After 38 years in the industry, I know when a year truly puts the labor market to the test — and 2025 certainly did. It brought not only rapid technological acceleration but also a heavy dose of uncertainty. It was a year full of difficult decisions, challenging conversations about layoffs, stress, and moments of wondering what comes next.

2025 was also a year full of questions about the state of the employment—tech job market, and across sectors. Despite investor optimism, both local and global data pointed toward a clear slowdown:

In October 2025, job postings in Poland were down 12% year-over-year, marking the fifth straight month of negative growth, experts warned.
The average job search duration increased by around six weeks, indicating that companies were hiring more cautiously.

On the other hand, Randstad's data suggests the situation wasn't all doom and gloom — more of a market correction after years of high growth:

The unemployment rate in September 2025 stood at 5.6%,
and the average salary rose 7.1% year-over-year.

These figures show that while the job market is evolving, we’re far from collapse — it’s a controlled cooldown, not a crash.

IT Sector: Gradual recovery after the storm

Following the turbulence of 2024, the IT sector began a slow and careful recovery in 2025. However, the job market didn’t bounce back to pre-pandemic levels. Many companies are still grappling with the lingering effects of COVID-era disruptions, global economic instability, and large-scale organizational restructuring.

There are some signs of hope, though. Interest in digital transformation remains high in Poland, as shown by strategic investments from tech giants like Google and Microsoft, who are expanding data centers and engineering teams in the region. While this is a promising indicator, the job market itself remains complex and uneven.

What's driving the change? New technology and global forces are redefining the rules

When analyzing the state of the IT labor market in 2025, it's crucial to understand the underlying structural forces. The Future of Jobs Report 2025 offers a valuable framework for interpreting these shifts.

According to the report, five global megatrends are currently reshaping the workforce:

Technological advancement
Geopolitical tensions
Inflationary pressure
Demographic changes
The green transition

And one more: Artificial Intelligence.

A staggering 86% of companies worldwide reported that AI is transforming their operations — from manufacturing to HR. But AI’s influence extends beyond tools — it’s creating a full-scale competency revolution.

AI is redefining what companies look for in candidates. In 2025, the most in-demand skills combine software development with data processing, cybersecurity, and automation. These hybrid skills have moved from “nice to have” to essential, and employers are now hiring accordingly — a shift visible in job descriptions and workforce training priorities alike. Large tech companies are no longer just looking for front-end developers — the real demand is for skilled computer systems analysts. Modern software engineering now requires hiring highly qualified talent, not just individuals who know how to use standard computer applications.

IT in 2025: From “armageddon” to stabilization

Rough Start: New roles for professionals and weak demand

It might not be groundbreaking to say it, but the beginning of 2025 felt like Armageddon for the IT industry. The sector faced a perfect storm of challenges. Much of the pessimism among tech companies stemmed from rising operational costs, wage pressure, currency volatility, and mounting regulatory demands.

I experienced this firsthand — it was not an easy time. Across the board, from Big Tech players like Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Twitter to smaller software houses, there was a clear atmosphere of uncertainty. This manifested in:

widespread layoffs
frozen hiring budgets
downsized teams
prolonged recruitment cycles

These were not isolated incidents. The combination of surging labor costs and shifts in global hiring strategies led to a difficult question being asked repeatedly by recruiters: “Will we even survive this year — and if so, how?”

Business digitization — driving IT market recovery in 2025

By the end of Q1 2025, technology investments in Poland reached €686 million, marking a 64% year-over-year increase. This sharp growth signaled not just economic recovery, but Poland’s growing ambition to become the digital leader of the CEE region, attracting global players with strong technical expertise and high-quality IT talent.

Digitization is no longer just a buzzword — it has become a necessity. Companies that had long delayed investing in technology were finally forced to act.

Although digital transformation had been on the radar of Polish businesses for years, many organizations continued using outdated tools and manual processes. This was particularly true in SMEs and public administration, where digital progress had been slow, resulting in a significant accumulation of “technology debt.”

