Mass survey of graduates of the software department 2020-2021

In order to study the feedback of undergraduate graduates of the Department of Software in the 2020/2021 academic year, a survey was conducted of 120 people who completed training in the specialties 121 Software Engineering (educational program – Software Engineering, IPZ) and 122 Computer Science (educational program – Computer Science, KN). Of the interviewees, they studied at a bachelor’s degree by specialty: 121 IPP – 73 (60.8%), 122 KN – 47 (39.2%). Form of payment for bachelor’s studies: at the expense of the state budget (free of charge) – 58 (48.3%), under contract – 62 (51.7%). Full-time graduates – 109 (90.8%), part-time graduates – 11 (9.2%).

Planning further admission to master’s studies: 90 (75%) at Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University, 3 (2.5%) to other higher education institutions of the Zaporizhzhia region, 2 (1.6%) to other higher education institutions of Ukraine, 1 (0.8%) to foreign higher education institutions, 30 (25%) do not plan to enter the master’s degree. Among those who plan to enter the master’s program, applications will be submitted according to the following specialties: 121 IPZ – 69 (47.9%), 122 KN – 45 (31.3%), for others – 30 (20.8%). The following forms of payment for master’s studies are considered acceptable: both the budget and the contract – 59 (49.1%), only the budget – 53 (44.2%), only the contract – 8 (6.7%). Regarding admission to the master’s degree, a higher priority would be given to the specialty: 121 IPZ – 75 (62.5%), 122 KN – 45 (37.5%):

Taught foreign language courses to prepare for EVI – 21 (17.5%). They independently assess their level of foreign language proficiency as: high level (has or is able to obtain a certificate not lower than B2). – 25 (20.8%), medium level – 66 (55%), low level (insufficiently proficient). 29 (24.2%).

They independently assess their level of mastery of the specialty as: excellent (there is deep theoretical and practical knowledge provided by the university) – 47 (39.2%), high (there is sufficient knowledge obtained at the university, but there is a lack of real practice) – 62 (51.2%), average (there is only practical knowledge or manual self-education) – 8 (6.7%), low – 3 (2.5%).

After graduation, 109 (90.8%) plan to work in the specialty they studied, including based mainly on interest in the specialty – 75 (62.5%), based on the possibility of finding a job – 34 (28.3%). 11 (9.2%) do not plan further work in their specialty. Employed at the time of the survey (bachelor’s degree completion) – 69 (57.5%), including officially employed as full-time employees at enterprises (not FOP). – 19 (15.9%), registered as an individual entrepreneur (FOP) – 22 (18.3%), working unofficially (are freelancers) – 28 (23.3%). 51 (42.5%) do not have employment or income.

Among those who are employed and are not freelancers, the following are indicated as their current place of work: Noosphere, FreshCode, Computools, Light IT, Kozak Group, S-PRO, Upwork, Behance, Boosta, DataXDev, DnC, Evernetica, FreeUA, Neosight, Affiliate Dragons, Weeteam, ZTR, PJSC «Zaporizhstal», JSC «Motor Sich», KP NVK «Iskra», LLC «Almaz», «ASU Engineering» LLC, «ATB» LLC, «Bar Challenge» LLC, «Lime Capital» LLC, Oblstomat Clinic, as well as secondary educational institutions.

Indicated companies / enterprises with which they had work experience or with whom they unofficially cooperated, in addition to the previously mentioned: Freshcode, Computools, QATestLab, Qwerty Software, Powercode, OpenGeeksLab, Neosight, Light IT, GroupBWT, Noosphere, Infocom Ltd,, 4DPipeline, Albedo, BestWebSoft, Binance, Coinmarket, CookieDev, CubeX, Digital Sight, Drum n code, Dygit, FreeUa, Global and Virtual, Huobi, koitechs, Kukoin, Level99, Lumighost, Magora Systems, MITK, Mobidev, Natife, Pitch, SMKvision, SquadMind, Traffic Terminal, Visartech, WhiteBit, Yabloki, JSC «Motor Sich», Jet-marketing, Comfi-trade, Leprecon, «Automatics. Internet. Communication», «LADA-LTD» LLC, «SILPO-FOOD» LLC, «STIL D» LLC, «UkrGrafit» LLC, UPFU, UPFU, FOP Gromnytska, FOP Korotenko, Centromebel, PE Kubakh.

