IT university Neoversity hosted IT Career Conf 25/26 — the largest online conference in Ukraine dedicated to IT career development. The event brought together Middle+ specialists, team leads, architects, and executives from leading technology companies.
- 6+ hours of insights on products, projects, and hiring requirements
- 80+ open vacancies from IT employers
- 15 speakers from Jooble, Nova Digital, Universe Group, MODUS X, Preply, Devlight, SoftServe, Intellias, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Netflix, Meta, Nord Security, and PeopleForce
The core objective of the conference was to align expectations between businesses and professionals ahead of 2026. The event responded directly to labor market turbulence — shifting requirements, the rapid expansion of AI, and emerging cybersecurity challenges.
AI and cybersecurity: speed without responsibility no longer works
- Artificial intelligence is becoming a baseline tool in everyday work, but it does not remove responsibility from humans nor replace mature security processes. “AI does not create a new responsibility model in production. If you merge it, you own it,” emphasized Oleksii Vyhotskyi, Head of Enterprise Applications and Technologies at MODUS X.
- In the AI era, cybersecurity is no longer optional — it has become the foundation of business, stressed Oleh Polihenko, CISO of Nova Group, Deputy CEO of Nova Digital. Attacks are faster and more sophisticated, which makes reaction without automation ineffective. That is why Nova Digital operates its own Security Operations Center, where SOC analysts serve as the first line of defense against incidents.
How product development is changing: insights from product and R&D companies
- Representatives of Preply and SoftServe — Vadym Vlasenko (Senior Director of Engineering, Preply) and Bohdan Khomych (Associate Director of R&D Products, SoftServe) — highlighted the transformation of product development approaches driven by active AI adoption. According to them, AI increasingly acts as an efficiency multiplier rather than a replacement for engineering thinking.
- Within this context, a new role is emerging — the Intelligence Engineer, working with complex agent-based workflows. One of the key skills of the future is context engineering — the ability to properly structure context for models and systems.
AI as a marker of engineering maturity
- According to Ihor Zakutynskyi, CTO of FORMA at Universe Group, artificial intelligence today serves as a “litmus test” of engineering competence: it amplifies strong specialists but does not compensate for the lack of systemic thinking.
- This idea was illustrated by Nazim Suleimanov, CTO of Jooble, using the launch of the Fitly product as an example. A four-person team — a product manager, a designer, and two engineers — brought the product to market in just 2.5 months by actively using AI tools at every stage, from development and design to user support and process automation.
- A key trait of today’s professional is agency — the ability to take responsibility and act beyond predefined instructions.
The labor market is shifting: how companies respond to rising competition
- Growing competition in the labor market is changing hiring approaches. According to Ihor Polych, CEO of Devlight, a single vacancy can now receive up to 183 applications, and “silent mode” is no longer viable. Adaptability and cognitive flexibility are becoming the new baseline.
- Companies are increasingly adopting the “Who” methodology and looking for A-players whose values align with the company’s DNA. This was emphasized by Inna Izmailova, Head of Talent Delivery at Intellias, and Mariia Bezbakh, Head of Recruitment at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
Four vectors that will shape career growth in 2026
Conference speakers, along with participants of the panel discussion on careers in international companies — experts from Netflix, Meta, Nord Security, and PeopleForce — agreed that four key directions will define the competitiveness of IT professionals in the coming years:
- fundamental knowledge;
- systemic and architectural thinking;
- a product-driven mindset;
- the ability to learn continuously.
Responding to market demand, Neoversity has launched a new educational program — AI Product Management, an online master’s degree with an internationally recognized diploma for those who aim to turn business ideas into working prototypes. As part of the program, students go through the full AI-powered product development cycle — from idea to MVP. The first cohort starts in January 2026. More details are available via the link.