As a result, there was a noticeable shortage of professionals with the right skills to handle data, implement AI solutions, and drive process automation. This created a surge in demand for specialists who could close these gaps and deliver real, sustainable improvements.

For IT companies, this shift presented a huge opportunity — to move beyond generic solutions and instead provide technologies that genuinely transform how organizations operate.

Regulatory pressure and demand EU funding — fueling the need for digitization

Today, companies aren't digitizing by choice — they're doing it out of necessity. External pressures are mounting, and organizations can no longer afford to ignore them. Several key forces are driving this shift:

New EU regulations, including NIS2 (cybersecurity), the AI Act (governing artificial intelligence), and eIDAS 2.0 (electronic identification), impose real, enforceable technical obligations* on businesses.
Funding from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) — including KPO* and various regional programs — is often contingent on implementing modern digital infrastructure and systems.
The growing need for automation and process optimization is also a direct response to cost pressures and talent shortages.

As a result, many organizations now face an urgent demand for IT specialists who can deploy, manage, and scale the advanced digital systems these regulations and funding mechanisms require.

Rebuilding teams after cautious cuts. Professionals and their roles.

After a difficult first quarter, the IT industry began cautiously rebuilding its teams. But this time, it’s happening with much more control and intention. Every new position must be justified by actual project needs, not simply added as “bench” capacity.

This shift has changed the nature of hiring: companies are actively scouting for talent again, but they’re making hiring decisions more carefully and precisely than before.

Recruitment data supports this trend. According to the ATS platform Traffit, the number of recruitment processes increased by 21% year-over-year, while actual hires grew by only 8%. The so-called “bench hiring” — recruiting talent without clear business needs — has largely disappeared from the market.

Recruitment Trends in 2025/2026

A new behavior has emerged in 2025: Some employers publish the same job under multiple titles in order to test the market and attract what they hope will be the “perfect” candidate. This signals a shift from volume-based hiring to strategic talent acquisition.

Salary Growth Has Slowed

Another notable change is the decline in salary growth dynamics. The days of 15–20% annual raises in IT are largely gone. In 2025, average salary increases barely reach a few percentage points, and in some areas, salaries have stagnated — or even slightly decreased. This slowdown reflects:

a changing market outlook,
greater caution from tech companies,
increasing competition in the talent pool.

Toward a new normal

What’s clear in 2025 is that we're not returning to the old normal — where recruitment was driven by unchecked growth and fast-paced decisions.

Instead, we’re entering a phase of strategic rebuilding, where hiring is based on real business needs, and the focus shifts toward efficiency, quality, and long-term planning.

Shifting dynamics in the IT industry in 2025

The year 2025 brought a noticeable shift in mindset — marked by greater responsibility on both sides of the hiring equation.

Candidates* must now clearly articulate the value they bring.
Companies* are prioritizing roles based on real business needs.
Recruitment agencies* are focusing less on volume and more on quality.

This new normal isn't about rapid scaling at any cost. Instead, success in 2025 means smart, sustainable growth, grounded in thoughtful team-building and strong alignment between talent and business goals.

A more mature IT market

Unlike the explosive growth of the post-pandemic era, 2025 has been about rebuilding on solid ground — driven by:

well-informed, deliberate hiring decisions
strategic technology investments
a rising demand for future-oriented competencies

One of the biggest transformations this year is the evolution of the software house business model. The era of basic outsourcing — “renting developers by the hour” — is fading. Instead, companies are offering their clients long-term strategic technology partnerships.

What kind of projects are driving the shift?

The scope of IT work has changed significantly. More and more projects now focus on:

AI development and business process automation*
Cybersecurity systems and IT compliance audits*
Long-term tech strategies and product innovation*

From my own experience at Mobile Reality, I can confidently say that we are no longer just a team of coders. In 2025, we’ve become a strategic tech partner supporting clients in growing their business — often on an international scale. A great example of this evolution is our M2M project, which demonstrates our deep engagement in product strategy, innovation, and delivery.

2025: The year of complex recruiting

This was also the year of “difficult hires” — driven by increasingly complex projects that demanded specialized skills, domain expertise, and access to niche talent.

