“We (will not) call you back.” Who is not hired in IT?

Have you ever had this happen to you, that you've passed an interview, you think that everything is successful, good, it's time for the next stage or offer, and suddenly you get a refusal or they just forget about you? Probably, everyone has had something like this.

It is not always the applicant's fault: each industry simply has a set of sensitive factors and markers that can prevent even a very “savvy” specialist from getting a job. A clinic may not hire a girl with a provocative manicure, a lawyer may not hire a person who came to an interview in shorts, and a speech therapist's client is unlikely to become a sales manager.

It would seem that all this can be corrected, but it is not so simple: after all, the way we appear to a potential employer is a natural part of us that exists here and now. Subjective? We do not deny that there is always a share of subjectivity.

We tried to enter real IT and find out what is scarier – a gloomy look, piercing, a certificate from a course or a criminal record. It turned out interesting.

The shortage of personnel in the digital industries is obvious. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, Russian employers in the infotech sector posted more than 200,000 vacancies related to IT professions. In total, over three years, the demand for such specialists has soared by almost 50%, state hh.ru analysts.

Against this background, according to According to research by the Development Center “NEW ERA” and ANO “Gorky Tech”, more than 69% of young Nizhny Novgorod residents are confident that they will easily find a job in the field of information technology today. But experts warn: there is no need to feed the dangerous illusion that you can now get into IT literally “from the street”.

We talked to the leaders of the digital industry about what their ideal future employee is like, and who, after an interview, will at best hear a non-committal: “We’ll call you back.”

Russian language and “chemistry” are important. But dreadlocks and piercings are not.

It is impossible to draw a unique portrait of an anti-candidate for a vacancy at an IT company. The result will be a character who would be rejected in almost any respectable professional field.

IT recruiter at hh.ru Alexander Dvornik names the following basic stop factors. If we take communication skills – it is difficult to formulate thoughts, illogical, very slow or, on the contrary, very talkative and interrupts the interlocutor. If behavioral factors – toxicity, rudeness, inflated self-esteem.

Another guaranteed cross on employment in IT is a dubious biography. For example, if it turns out that the applicant is hiding a criminal record or tried to get a job using forged documents. Such candidates should not even rely on specialized knowledge and skills. Most likely, they will not even be able to get to the interview stage to demonstrate them. In serious IT companies, the key stop factor is a “no!” from the security service. If the cost of the employee's actions is high, then his biography will be checked very carefully.

For example, the manifestation of individuality in appearance, which often becomes an obstacle for applicants in other areas, including government agencies, will hardly bother anyone in IT.

Thus, the regional director of the Sber Technologies Block, Alexey Solodovnikov, says that completely different people come to interviews now. According to him, in general, developers and IT engineers now look like fit, well-groomed modern city dwellers, in comfortable fashionable clothes. The overwhelming majority do not smoke – it is no longer fashionable. Tattoos, dreadlocks, piercings, green hair and so on – in exactly the same proportion as on the city streets. There are a lot of people involved in active sports and leading a healthy lifestyle. Yes, they drink a lot of coffee.

Director of the regional development centers of T-Bank, Macroregion Povolzhye, Ekaterina Nuyanzina, confirms: the candidate's image is not important. But within the bounds of decency: neatness is a manifestation of politeness.

As well as a switched on camera, if the interview is held online – remote communication is not the same as anonymous. Otherwise, the experience and professional qualities of the applicant are more important, which should be correctly described in the resume.

She reminds us: a resume, like a business card, should be informative and concise. There is no need to try to list all projects or places of work, it is enough to share the results that the candidate is proud of. Do not forget about the technology stack and work experience relevant to a specific vacancy. If the desired vacancy is related to development, work experience outside the specialty will look rather to the disadvantage of the candidate.

By a competent resume, employers mean not only its content, but also basic spelling and punctuation. Most of our interlocutors in leading IT companies confirmed that errors and typos in a resume are a big minus. Especially if they are made in the names of well-known products and technologies.

If you want to ruin the impression of yourself, respond to a vacancy that is clearly beyond your capabilities. Even if you could have developed a relationship with the candidate within the framework of another rate, this can be regarded as a complete misunderstanding of what you will be expected to do at work.

It often happens that a candidate responds to a vacancy, but his resume and experience turn out to be unsuitable for this position. This is especially common among young professionals and students. For example, a student is engaged in low-level programming, but responds to a position with high-level programming languages. Such a candidate, all other things being equal, is unlikely to receive an invitation to an interview. The most important thing is to be relevant to the requirements of the vacancy and our expectations from the candidate. This is the opinion of Mikhail Salamatov, Head of the Educational Programs Development Department at YADRO.

However, the absence of only a part of the necessary skills or experience is not a death sentence. Of course, if a project requires a specialist of the “senior” level, and a “junior” offers his services, even if he is very talented, he will, of course, be refused. But potential, the ability to present yourself at an interview, persistence – this is what allows you to bypass some formal barriers.

Moreover, sometimes it is easier to train an employee than to find a new one, explains Ekaterina Nuyanzina. It happens that the hiring manager initially looks for a candidate of a higher level, but a person with high potential comes to the interview, who can quickly learn and, thanks to high-quality onboarding, quickly reach the required level. In this case, the time that could be spent on finding a specialist of the declared level is spent on onboarding the employee – and everyone wins.

All other factors that work in a person's favor or against them may vary depending on the specific tasks that need to be solved. Among the ideal factors for employment, they also mention the “chemistry” that arises between the candidate, the future manager, and colleagues. But this depends not only on the applicant.

What about higher education?