They named the companies that they would like to work for in the near future or that have the best reputation (in order of decreasing number of answers): Light IT, Computools, Freshcode, Google, PJSC «Zaporizhstal», Netpeak0, Apple, DataX, Devit, EPAM, QAtestlab, Renedes, Selenium, Setters, Sigma Software, SkillBox, SoftServe, Solid Solutions, Synapse Team, BWT Group, DataArt, Drum’n’code, Luxoft, Spotify, S-Pro, Ubisoft, Vimeo, Infocom, Motor Sich JSC, Binance, Ciklum, Evoplay, Fit haus, Get in Pro League, GlobalLogic, Kozak Group, Light IT , OpenGeeksLab, QATestLab,, Readdle, Red Hamster, Redwerk, reZet, Rollncode, Social Solutions, Terrasoft, Terrasoft , Unity, Uran, WhiteBit, DP «NAEK »Energoatom” VP ZAP, PrivatBank.

Indicated as companies / enterprises of the Zaporizhzhia region that they would not want to work for in principle or that, in the opinion of respondents, have a bad reputation (in order of decreasing number of answers): Freshcode, Light IT, GroupBWT, Dev.Pro, Powercode, CubeX, Computools, Kozak Group, OpenGeeksLab, Qwerty Software, Golden Age, 2muchcoffee, BWT, done it, DoneIT, HeadWorks, QATestLab, Rezet, TopDevs, Traffic Terminal, WebDesignSun.

When getting a job, they consider the following to be their main priority: career (ready to start working for a moderate salary, but need career growth prospects) – 53 (44.2%), practice (ready to start working for a moderate salary, but want to learn a profession and gain work experience for it) – 37 (30.8%), salary (for a high salary, they are ready to work anywhere and with anyone, even if it is not interesting) – 23 (19.2%).

We would agree to work for an average monthly salary of at least 16.9 thousand hryvnias. Moreover, UAH 5,000 was set as the smallest acceptable fee, and UAH 150,000 as the largest. per month.

The following activities are considered the most attractive for themselves: coding (writing programs that implement existing algorithms) – 68 (56.7%), design (computer graphics, 3d modeling, creating interfaces, web design) – 52 (43.3%), use (using existing algorithms and programs to solve problems) – 52 (43.3%), management (managing people to develop programs, providing services) – 47 (39.2%), engineering (design, assembly of computer systems, networks, administration) – 37 (30.8%), marketing and sales (communication with customers, selling other people’s solutions) – 33 (27.5%), science (creation of new algorithms, models, methods) – 18 (15%), teaching (teaching people to program, develop algorithms, consulting) – 16 (13.3%).

The following activities are considered the most undesirable for themselves: marketing and sales (communication with customers, selling other people’s solutions) – 53 (44.2%), teaching (teaching people to program, develop algorithms, consulting) – 51 (42.5%), science (creating new algorithms, models, methods) – 47 (39.2%), design (computer graphics, 3d modeling, creating interfaces, web design) – 29 (24.2%), management (managing people to develop programs, providing services) – 29 (24.2%), engineering (design, assembly of computer systems, networks, administration) – 23 (19.2%), coding (writing programs that implement existing algorithms) – 22 (18.3%), use (using existing algorithms and programs to solve problems) – 15 (12.5%).

They would like to engage in activities with elements of scientific research – 73 (60.8%), including only in addition to the main job – 64 (53.3%), as the main job – 6 (5%), in combination with teaching work – 3 (2.5%). They would not like to do science because they want to solve mostly typical problems – 47 (39.2%).