The most in-demand candidates were those with:

knowledge of rare and emerging technologies*
hybrid technical-business skillsets*
experience in R&D or product development leadership roles*

From SSC Hub to Strategic Tech Center

Reflecting on the full picture — industry data, hiring patterns, and our own project work — I believe 2025 marked a turning point for the Polish tech sector.

Analyzing all of this data — and reflecting on the projects we’ve delivered — I believe that in 2025, the Polish tech sector finally break free from being seen solely as a shared services center (SSC). Instead, we began to operate as a strategic technological and R&D hub.

Looking ahead: A new era of IT — built on quality, not quantity

As we close out 2025, even smaller, close-knit software companies like Mobile Reality are beginning to feel a sense of stability. We’ve managed to implement salary adjustments, stabilize hiring, and even grow our team — a rare but encouraging achievement after such a volatile period. This renewed footing gives us a clearer view of the year ahead.

Despite the many challenges, the IT sector continues to outperform the broader economy. According to Randstad, only 7% of IT professionals fear losing their jobs. Internal mobility has overtaken external turnover, meaning companies are retaining talent by moving people between teams rather than letting them go. This signals a shift: companies are valuing continuity and skill preservation more than ever.

As economist Marcin Mrowiec of Grant Thornton put it, “If we judge by stable GDP growth around 3.5%, 2026 could seem... boring. But that’s exactly the kind of ‘boring’ we might wish for — and need.” In this light, 2026 could very well represent the culmination of the growth momentum we’ve seen over the past few years. A year of maturity. A time to prepare — financially, operationally, and strategically — for whatever lies ahead.

We’re already seeing that AI isn’t the future anymore — it’s the present. Businesses aren’t just experimenting; they’re embedding it meaningfully into operations, product development, and customer experiences. Companies that ignore AI now risk falling behind. Beyond the tech itself, success in 2026 will depend on integrating it into every layer of the organization — from decision-making to recruitment, from security to strategy.

But attracting and retaining talent won’t just be about salaries anymore. The best specialists are now looking for career development, upskilling programs, and meaningful work. Learning tools like AI platforms or Kubernetes must translate to greater efficiency, faster project delivery, and fewer errors — not just another checkbox in a job description.

Data from No Fluff Jobs reflects this evolution. Top-listed skills now include SQL, Python, Java, Git, and JavaScript — and English fluency remains a must. But more importantly, soft skills are rising to the forefront:

critical thinking
the ability to learn quickly
communication and teamwork — especially in distributed teams

Cybersecurity roles, for instance, demand far more than just technical knowledge — they also require expertise in risk management, audit, law, behavioral psychology, and crisis communication. In contrast, junior candidates will face the toughest challenges in 2026. Companies increasingly prefer to hire those who can deliver value from day one, which raises the bar significantly.

Organizations that align skill development with business objectives will maintain their edge in a competitive job market.

From AI to automation, cloud to cybersecurity — the tech trends that shaped 2025 will continue to dominate and define IT in 2026. But alongside opportunity, there are real risks. One of the biggest questions looming over 2026 is regulatory uncertainty — especially around B2B contracting, which underpins much of the IT hiring model in Poland.

As Paulina Król from No Fluff Jobs notes, “Employers hiring on B2B contracts are nervous — no one knows how the labor inspectorate will treat these cases.” Such legal ambiguity could force some firms to overhaul their employment strategies entirely.

While salaries remain among the most attractive in the market, their growth has clearly plateaued. Lower ranges have nudged up by 2–4%, but the top end has mostly frozen. The sector remains stable — but more demanding than ever. Experienced, specialized professionals will thrive. Those just entering the field, as well as companies struggling to adapt to new tech and legal realities, will have to fight harder.

In summary

2026 won’t be the year of unchecked growth or massive scaling. Instead, it will be a year of strategic refinement. A time for smarter hiring, deeper partnerships, and a stronger connection between people, technology, and purpose.

For the Polish tech industry, the message is clear: We’re not the back office of Europe anymore. We’re building the future — one smart decision at a time.