I'm afraid to be a junior in a densely populated IT market: how to overcome the fear of competition and become a programmer

You probably noticed that the more popular IT became over time, the more people left for development from other professions. There are many reasons for this: high salaries, a good social package, the opportunity to work in interesting, modern companies, flexible hours. And although the competition in the IT market is high, you have a chance, with due diligence, to get a job as a developer. In this text, we will analyze whether it is worth going into Java development in 2021, what is the competition in the junior market, and give some tips on how to compete for your first job in IT.

How popular is Java?

Java continues to be the world's most popular mainstream programming language (37% of those surveyed named it as their main development language), according to a study by JetBrains . It is used by about 5.2 million developers. Java's main competitor is Python. It surpassed Java in the list of most used languages. In the last 12 months, 30% of respondents have started or continue to learn Python - even more than last year (27%). But this does not mean at all that Java should be written off. Job search site Dice.com has compiled a ranking of the seven programming languages ​​that are most in demand among American employers. The Java language in the Dice ranking was in second place, losing the lead to SQL. According to the TIOBE index, which estimates the popularity of programming languages, in December 2020, Java became the second most popular programming language in the world. The popularity of Java among employers is explained by the compilers of the rating by the large number of applications and services written in this language. In addition, the popularity of the language means that there is a lot of information about it on the network. To date, Java remains an advantage over other languages ​​due to the size of the ecosystem. Due to the number of developers using Java, it is often chosen to create new projects. Thus, new developers are also attracted to the process.

How Much Do Java Developers Earn?

The average salary of Java developers in Russia is about $ 1,500, experienced developers - about $ 3,000, according to a study by the Habr resource . Approximately the same data is in the study conducted by CodeGym at the beginning of 2020. But that doesn't mean that Javasts can't expect higher salaries. The SuperJob employment service analyzed the salaries of developers in Russia depending on the language in which they write. Judging by the analysis, Java developers can receive from 4 to 7 thousand dollars . In Ukraine, experienced Java developers can expect a salary of $3,500, according to a study by CodeGym. In terms of salary, Belarus comes after Ukraine and Russia - an experienced javist in Minsk is offered $2,200.The median salaries of juniors, albeit in Java, are not so high. For example, in 2020, the average salary for new developers in Ukraine was $800 , according to a study by the Dou portal. This applies to developers who write in Java, C and C++. And since this is the median, it is clear that at the start, juniors can receive 400-500 dollars. In Moscow, the average salary for a beginner is $1,000, in St. Petersburg it is $960, and in Minsk it is much lower, around $500, according to a study by CodeGym.

How is the situation in the June market?

It's easier for Jun to find a job in a big city

Due to the lack of IT specialists in October 2020, the Ukrainian IT sector could lose more than $12 million in export earnings, according to a study by GlobalLogic. But we are not talking about juniors: in most cases, middle and senior specialists are looking for open positions (37% and 33%, respectively), that is, with 2-5 years of experience. Only 17% of vacancies are available for specialists with less than a year of experience. The DOU portal published a study on how Ukrainian IT companies hired junior specialists in 2019. Most of the juniors were hired by SoftServe - 1003 people, EPAM Ukraine (928 people) is in second place, ZONE3000 is in third place with 640 newcomers.About 75% of juniors from the surveyed companies found work in the top 3 cities: Kyiv, Kharkov and Lvov. At the same time, as the authors of the study note, it is easier for large companies to look for newcomers outside the capital, where there is less competition for talent. As for Russia, it is expected that the most chances to find a job for a junu are in Moscow and St. Petersburg. For example, according to the Headz analytics bot , which analyzes vacancies and resumes from open sources, there are 8 candidates for 1 vacancy in Moscow, and 14 to 1 in St. Petersburg. Large companies such as G5 Entertainment, Luxoft, EPAM, Emergn, Mail.Ru Group and ALM Works.

There are many Junes, but few good ones

Some experts say there is a glut in the June market. In particular, because of the so-called "vaitishniks" - juniors who read books, took free courses and hope that they will get a well-paid job without commercial experience. But even with a lot of competition, you can find a job, the main thing is motivation and a desire to learn. It is not necessary to get a higher education in development, but it is very important to devote time to self-education, not dwelling only on a couple of books and tutorials from Youtube. Here is what Ivan Kleshnin, a web programmer with 12 years of experience, who is engaged in mentoring and recruiting business, writes :

Holidays and coronavirus: why there are fewer vacancies for juniors

The number of junior vacancies is also affected by the end of the year and the second wave of the lockdown. “In December, as a rule, fewer developers are looking for, companies are preparing for the holidays. Plus the upcoming lockdown, when it is easier to hire experienced developers who will quickly join the process. In addition, in order to train a newcomer, the company must provide a mentor, and experienced developers are now busy with their projects,” says Anastasia Melnik, HR manager of a product company in the field of fintech.

