Ukrainian Tech Talent Salary Expectations: Q2 2023

Tech talent salary expectations are one of the trickier aspects of the Ukrainian Tech Segment. Over the years, it was one of the hardest things to understand and put into perspective.

These days, businesses have to deal with the everchanging market situation and its effect on the tech segment’s labor market. 

• Because of that, understanding tech talent salary expectations is critical for effective recruitment operations.

Our previous article covered the salary dynamics factors during Q2 2023. This article explains the state of tech talent salary expectations during the first six months of 2023. 

• If you want to purchase the complete Q2 2023 Salary Survey – drop us a line.

Tech Talent Salary Expectations Q2 2023: What happened?

The big narrative coming into Q3 2023 is that the labor market shifted from candidate-driven to employer-driven. Now, employers call the shots regarding recruitment, forcing candidates to scale down their remuneration expectations. 

That’s an oversimplification for several reasons. 

The overall recruitment activity slowed down considerably during Q2 2023. 

• Companies open fewer vacancies, recruitment takes longer, and candidates don’t get as many job offers as in the past. Not every specialist can stay unemployed for long.
• This factor negatively affects a candidate’s salary expectations.

The talent scarcity problem isn’t going away. It remains a challenge for industry players, big and small. 

• An influx of junior talent is good, but it will take time before they fully develop into specialists, and companies need competent professionals right now. They can’t hire a junior for a lead position. They still need to find that lead to fill the post. 
• This factor positively affects a candidate’s salary expectations.

These two factors balance each other out. 

• In a way, the current market situation makes tech talent remuneration expectations more realistic.

Let’s get into the specifics.

Salary Expectations Q2 2023 Breakdown

Junior Specialists with 1-2 years of experience:

• More reasonable juniors expect a 30-50% increase from job to job. This growth means gradual evolution into middle talent. 
• More wayward junior talent often expects a 50-100+% increase from job to job. 
• Due to an influx of junior talent into the Ukrainian Tech Segment, their salary levels slowly decrease. Because of that, expecting to go from $500-900 to $2000 with 9-12 months of experience is less realistic these days. However, going from $500-900 to $1000-1300 can be within reach. 

Middle Specialists with 2-3 years of experience:

• The average salary expectation across the board is within 20-25%. 
• However, there are lots of middle talent looking for a job. Many don’t have a job and really want to get one. 
• Because of that, sometimes getting a meaningful raise is out of the question. Some candidates are okay with getting the same salary as before but are often forced to accept up to a 20-30% salary decrease.

Senior Specialists with 3-4 years of experience:

• Remuneration expectations jump between 20% and 40% increase depending on the niche. 
• However, most of the senior-level respondents also mentioned that they are staying in their current job due to uncertain economic situations and concerns regarding the financial stability of potential new employers. 
• At the same time, unemployed senior-level talent is ready to accept the same salary or even up to a 20-25% salary decrease.

Lead specialists with 5+ years of experience: 

• Those with team management skills often have lower salary expectations than high-profile technical specialists. The difference is around 15%.
• Overall expectations are considerably lower than senior talent because of higher salary ranges. As a result, the average increase expectation is around 25-40%, depending on the niche and its talent demand. 
• In addition, lead-level talent is sensitive to benefits (stock options, bonuses, etc).

Salary Expectations Factors Q2 2023 Explained

Overall salary expectations for Ukrainian tech talent got much more subdued during Q2 2023. 

• The lack of competition for talent and the unstable economic situation forced tech specialists to keep their expectations lower during the tumultuous period.
• But the tech talent still expects to get more money on a new offer. That’s the critical fact.

Interestingly, companies often lack an understanding of the market situation and expect to hire high-profile talent based on six-month-old salary ranges. 

• This approach doesn’t make recruitment easier. Because of that, their recruitment extends beyond cost-effectiveness with minimal results. 

The decreasing competition for talent 

Business is down. Consequently, the demand for talent slows down. This situation creates an employer-driven labor market. 

• As a result, companies can offer far lower salaries than before. The decrease can sometimes reach up to 20-50%. Long-term, this situation will feed into an overall salary level decrease across the board.
• At the same time, the lacking talent demand slowly but surely erodes salary expectations. For example, in late 2022, a senior Java developer is expected to get a solid 50-60% increase on a new job. During Q2 2023 same talent category responded that a 30% increase would be great, but a 20% increase is acceptable too.

In a way, there is more diversity in salary expectations during Q2 2023. Candidates often describe their expectation levels. For example, 30% would be good, 20% is tolerable, and 40% is excellent. 

Another critical factor is that candidates are not in a hurry to change employers. Job security is becoming an increasingly crucial aspect of candidate expectations. Because of that, companies often try to engage with candidates by promising significant salary increases. 

Expectation Plausibility

The expectations’ plausibility remains an issue for many candidates, especially those currently employed. 

Due to not following the industry news and not studying the situation beforehand, candidates often express unrealistic expectations (for example, a 150% increase for Senior DevOps, five years of employment). They get a reality check soon enough and scale down their expectations shortly afterward. Such candidates still exist.

• Junior+ and Middle talent often have unrealistic expectations regarding their salary increases from job to job, regardless of their market intelligence. 
• While junior talent can get an 80% increase, that’s peanuts compared to senior-lead figures. Also, job safety for juniors is often an issue.
• Middle talent’s common unrealistic expectation is to get a 50+% increase on a new job, but if there are no competing offers, the actual increase is closer to 25-30%.
• Senior and lead implausible talent expectations vary depending on niches and technologies. DevOps talent often looks for a solid 45% increase, while senior Python average on 35% increase and a 50-60% increase as best case scenario. 

Temporary options to continue the search

The other interesting trend emerging during Q2 2023 is that tech talent often accepts job offers as temporary options to continue their job search and meet their salary expectations.

The usual course of action for such temporary employment is to stay on board for 3-6 months and look for a perfect job with the pressure and stress of unemployment. 

• Sometimes such candidates get lucky weeks into their new employment, which causes a lot of trouble for companies and recruitment agencies who now need to find a replacement.
• This approach also contributes to the growing figures of changing jobs quarter-to-quarter.

These days, the temporary employment approach is a significant factor in the salary expectation decrease across the board.

• Candidates have two sets of expectations: a best-case scenario and an acceptable temporary solution. 
• Because of that, while researching tech talent salary expectations, it is critical to differentiate the salary expectations further to know which one is which.

Salary Expectations Depend on Candidate’s Safety Net

Salary expectations of unemployed talent are driven by their personal situation. In other words – how long can they afford to look for a job that meets their salary expectations? Some candidates have stronger safety nets than others, directly affecting their expectations.

• We have documented cases of C-level talent with a solid track record of spending up to 6 months looking for a job with no compromises. 

As a result, such candidates gradually decrease their expectations and even become ready to accept salary decreases.

• The average salary decrease level is currently around 20-30%, depending on the niches.
• Desperate candidates can sometimes accept 40% lower salaries, but it is far from developing into a trend.

What’s next?

The Ukrainian tech talent salary expectations underwent drastic changes during Q2 2023. 

Decreasing talent demand and a tumultuous market situation forced candidates to keep expectations more realistic and open to reasonable compromises. 

Our next article will further explore tech talent salaries during Q2 2023.

• Drop us a line to purchase the complete Q2 2023 Talando Market Research.