MOSCOW, 19 July 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey on the profession of IT specialist.

Trust in IT specialists

The level of trust in IT specialists is at 4.37 out of 7. This score is higher among young respondents (4.88), women (4.57 vs 4.13 among men), respondents with good financial income (4.63). The more often the respondents use the Internet, the less they trust the IT specialists: those who use the Internet occasionally or never use it give a score of 5.57, whereas the everyday users give 4.33.

Job prestige and income  

Russians gave 5.10 out of 7 scores assessing the social status of IT specialists. Young respondents aged 18—24 are more likely to consider an IT career as a status job than other demographic groups (5.49 scores vs 4.82 scores among older Russians). Respondents with good financial income also gave high scores (5.28 scores).

As to the earning potential, Russians give an average score of 5.42 (out of 7) to the IT job. Compared to trust, prestige and desire to see the children in this profession, this characteristic received the highest score, meaning that the IT field is considered well-paid. IT jobs are seen as more well-paying among women (5.48 vs 5.25 among men), respondents aged over 35 (5.54—5.55 scores) and residents of Moscow, St Petersburg and million-plus cities (5.69-5.61 scores).

Russians gave a score of 4.26 out of 7 assessing their desire to see the children or grandchildren as IT specialists. The highest scores are given by those respondents who work in IT (5.48), who occasionally use the Internet or do not use it at all (5.43); residents of Moscow and St Petersburg (4.79); women (4.43) and young Russians aged 18-24 (4.44).

The presented characteristics of an IT specialist were given more favourable evaluations mainly by young respondents who feel closer to and better understand this industry. However Russians with higher education diplomas show decreased levels of trust and prestige regarding this profession (4.20 and 4.99 scores); those who use the Internet on a daily basis also tend to trust the IT specialists to a lesser extent (4.33). This might deal with ambiguous opinions on what possibilities the IT specialists may possess, including information security.

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted July 5, 2022. A total of 1,602 Russians aged 18 and over took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews using a stratified random sample based on a complete list of Russian mobile phone numbers. The data were weighted for social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

July 5, 2022 survey key effectiveness indicators: cooperation rate (COOP1)* = 0.7553; minimum response rate (RR1)** = 0.0207; response rate (RR3)*** = 0.1401.

* The number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** The number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the telephone numbers where it is unknown whether the subscribers meet the selected criteria or not.

*** The number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the telephone numbers with respect to the assessment of the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of cases of unknown eligibility.