Research: 53% of young people plan to develop in the IT field 15:04

VK Education and Profilum conducted a survey on young people’s opinions about careers in the IT and digital sector. The results showed that more than half of participants plan to develop in the technology field, and 60% think a successful career in these fields requires coding skills.

According to the research, 57% of those who want to pursue a career in IT and digital fields described product, service, application and website development as the most interesting direction for development. The top 5 IT fields of young people include programming (52%), artificial intelligence and machine learning (37%), data analysis (32%) and testing (20%).

For 8 out of 10 participants, their desire to improve in these areas was influenced by personal interest. 56% think that the IT industry is a promising and rapidly developing sector; 44% stated that they see many opportunities to reveal their potential and achieve success in this sector. For 31% of young people, the high demand for IT specialists in the job market is important; The same number of people said they liked people working in this field.

According to a third (33%) of young people surveyed, to start working in IT you need to have higher education in your field of expertise; A quarter (25%) of respondents believe you can start with specialist courses.

60% of all respondents stated that programming ability is among the skills that are important for a career in the IT and digital sector. Young audiences consider soft skills no less important: 59% cited critical, systemic thinking, 51% cited curiosity and readiness for continuous learning, 47% cited teamwork skills, and 46% cited creative thinking and high levels of motivation .

At the beginning of their career paths, many participants are doing or considering an internship. 35% of survey participants stated that they currently have internship experience. Among the main advantages they listed the acquisition of relevant skills (77%), greater employment opportunities (63%) and the opportunity to learn from the experience of experts (62%). 9 in 10 are confident that internships should be completed during their studies: from their first year of college or university (32%), from their senior year (31%), or from school (19%). According to the participants, the optimal duration of the internship is 3-5 months (32%) or 1-2 months (31%).

Young audiences attach importance to their personal development as well as internships. Thus, 54% watch thematic blogs, listen to podcasts or read information on social networks, 46% take online courses or watch lectures, 44% communicate with people who are already working and experts in their field.

The majority of respondents (73%) see the greatest chance for career advancement in large and medium-sized companies. Among the important factors in choosing an employer, 59% mentioned a flexible work schedule, 49% the opportunity to work remotely, 46% a social package and 44% mention training support from the company.

1,130 participants took part in the survey: secondary and high school students, school and university graduates, students, university graduates and professional candidates.