends on the regional specifics and traditions of IT education.Considering the ranking of programming languages in demand in Ukraine, the need to establish a relationship between disciplines and specifics of courses, the appropriate scheme of using programming languages are C / C ++ in Algorithmization and programming course (CS1) and then Java / C # in Object-oriented programming course (CS2). Another solution is to collaborate with IT companies and to involve students in writing real programs.

Online Contest “Mathematics and Art” for the Development of Key Competencies

The online contest “Mathematics and Art” is organized by Tonediko since 2015. Participation in it creates the opportunity to develop almost all key competences. In addition, the competition is a means of promoting digital mathematical tools to a wide audience. In the paper, in the context of the research of the ability to use the provided dynamic files (directly or after modification), to create a composition on a given topic, the following will be presented: the competition regulation; main activities of the participants; opportunities to use the competition in IT lessons, fine arts, labor and equipment, mathematics and related teacher activities; results of passed competitions, some challenges and options to overcome them.

The IT Labor Market in Pandemic Conditions

In this ongoing project, we investigate how the COVID-19 epidemic affects the IT labor market, and, accordingly, how organizations choose to hire IT employees in the current situation. Using a quarterly dataset of 30,678 IT job postings from a large online employment website, we perform descriptive analysis and logistic regression to examine the relationships between pandemic severity and work arrangements (remote vs. on-site), work schedules (part-time vs. full time), and organizational sectors (commercial vs. government vs. non-profit). Our results reveal that the IT market in the summer quarter (June, July, and August) is better than in the previous period, for both part-time and remote job postings. Also, pandemic severity is positively associated with the incidence of on-site IT hires. For governments and non-profit organizations (NPOs) such as hospitals and schools, “frontline” IT support professionals were highly prized, whereas commercial employers, including tech giants, were more interested in growing a remote IT workforce. In our conclusions, we discuss the balance between the trajectory of diagnosed infections and the fluctuations of the labor market, specifically in the IT sector.

FORMATION OF RECRUITMENT IN THE IT SPHERE

The article reveals the theoretical and practical aspects of recruitment of IT enterprises. The specifics of the IT labor market and the specifics of the selection of IT specialists were presented, as well as the analysis of the problem of personnel selection in the IT sphere. In addition, the importance of using online platforms for interviews was clarified, and a survey of recruiters on the convenience of conducting online interviews was analyzed. It is emphasized that at the present stage of development it is extremely necessary to introduce social recruitment and introduce modern methods of personnel selection.