Digital transformation and business process automation

What changes occurred in the Polish IT market in 2021? A wealth of interesting information regarding the specifics of the local IT industry can be found in the report “IT Job Market in Poland in 2021” prepared by No Fluff Jobs. It was created based on an analysis of 90,994 job offers published on the portal last year. What did salary ranges for specialists look like in 2021, how many job postings were published, and which specializations are the most profitable? We answer all these questions in the article below.    

Salary ranges are increasing

  The authors of the report indicate that in 2021, another increase in IT industry salaries was recorded, however, it was not as spectacular as in previous years.

• The median of the minimum salary ranges in job postings published by employers increased in 2021 by 8.33% compared to 2020 and amounted to 13,000 PLN net.
• In 2020, the growth rate was 20% (compared to 2019).
• The median of the maximum salary ranges in 2021 stood at 18,400 PLN net, which was an increase of 9.5% compared to 2020. In the 2019-2020 period, the growth was smaller, amounting to 8.33%.

IT salary ranges in individual years were as follows:

• 2019: 10,000 – 15,500,
• 2020: 12,000 – 16,800,
• 2021: 13,000 – 18,400.

Most Polish programmers are backend developers

Although 54.5% of all offers were published in the backend, frontend, and fullstack categories, it should be noted that the number of job postings for backend developers was twice as high as the other two categories combined. Additionally, in 2021, in the backend category, there were 162% more job offers published than the year before. This is an extremely large increase, confirming that backend is definitely the most important development category. Among the published offers, those dedicated to juniors accounted for 6.25% of all postings, those for mids were 61.87%, and for seniors – 31.89%. What salaries could backend developers count on in 2021? Below we present the details:

• The average salary for junior backend developers was 6,000-8,000 PLN gross on an employment contract or 6,000-10,000 PLN net on a B2B contract.
• The average salary for mid-level backend developers stood at 10,000-15,900 PLN gross on an employment contract and 13,000-19,000 PLN net on a B2B contract.
• The average salary for seniors was 14,500-20,000 PLN gross on an employment contract, while on B2B it was 17,700-23,700 PLN net.

The most profitable programming languages in IT

People considering starting a career in the IT industry are certainly wondering which technologies were the best paid in 2021 and which IT professions in Poland guarantee the highest salary. What was the most profitable programming language in IT in 2021? Candidates applying for IT jobs are most often required to know the following technologies: Java, Python, and .NET. The percentage of offers where at least one of these technologies was in the requirements was 49.86%. The requirement to know these languages is nothing unusual, as they have enjoyed unwavering popularity for many years and are used by specialists from various categories – including backend developers, frontend developers, testers, and analysts. In the case of specialists working on B2B contracts, those who knew Java, Python, and iOS could count on the highest earnings. Salaries for specialists in these fields were a minimum of 15,000 PLN net, and there were even cases where offers exceeded 20,000 PLN.

The most profitable specializations in IT

  The most job offers in 2021 were published in the development categories: backend, frontend, and fullstack. These three categories accounted for 54.58% of all postings. When we analyze salaries by specialization on a B2B contract, we notice that employees specializing in Security, DevOps, BigData, and Business Intelligence could count on the highest earnings. Most profitable IT specializations – TOP 5 list (B2B contract):

1. Security – 18,500 – 25,000 PLN net,
2. DevOps – 16,800 – 23,520 PLN net,
3. BigData – 16,000 – 22,000 PLN net,
4. Business Intelligence – 15,120 – 21,000 PLN net,
5. Backend – 14,700 – 20,160 PLN net.

On the other hand, for employees hired on an employment contract, the list of the most profitable specializations looks very similar. Here, too, Security, DevOps, and BigData triumph. Most profitable IT specializations – TOP 5 list (employment contract):

1. Security – 12,000 – 18,000 PLN gross (ex aequo).
2. DevOps – 12,000 – 18,000 PLN gross (ex aequo).
3. BigData – 12,000 – 18,000 PLN gross (ex aequo).
4. Mobile – 12,000 – 17,000 PLN gross.
5. Backend – 11,000 – 16,567 PLN gross.

Remote work is now the standard

  In 2021, remote work became a universally applicable standard – no one considers this phenomenon a “temporary trend” anymore. For the first time in the 7-year history of the No Fluff Jobs portal, remote work topped the “locations” list in job postings. The number of job postings with the possibility of working remotely was 260% higher than in 2020. These types of postings accounted for almost 30% of all published offers. Here is the list of the 5 most popular locations in job postings for IT specialists in 2021:

1. Remote work – 32.81% of all postings.
2. Warsaw – 23.22% of all postings.
3. Kraków – 11.31% of all postings.
4. Wrocław – 9.21% of all postings.
5. Poznań – 5.13% of all postings.