Allow me in IT: the demand for AI specialists has increased in Russia
In Russia, the demand for highly specialized IT specialists has jumped sharply, tripling in a year, and by 2025, more than 30 new areas of activity have been formed on the market. This is, for example, an AI operator, an industrial engineer, and an image and video synthesis specialist. Such directions appear due to the lack of specialists in the industry. In addition, the programs of Russian universities do not have time to update against the background of a dynamic market, experts say. They recommend that young professionals establish contacts with domestic companies that are engaged in developments in new fields.
What new specialties have appeared in the IT field?
There is a shortage of highly specialized IT specialists in the domestic market, and the demand for them has increased significantly in Russia over the past year. So, there are many vacancies that mention work tasks related to the use of artificial intelligence and neural networks. This was told to Izvestia by MTS Al and Avito Rabota, who assessed the market.
In 2024, their number tripled compared to 2023. At the same time, employers are not only looking for specialists who already have the skills to work with AI, but also offer candidates the opportunity to learn the necessary tools within the company, said Kirill Pshenichnykh, director of the Office Professions category at Avito Rabota.
— We are also seeing an increase in interest in AI from job seekers. According to the survey, among people who know how to work with neural networks, a third of respondents use them for additional earnings, for example, they take on freelance projects or additional tasks at their main job," he said.
In this regard, more than 30 new IT areas have appeared on the market by 2025, the MTS AI press service said. In particular, we are talking about such specialties as industrial engineer, when a specialist optimizes text queries for interacting with large language models, LLM engineer - working with large language models and their implementation into business processes, mobile application developer for IoT devices - cybersecurity specialist who develops physical devices. and the components, as well as the AI operator.
In addition, a number of specialties are related to the synthesis of images, video and speech, as well as their recognition systems, which are used to combat deepfakes. This year, specialists in AI agents - programs or systems that act independently to perform tasks, such as answering questions, controlling devices or playing games, making decisions without constant human control — may "separate", the press service added.
— Narrow IT specialties bring positive changes for novice specialists - for them, the threshold for entry into some professions related to AI is decreasing. Now, to begin with, you can master a narrow specialty, then get to work and develop new skills already in the process of career growth, MTS AI believes.
However, such a trend is more likely to pose challenges for the education system, they noted. Traditional universities, which have been rebuilding their curricula for a long time, do not always keep up with market dynamics. In such circumstances, cooperation between educational institutions and companies is of particular importance.
How to become a sought-after specialist
The growing demand for highly specialized IT specialists is a natural result of the rapid development of technology, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. Tasks are becoming more complex and require high accuracy, and companies are striving to attract experts with highly specialized skills, according to State Duma Deputy Anton Nemkin.
— The problem is that university educational programs often do not have time to adapt to the dynamic changes in the market. Training specialists in new fields requires a flexible approach, including accelerated courses, practical training and close cooperation with businesses," said Anton Nemkin.
For a successful start in such areas as AI and IoT, newcomers should establish contacts with domestic companies that are already engaged in these developments, the deputy noted.
Anna Tonkikh, head of VK's Technical Functions recruitment department, told Izvestia that the company hires high-quality IT specialists through high-speed recruitment and organization of internal rotations.
The company currently has about 40 vacancies in various areas of ML (machine learning): recommendation systems (RecSys), natural language processing (NLP), image and video synthesis, which is especially relevant for our social networks and media platforms.
— Our educational projects together with the leading universities of the country help to hire talented june specialists. At VK Education programs, we train personnel in high-demand IT areas, including AI, machine learning, big data, and game development. All programs are applied and help to train specialists taking into account the actual tasks of VK business," said Anna Tonkikh.
According to her, specialists are being trained at the HSE School of Engineering and Mathematics. The company also recently launched the "School of Computer Science, Physics and Technology" at the St. Petersburg branch of the Higher School of Economics for training personnel in the field of AI.
As tools change rapidly, it becomes important to have fundamental knowledge and skills, says Vladislav Tushkanov, head of the machine learning Technology Research and Development group at Kaspersky Lab. For example, these are mathematics, computational linguistics, and the basics of cybersecurity. As well as meta-skills: the ability to retrain, navigate a large flow of information and not be afraid of new difficult tasks, the expert concluded.
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