The following topics are considered the most professionally interesting for them: web design, graphics, animation, video, virtual and augmented reality – 62 (51.7%), development of client-server applications – 59 (49.2%), development of mobile applications – 39 (32.5%), information systems (including databases) – 36 (30%), development of desktop applications – 33 (27.5%), artificial intelligence (including machine learning, neural networks, recognition, forecasting) – 27 (22.5%), software quality and testing – 25 (20.8%), computer engineering (design, assembly and programming of hardware systems, including embedded systems, computer networks, system programming) – 22 (18.3%), information protection – 11 (9.2%).

Indicated the programming languages that they confidently know and are able to work with: C language and its derivatives – 115 (95.8%, including C# – 58 (48.3%), C++ – 56 (46.7%), C – 11 (9.2%)), Java language and its derivatives – 109 (90.8%, including JAVASCRIPT – 82 (68.3%), JAVA – 27 (22.5%)), PYTHON – 49 (40.8%), PHP – 39 (32.5%), TYPESCRIPT – 7 (5.8%), GO – 6 (5%), AUTOLISP – 3 (2.5%), DELPHI – 3 (2.5%), KOTLIN – 3 (2.5%), X++ – 3 (2.5%), ORACLE – 2 (1.7%), SWIFT – 2 (1.7%), RUST – 2 (1.7%), VBSCRIPT – 2 (1.7%), MATLAB – 1 (0.8%), RUBY – 1 (0.8%), SASS – 1 (0.8%), SOLIDITY – 1 (0.8%), LUA – 1 (0.8%). SQL was also mentioned as a working programming language – 16 (13.3%), HTML – 32 (26.7%), CSS – 29 (24.2%).

They plan to work after graduating from the university: 75 (62.5%) in the Zaporizhzhia region, 34 (26.3%) in another region of Ukraine, 11 (9.2%) abroad.

22 (18.3%) need assistance in finding employment. Already have their own business – 4 (3.3%), are going to open their own business (enterprise) after graduating from university – 41 (34.2%), plan to work only for hire – 69 (57.5%), need help in solving the issue of opening their own business – 6 (5%).

Attended meetings with IT companies at the department of software tools – 56 (46.7%), of them benefited from it – 44 (36.7%), did not benefit – 12 (10%), did not attend – 64 (53.3%), of them consider it useful – 50 (41.7%), consider it not useful – 14 (11.6%).

Visited the «Job Fair» at Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University – 15 (12.5%), benefited from it – 10 (8.3%), did not benefit – 5 (4.2%), did not attend – 105 (87.5%), considered useful – 89 (74.2%), considered useless – 16 (13.3%).

13 (10.8%) visited the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University Student Employment Assistance Center, 9 (7.5%) benefited from it, 4 (3.3%) did not benefit from it, 107 (89.2%) did not visit, 81 (67.5%) considered it useful, 26 (21.7%) considered it unhelpful.

Attended external events (IT forum, hackathons, meetups, competitions, etc.) – 84 (70%), of them benefited from it – 70 (58.3%), did not benefit – 14 (11.7%), did not attend – 36 (30%), of them consider it useful – 31 (25.8%), consider it not useful – 5 (4.2%).

While studying at the university, 89 (74.2%) underwent practice / internship / study / training at enterprises, including at the place of practice provided by the university – 28 (23.4%), at the place of practice proposed by the student on his own initiative – 61 (50.8%), on the basis of the software department or other divisions of the university – 31 (25.8%).

Regarding personal interest in participating in academic mobility programs to foreign universities: 63 (52.5%) consider it interesting, 4 (3.3%) of them have actual participation experience, 59 (49.2%) do not have actual participation experience, 57 (47.5%) consider it uninteresting and unnecessary for themselves.

Satisfied with the usefulness of their studies at the university: fully satisfied – 68 (56.7%), partially satisfied – 47 (39.1%, including sufficient practical training, but lacking theoretical training – 3 (2.5%), sufficient theoretical training, but lacking practical training – 44 (36.6%)), not satisfied – 5 (4.2%).

