Top 5 factors that Kazakhstani students consider when choosing an employer in IT

Kolesa Group conducted a large-scale survey among Kazakhstani students and identified the profile and motivation of students when choosing an employer.

Following studies on IT market salaries, Kolesa Group decided to find out what is happening in the student market—the most promising area for hiring.

The goal of the study is to identify the profile of students interested in IT, their motivation when choosing an employer, and to learn how and through which platforms companies should best interact with them.

A total of 854 students participated in the survey. Additionally, qualitative research was conducted, with interviews held with 27 students across 5 focus groups. At Kolesa Group, they compared the indicators from the beginning of 2023 with those from the beginning of 2022 and are sharing the results with the market.

Gaini Almukhanova, Manager of Educational Projects at Kolesa Group

For the past eight years, we at Kolesa Group have been closely collaborating with universities. As a business, we understand that students will make up the majority of our team in just a few years. Every year, we launch paid internships, online courses, and host meetups on in-demand IT topics.

However, we do not always fully understand the market of junior specialists in Kazakhstan. Therefore, we conducted this study to understand what is important to students when choosing an employer, which communication tools are most effective, and what truly motivates young people to develop their careers in IT.

Profile of an IT Student The average age of respondents is 19 years old.

The survey primarily included second- and third-year students from approximately 50 universities and colleges across the country. Junior students represent the most engaged and interested audience.

We identified the top 5 universities whose students are most interested in the IT field:

— Suleyman Demirel University — 16.5%
— Astana IT University — 16.4%
— Narxoz — 14.9%
— IITU — 14.4%
— KBTU — 8.5%.

Most students interested in IT are studying the following majors:

1. Information Systems — 33.4%
2. Computer Science — 14.6%
3. Computing Technology and Software — 12.8%

Interests

We identified the top 5 IT areas of interest for students:

1. Backend Development — 26.2%
2. Frontend Development — 13.3%
3. Data Analytics — 10.5%
4. iOS Development — 7.7%
5. Machine Learning (ML) — 6.8%

In 2023, students became more conscious. When asked about their area of interest in IT, only 8.8% of respondents answered "Not yet decided." In 2022, this figure was 23%.

When asked "Why IT?", students most often gave the following answers:

1. It is a in-demand profession.
2. The opportunity to create new products used by a large number of people.
3. The ability to work remotely: from home or from other countries.
4. They understand that the level of competition is high and the environment pushes them to keep up. Therefore, students regularly engage in self-education.

Work Experience

At the time of the study, 258 respondents (30.2%) already had work experience in IT.

We decided to dig deeper and found out that more than half of the respondents started working in their first or second year of university.

Most students start working or interning from their second year because:
a) In their first year, they acquire basic knowledge, adapt to student life, and choose a direction for development.
b) Universities provide the "foundation," while practical knowledge and skills can only be gained in companies through real-world cases.
c) Due to high competition, they strive to gain experience earlier to make it easier to find a job later.

Preparation for Work

For self-education, students use the following resources:
— IT courses — 53%
— YouTube videos — 35%
— Pet projects (creation) — 4%
— Other — 8%

Sources of information about vacancies/internships:
— HH.kz — 57.3%
— Telegram — 26.3%
— Instagram — 5%
— Email newsletters — 2.9%
— LinkedIn — 2.5%
— Employer's website — 2.1%
— Other — 3.9%

Events students attend most often:
— Job fairs — 45%
— Guest lectures — 17.4%
— Meetups — 4.3%
— Other — 7.3%
— Do not attend events — 26%

Students prefer to attend events where they have the opportunity to:

a) Meet potential employers
b) Gain practical skills from experienced professionals.

Choosing an Employer

In 2022, the top 5 factors for choosing a potential employer were:

1. Learning/Growth
2. Team/Atmosphere
3. Salary
4. Comfortable working conditions
5. Availability of a mentor.