What can you advise juniors who are looking for a job?

Determine your motivation

If your only motivation is money, then you won’t be able to last long in IT. Jun has to study a lot, learn new technologies and communicate with a mentor. It is best if your motivation is the interest in a new job. The employer will appreciate this and, when hiring, may give preference to you.

Learn a lot on your own

Not only at work, but also at home. When you have the necessary base, move on to knowledge in your niche, be it gambling, games, fintech or something else.

Listen to the mentor

A simple but useful tip. With a good mentor, you will get used to the project much faster.

Outsource or product?

The easiest way for a junior is to get a job in a large outsourcing company, where there will be system work and many projects. This means that there will be many ways of development. You can get a job in a product and pump skills in one industry. This path is suitable for those who have decided on the development area that they like.

How to prepare for a job search?

Conduct a test interview, study the company you want to get into, monitor the basic requirements for the market - we have collected useful tips for preparing for a job search in a large text “Fear of an interview: how to stop being afraid and start going to an interview” .

What are the prospects for Java?

We have gathered the opinions of two experts in Java who have been following its development for many years.

Maxim Kmets, senior Java developer

The number of devices running Java does not change. This means that other languages ​​have emerged that are taking over Java's share. Android applications are historically written in Java: this strengthens the position of Java, but cross-platform solutions for iOS / Android platforms are also emerging. That is, you wrote once - and you launch the application everywhere. For example, Flutter (an open source SDK for creating mobile applications from Google. It is used to develop applications for Android and iOS - ed.), which uses the Dart language. But it is not all that bad. I love how quickly new versions of Java are released. Another 3-4 years ago there was Java 8. Before that, years ago there was the 7th. Now we have the 16th on the way. New versions port the best ideas from other paradigms and languages. Many frameworks are written in Java every day. In this language, there are large microservice projects, and there are small, but sincere ones. As for me, it is easier for juniors to find a job now than it was for me six years ago. Yes, no one wants to hire people without commercial experience. Often people start with internships or testing. What do companies need? It is necessary that a person can simply write a form for the site and the user can save the entered information through the form. If you know how to write it from scratch, then you are almost guaranteed to be a junior (the only thing left to do is to learn template interview questions). For me, Java now looks like a golden place among all possible growth options, both for the market and for specialists. Often people start with internships or testing. What do companies need? It is necessary that a person can simply write a form for the site and the user can save the entered information through the form. If you know how to write it from scratch, then you are almost guaranteed to be a junior (the only thing left to do is to learn template interview questions). For me, Java now looks like a golden place among all possible growth options, both for the market and for specialists. Often people start with internships or testing. What do companies need? It is necessary that a person can simply write a form for the site and the user can save the entered information through the form. If you know how to write it from scratch, then you are almost guaranteed to be a junior (the only thing left to do is to learn template interview questions). For me, Java now looks like a golden place among all possible growth options, both for the market and for specialists.

Vasily Malik, CodeGym Content Team Lead

Java will be in demand for a very long time, because a lot of code is written in it, and any written code must be supported. For example, I have a friend who writes in Fortran - this is the language that was used in the banking sector, it died back in the 80s of the last century. There are still vacancies for it, and developers receive several times more than javaists, because there are very few of them. Now Java is updated twice a year, before Java was updated every two to three years. Frequent Java updates are made to add newfangled features that other languages ​​have. Java is used where interaction between different services is necessary and large computing power is needed. Java has an important feature: any new version is fully compatible with the old one. What are the Java development trends? I think everything is moving towards containerization. Let's imagine, for example, our CodeGym server: many lines of code, many classes, it's all hard to test. I made, for example, changes in one place, it can affect anything else. This is a minus of large mobile applications. Applications are now trying to be as small as possible and with a fixed interaction between individual parts. That is, instead of one monolith, there can be 10 microservices that can work with each other. Microservices are very easy to write and test. There are situations when a microservice is not fixed, but rewritten if a problematic microservice appears. This makes it even faster. There are many frameworks in Java that allow you to work with microservices. Java's competitor, Python, is developing because Big data is developing and several successful libraries have been written for Python that are used in Big data.

conclusions

We hope that this text has dispelled your fears of being a newbie. After all, new things are always scary. But there are pluses:

• • Jun's work can always be found in big cities, because there are offices of large outsourcing companies that need “young blood” all the time.
• • An $800 start-up salary is a good start.
• • Among the juniors, there are many candidates with superficial knowledge of Java. If you study hard and understand exactly why you want to be a developer, you will get noticed in the interview.

Yes, the lockdown and the end of 2020 have made adjustments to the situation on the labor market: there are fewer vacancies for juniors, but the holidays will pass, and companies will hire newcomers again.