According to the above mentioned survey Development Center “NEW ERA” and ANO “Gorky Tech”, almost 90% of young Nizhny Novgorod residents believe that higher specialized education is, of course, good, but for success in a future IT career, you can rely on independent learning. And also on paid and free courses – about half of the respondents believe so.

Universities, in turn, remind us that a full-fledged higher education and a short-term online intensive course cannot provide the same level of training. The former is designed to teach a person to think systematically, engage in scientific activity, and improve analytical skills. Higher education should form specialists capable of developing the industry, and not adapt to its immediate demands. The intensive course develops narrow skills from among those that the market needs “here and now”.

The IT industry does not argue with this, but they point out that they often need applied talents more than deep theoreticians. Anna Nikitchenko, Vice President of the Association of Laboratories for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, believes that for an employer at present, at least in this area, it is not education that matters, but only the specific knowledge that he needs. And, in general, it does not matter how this knowledge was obtained – in college, university, on courses or through independent study.

However, one should not delude oneself that the mass of electronic diplomas and certificates that are issued after completing all sorts of courses and trainings will become a significant advantage when applying for a job. In our country, such documents – even if the organization that issued them provides really high-quality training – are simply not valued, states Mikhail Salamatov. The specificity of the Russian market is that employers rarely look at certificates, whatever they may be. In other countries, it is different. In India, for example, every student must undergo additional training every six months and receive certificates, thus forming their portfolio and increasing their chances of future employment.

A state-recognized diploma in a relevant field will not guarantee a job in an IT company. Ekaterina Nuyanzina says that a graduate of a top university that trains IT specialists can count on bonus points when applying for a job. But this will not be a decisive factor.

The opposite is also true – the lack of higher education in the field of information technology does not close the door to IT for a candidate, Alexey Solodovnikov adds. There are IT departments that will gladly take a suitable candidate even without a basic specialized education, if he meets the requirements. There are many examples when, for example, linguists and philologists become leading developers in artificial intelligence departments.

However, a team working at the cutting edge of technology will most likely hire a candidate with deep theoretical knowledge from a prestigious university. And in In any case, a cool university on a resume is a huge plus for karma. The same School of Data Analysis or the analytics departments at the Higher School of Economics are highly valued by data scientists, says Alexander Dvornik. So, all other things being equal, the choice will still be made in favor of an applicant with a higher education.

The university is indicative in another way as well. Students who studied poorly but turned out to be real stars in their work are an exceptional rarity. Therefore, academic success is not the main, but still a reason to pay attention to the applicant. In addition, the university gives the opportunity to “pump up” communication skills, among other things. Without them, it is impossible to work in a team.

The assembly point of the “ideal applicant”

As for the long-standing “pain” – the gap between academic training and the competencies actually required by today’s graduates-applicants, leading IT companies and universities have already come to a “common denominator”. This problem can only be solved together: universities are betting on practice, the flagships of “digital” are integrating into universities

Rector of Lobachevsky University Oleg Trofimov says that the Institute of Information Technology, Mathematics and Mechanics of UNN already conducts practice-oriented training. It cooperates with large high-tech companies and corporations, such as Rosatom, Yadro, Sber, Huawei, Yandex, Kaspersky Lab, VK, as well as with companies engaged in custom development. Partners provide a base for practices and actively integrate their educational modules into the educational process.

But it's not just about involving students in “real IT”. Someone has to train them. And in large numbers. Experts have calculated that there should be as many postgraduate students as there are vacancies for interns or junior engineers in top IT companies.

Technologies in the IT industry change very quickly. Therefore, it is very important for teachers to have constant access to updating their competencies, explains Denis Fomenkov, Deputy Director of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Nizhny Novgorod. To do this, teachers of IT disciplines participate in scientific or project activities, or are employees of IT companies, which allows them to keep their competencies relevant and transfer the necessary skills to students. And it is IT companies that provide university students with modern technologies.

Mikhail Salamatov, in turn, reminds that the gap between the industry and academia in the IT sphere is now quite large. In this situation, universities definitely need help: create their own laboratories and educational programs in universities, invite students for practical training, work with teachers. This is not the task of individual companies, but of the entire industry, all major players in the IT market. The more companies are involved in ensuring that universities have more good teachers and programs, the better it will be for everyone, he adds.

The IT campus NEIMARK is becoming a single platform where industry and academia can join forces in Nizhny Novgorod. It was originally conceived as a leading all-Russian center for qualitatively new education in the field of high technologies. Its main principles are partner-centricity and focus on practice.

With its own high-tech laboratories, it will provide students from different higher educational institutions of the region with the opportunity to practice. In the academic building, one teacher or a representative of an IT company will be able to give lectures to all of them. The dormitories, which are currently being actively built, will accommodate those wishing to master IT specialties, including those from other regions and countries.

The first educational programs developed by the IT campus together with universities and partners – VK, Alfa-Bank and others – will start this fall. Students wishing to receive an education in the specialty “Information Security of Automated Systems” are welcome at R. E. Alekseev NSTU. Bachelors will be able to master artificial and augmented intelligence technologies at the Higher School of Economics – Nizhny Novgorod. Starting next year, NEIMARK and Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod will train specialists in conjugate design.

In the future, the campus will become part of a huge high-tech district, where the flagships of Russian IT will locate their offices. This should finally erase the boundaries between IT theory and practice, forming a single powerful IT community.

The main idea of ​​the IT campus project is to create a space for interaction between applicants, students, graduates, teachers, researchers, start-ups and representatives of knowledge-intensive industries and businesses. This will help to form a “melting pot” of ideas and innovations, a community in which the process of learning and knowledge exchange will continue uninterrupted, summarizes the director of ANO “NEIMARK” Valery Cherepennikov.