According to the respondents, their acquaintances rate the department of software tools better than other departments – 73 (60.8%), at the level of other departments – 46 (38.4%), worse than other departments – 1 (0.8%).

Regarding the attitude towards themselves personally on the part of the majority of teachers of the department of software tools, 101 (84.2%) are completely satisfied with the attitude, 19 (15.8%) are partially satisfied with the attitude, and 0 (0%) are dissatisfied with the attitude.

Attitude towards the majority of students on the part of the majority of teachers of the department of software tools is assessed as mostly positive – 119 (99.2%), as mostly negative – 1 (0.8%).

The majority of students of the department of software evaluate the attitude towards most teachers positively – 109 (90.8%), negatively – 11 (9.2%).

They consider the most desirable form of education organization: lecture classes: distance learning – 70 (58.3%), face-to-face – 50 (41.7%); laboratory classes: remote – 53 (44.2%), face-to-face – 67 (55.8%).

It is advised to take the following actions in order to increase the number and quality of the contingent of applicants who are involved in the department of software: reduce the fee for contract training, continue renovations of premises, update computer equipment, make the university website more useful and transparent for students, work on increasing the university’s rating indicators, increase the number of teachers involved in work at the department, introduce contests and prizes for entrants, publish statistics employed students and graduates by specialty, in the advertising campaign to give more examples of career growth, to demonstrate to schoolchildren the software development of students and graduates, to conduct career orientation events for schoolchildren, to demonstrate more information on trending topics (artificial intelligence, robotics, game development) at open days for applicants, to conduct courses on the basics of programming for schoolchildren, to popularize the department’s teachers, to distribute the department’s advertising to on billboards in the city and region, in sports, social networks, distribute the department’s booklets in schools, develop the YouTube channel, invite more representatives of companies to it, shoot a video about the advantages of the profession that can be obtained at the department.

In order to promote the employment of students and graduates, it is advised to take the following measures at the university / department: increase the number of practical classes, industrial practices and internships at companies, expand the number of places for internships and internships, hold more meetings with representatives of companies, demonstrate to students how to earn money, introduce internships at companies with payment or feedback at the end of the internship, introduce electives with practice, organize excursions to enterprises, introduce additional English language courses on a paid/free basis, promote the profiling of students in the field of programming languages and technologies that interest them, promote the formation of communication skills in students, reduce the number and scope of general education disciplines in favor of professionally oriented ones, reduce requirements from teachers, tie training to the qualification requirements of companies for junior positions, promote in university to create an environment for the development of soft skills in students, provide all students with an email, by which they can more easily receive free student plans of cloud services and software licenses (or even provide accounts with ready-made settings, for example, a single Microsoft account with a student office and Azure).

It is considered necessary to make the following changes to the educational program (specialty) studied: increase the number and scope of practices, increase the number of practical classes, increase the variety of programming languages and technologies (in particular, pay more attention to Go, Python, JavaScript, Python, Java, Mob Dev), introduce case-oriented learning (more often demonstrate the real work of programmers), increase attention to web development, learn more frameworks, pay attention to questions open software and legal aspects of licensing, update educational materials more often, implement modern teaching methods, add interactive and demonstrations to lectures, increase the volume and influence on the average score of subjects that provide programming knowledge, reduce the volume of physical education classes in favor of a profile subject in the specialty, update equipment and informational and methodical support, add development of team projects during the semester in order to master several educational courses at once, promote profiling of student training taking into account their interests in programming languages and technologies.

A mass questionnaire was conducted among the graduates of the master’s program of the department of software tools in 2020, which made it possible to find out their attitude to the conditions of study and the state of employment. 65 people took part in the survey, of whom 41 (63.1%) graduated from 121 Software Engineering (educational program «Software Engineering») and 24 (36.9%) graduated from 122 Computer Science (educational program «Artificial Intelligence Systems»).

