The IT Job Market in 2025 – Between Stabilization and New Challenges
For several years now, the IT industry has been on a rollercoaster of change. After a period of boom and intense recruitment during the pandemic, the market experienced a sharp cooling. In 2022, many tech companies began cutting back on hiring, and a global wave of layoffs affected hundreds of thousands of IT workers. Today, in mid-2025, it’s worth taking a closer look at the current state of the IT job market: what has changed since 2022, what the demand for specialists looks like today, what is happening with salaries, how hard it is to land a first job in IT, and what the outlook is for the coming years.
Changes in Employment Since 2022 The IT job market experienced a significant downturn after the pandemic boom. In 2023, the number of IT job postings dropped dramatically—on major job portals, there were as many as 26% fewer listings than in 2022. The reason: budget cuts for tech projects and a more cautious approach to hiring. Large tech corporations carried out mass layoffs—an estimated 460,000 tech workers lost their jobs globally between 2022 and 2023.
The year 2024 brought stabilization, although the number of openings remained below boom-era levels. In Poland, job postings in 2024 were on average 3–9% lower than the year before, signaling a slowdown in the decline. Importantly, the first signs of recovery appeared at the end of 2024—job postings in Q4 increased by 22% compared to Q4 2023. Despite these positive signals, employment levels in IT still haven’t returned to the highs of a few years ago, and there’s no sign of a quick return to the "recruitment eldorado." Companies have learned to plan hiring more cautiously after the period of rapid growth, and the market has corrected the pandemic-era trend of “hiring at all costs.” As a result, isolated layoffs in tech continue, and job offer volumes remain below 2021–2022 levels. On the other hand, the pace of job reductions has slowed considerably—by mid-2024, an average of 536 tech workers were laid off globally per day, compared to 721 a year earlier. This suggests that the worst of the correction may be behind us.
Demand for IT Specialists in Europe and Globally
There is a paradox in the IT job market: despite the decline in job postings, the demand for skilled professionals remains high. Even amid layoffs, companies continue to compete for top talent. Analyses show that demand for IT experts spans various industries—not only traditional tech firms but also finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics, which are undergoing rapid digital transformation. In other words, technology is needed everywhere, meaning that experienced programmers or administrators can still find employment with relative ease. For instance, Warsaw reports record-low unemployment among IT professionals—just 1.2% in March 2025 (compared to 10.7% in Brussels). Such low unemployment signals a market that still actively absorbs talent, especially those with in-demand skills.
Many companies report difficulties finding suitable candidates, which confirms the ongoing talent shortage. According to a ManpowerGroup report, over half of Polish companies in the new tech sector (55%) still struggle to recruit candidates with the desired skills. While this is a slight improvement from the previous year (61%), it still reflects a significant skills gap. Globally, it’s a similar story—despite staff reductions in Big Tech, 79% of developers say they are open to new job offers or actively job hunting, and employers in many regions plan to grow their IT teams. In Q3 2024, as many as 42% of companies worldwide declared intentions to expand IT hiring, compared to just 20% expecting further layoffs.
However, the structure of demand for skills is shifting. Organizations are becoming more cautious about roles that don’t directly support current projects and are focusing on areas critical to development. There is growing demand for specialists in AI/ML, data analytics, cybersecurity, and cloud services. Reports show that job postings for security roles rose nearly 39% year-over-year, Data Science/BI by 34%, and AI by 22%—despite the overall downturn, these once-niche specializations are gaining traction. Meanwhile, demand has declined in more traditional areas such as game development (down 58%) and embedded systems (down 31%). Increasingly, companies are seeking experts to implement AI or secure infrastructure—signaling where the industry is headed.
Long-term forecasts also point to a persistent hunger for IT talent. The European Union estimates that to meet the goals of the Digital Decade, 20 million ICT specialists will be needed by 2030—yet current trends suggest that only about 12 million will be available. This means a gap of as many as 8 million unfilled positions in Europe alone. Despite the temporary slowdown, the digital transformation of business will continue to drive demand for IT professionals in the coming years—from developers to data engineers to cloud and AI experts.
IT Salaries – Are They Still Growing?
Salaries in IT have increased in recent years, but the rate of growth has clearly slowed as the number of job openings dropped. During the boom, companies competed with higher pay to attract and retain talent. But when candidates started outnumbering job offers, wage pressure eased. At the beginning of 2024, employers noticed they could be more selective—average applications per job rose from 33 to 51—so they no longer had to boost salaries to secure qualified staff. Data from No Fluff Jobs shows that in the first half of 2024, median offered salaries in most specializations remained flat or grew only slightly year-over-year. In other words, salaries have stopped rising as dynamically as in previous years.
