IT in Kazakhstan is a booming industry. Facilities like Astana Hub which accelerates promising startups in various fields that utilize the latest technology have proven to make the country an attractive place for IT specialists to gather. With that said, how exactly do these professionals get paid for their talent? 

An incentive to come - and stay

Forbes.kz released an article on the results of a study on the IT job market done by the company HeadHunter. According to data, the demand for IT specialists in Kazakhstan continues to gain momentum. The number of vacancies in the field in 2021 increased by 52% compared to 2020. The most in-demand specializations are programming and development (54%), engineering (23%), system administration (20%), webmaster (17%), and web engineering (15%).

According to the results for the first quarter of 2022, analysts from HeadHunter concluded that companies are trying not only to attract new employees, but also to a greater extent to retain existing employees by offering better work conditions, such as remote work options, flexible hours, corporate transportation, and more.

Salary offerings have also increased by 17% over the last year. March 2022 data suggests that, on average, employers are willing to pay 220,000 tenge to IT specialists. Currently, the highest salaries are paid to programmers (from 400,000 tenge), system administrators (from 500,000 tenge) and developers of mobile applications (from 600,000 tenge). Overall, salary expectations are growing at a higher rate (+67%) compared to last year.

This imbalance is characteristic of professional fields where there is a high shortage of qualified personnel. Competent specialists feel they are in demand and set their own salary range. In the future, in order to hire the best candidates in the IT field, employers will need to increase the salary caps in their companies.