Regarding satisfaction with studying at the university, according to the results of the questionnaire, 98.5% of students are generally satisfied with their studies (of them: completely satisfied – 55.4%, satisfied in general, but consider it necessary to strengthen practical training – 40%, satisfied in general, but need to strengthen theoretical training – 3.1%). Dissatisfied with education – 1.5% of respondents. Regarding the attitude of the teachers of the department of software tools towards themselves personally: completely satisfied – 70.8%, mostly satisfied – 29.2%, dissatisfied – 0%.

Regarding the forms of organization of the educational process at the university, 20% want to conduct all types of classes only in face-to-face mode, 30.8% want a full transition to remote conducting of all types of classes, 49.2% want to conduct classes in a mixed format (including 32.3% want lectures in distance mode and laboratory classes in face-to-face mode, 16.9% want lectures in face-to-face mode and laboratory classes in distance mode).

At the time of the survey (the end of master’s studies, the period of defense of master’s theses), 78.5% of applicants were already actually employed (20% of them were officially employed as full-time employees at enterprises, 26.2% were registered as an individual entrepreneur (FOP), 32.3% were not officially employed, but actually had a job (they are freelancers without registration) unemployed – 21.5%. At the same time, only 1.5% of graduates stated that they needed help in finding a job.

Graduates of the master’s program of the department of software are employed at such enterprises as SoftServe, Copmutools, Freshcode, Infocom ltd, Light IT, Vimeo, Absolute Web, DoneIT, Drum`N`Code, Koitechs, Logix ITS, Lumighost, Revolut ltd., Rezet, Uran, Urich, Zakaz.ua, PJSC «Carlsberg Ukraine», LLC «Drimnet», etc., as well as in educational institutions and FOP.

At the time of the survey, 7.7% of graduates already have their own business (enterprise), 30.8% are going to open their own business (enterprise) after graduation. 61.5% of respondents do not plan to open their own business.

After graduation, 87.7% plan to work in the specialty they studied at the university (including 73.8% based on their interest in the specialty, and 13.9% based on the opportunity to find a well-paid job). 12.3% of graduates do not plan to work in the specialty they received.

Among respondents, 58.4% plan to work in the Zaporizhzhia region after graduation, 26.2% – in another region of Ukraine, and 15.4% – abroad.

During the studies, career guidance events were attended: on the basis of the department of software tools of Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University – 41.5% (including 29.2% who benefited from this), Job Fair of Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University – 21.5%, (including 13.8% who benefited from this), events outside Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University – 58.5% (including 50.8% who benefited from this). Only 6.2% of respondents applied to the Employment Assistance Center of Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic University (including 1.5% who benefited from it).

During their studies at the university, 81.5% of students completed practice / internship at enterprises (26.2% of them – on the basis of practice recommended by the university, 53.8% – on the basis of practice offered by the student on his own initiative). The rest (18.5%) underwent educational practice on the basis of the graduation department at the university.

Regarding the wishes to improve the conditions of study at the university and at the department in the relevant specialties and educational programs, students also expressed separate opinions, which boil down to the fact that it is necessary to continue the constant updating of the content of educational courses to take into account the trends of the labor market, to make education more project-oriented, case-oriented, team-based, to reduce the number of non-core (humanitarian) disciplines, to exclude sections on economics and labor protection from master’s diploma qualification works, automate the process of document management at the university, cancel laboratory work reports, increase the volume of practical classes in specialized disciplines, develop the material base (update computer equipment), more widely use modern means of remote communication via the Internet.

In order to promote the employment of students and graduates of the department, the respondents suggest to continue holding meetings with employers, to involve company specialists in conducting separate courses at the department, to introduce elements of distance or dual education for masters on a permanent basis, to promote the participation of students in projects for real customers.

The results of the conducted survey generally correlate well with last year’s results (https://zp.edu.ua/?q=node/7942) and indicate a consistently high level of satisfaction of the students of the software department with studying at the university.

Head of the Department of Software
S.O. Saturday