That doesn’t mean wages are falling—rather, they are stabilizing at a high level, with continued increases in some niches. In 2024, significant salary hikes occurred in areas that previously lagged or where there’s a talent shortage. For example, the median lower range of salaries for Mobile developers jumped over 40% (from PLN 12,000 to PLN 17,000 gross on an employment contract). In cybersecurity, median salaries rose by 20%, reaching PLN 18,000–24,000. Pay also increased in GameDev (+33%), software testing (+24%), and UX/UI (+22%). These jumps reflect market corrections—e.g., security specialists became highly sought-after, forcing companies to offer more.
Overall, however, salary growth in IT has slowed compared to 2020–2021. The Just Join IT report notes that in 2024 “salaries in the sector grew slightly, but increases did not meet specialists’ expectations.” Many experienced workers hoped for more substantial raises (especially considering inflation), but companies adjusted their pay structures downward. Paradoxically, the largest percentage increases were recorded among juniors—not because their situation improved, but due to a statistical catch-up effect from a low base. Companies offering the few junior roles available had to raise rates slightly to stay competitive, but the number of such roles dropped sharply. As a result, juniors who did land jobs earned more, but for most, breaking into the industry remained extremely difficult. Overall, IT salaries have stabilized—they are still among the highest in the market, but the pace of growth has cooled along with the job market.
Breaking Into the Industry – High Entry Barriers?
Beginners in IT are feeling the current “crisis” the most. Just a few years ago, there was talk of a huge programmer shortage and relatively easy entry for juniors after coding bootcamps. Today, the reality is far less optimistic. The share of job postings targeting juniors has shrunk dramatically—according to No Fluff Jobs, the share dropped from around 8% in 2022–2023 to just 6% in 2024. A competing portal, Just Join IT, reports similar figures, with junior roles making up only 4–5% of listings in 2024. This means mid- and senior-level roles dominate the market, and few companies are willing to invest in new IT talent.
Competition for the few junior positions is fierce. It’s now standard to see over 100 applicants per junior listing. In the most popular fields, the numbers are staggering—each Frontend Junior posting receives an average of 370 CVs! Similarly high interest is seen in junior roles in UX/UI, AI/ML, Backend, and testing, where 100+ applications per role is not unusual. By comparison, a senior Frontend job attracts about 149 applicants—still a lot, but less than half the number juniors must beat. Young candidates must therefore compete not only with each other but often with more experienced professionals willing to accept lower-level roles.
In uncertain times, companies prefer experienced hires, closing the door on many juniors. As the report notes, employers favored candidates with several years of experience over beginners. In practice, many roles labeled "junior" already require a year of commercial experience, a solid project portfolio, intermediate-level knowledge of specific technologies, and of course, fluent English. The entry barrier into IT has risen significantly.
A side effect of this trend is growing discouragement among young candidates—some who retrained into IT give up and return to previous careers or look for work in adjacent fields. According to a Stack Overflow survey, in 2023, 8% of developers left the tech industry and found employment in other sectors such as manufacturing or logistics. Key reasons include the shrinking number of entry-level jobs and doubts about career stability in IT. Simply put—when the door to your first job is shut, many aspiring juniors never enter the market or choose alternative paths.
Does that mean beginners should give up on their IT dreams? Not necessarily. But they should be aware of the reality: today, completing a bootcamp or computer science degree alone doesn’t guarantee a job offer. You must stand out—with a strong project portfolio, open-source contributions (e.g., on GitHub), or internship experience. While companies are more cautious, they still need fresh talent—but they’re looking for candidates who already have tangible skills. A good strategy is to target niche or less-popular technologies, where competition may be lower, or to be open to relocation to areas with more hiring demand. Getting into IT has become harder, but for the persistent and well-prepared, it is still achievable.
IT Industry Outlook
How will the IT industry develop in the coming years? Most experts agree that the long-term growth fundamentals remain strong—the world will continue to need more technology. However, in the short term, the IT job market is unlikely to return to the wild growth rates of a few years ago. Instead, we can expect gradual, more sustainable development.
Much depends on the macroeconomic situation. If the economy accelerates, companies will again increase investment in IT projects, which will translate into more job opportunities. Signs are already cautiously optimistic—in Poland, the total number of job vacancies (across all sectors) rose by 15% quarter-over-quarter at the start of 2024, and the end of the year showed a rebound in IT job postings. This suggests that 2025 may bring a slight improvement in IT hiring.
The industry, however, will shift its focus compared to the past decade. It will be driven by new technologies—especially artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and cybersecurity. We're already seeing a rising number of job offers in these areas, and this trend is likely to continue. AI development may even paradoxically create as many new jobs (e.g., for prompt engineers, AI ethicists, model creators) as it eliminates old ones (due to automation of repetitive tasks). AI and data experts will be in high demand, while roles such as programmer may evolve—some of their work will be taken over by AI tools, requiring parts of the workforce to reskill. Forecasts point to new jobs emerging—roles that don’t yet exist today—related to quantum tech, the Internet of Things, or green IT transformation.
Regionally, Central and Eastern Europe (including Poland) is strengthening its position as a tech talent hub.