Research: Five product design market changes in 2023

Avito and Devсrowd found out by interviewing 646 specialists from Russian and foreign companies.

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In 2023, together with the Devcrowd team, we conducted an extensive study, surveying 646 product designers to discover where they live, work, and how the market is evolving. The research turned out to be comprehensive 👉 See the full report.

We plan to conduct it annually, as we understand that it is currently the most comprehensive study of the market for Russian-speaking product designers. In the article, we will share five interesting observations. Here they are, summarised in 200 characters 👇🏻

They are job hunting, have no plans to return to Russia, wish to learn to navigate product metrics, nearly maintain gender balance, and aspire to work at Yandex, Aviasales, Tinkoff, Ozon, and Avito.

And now in more detail:

Gender [im]balance

Product designers show no gender imbalance. Among survey participants, men and women are roughly equal. However, when looking at job grades, the following pattern emerges:

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But women are much less likely to rise to Senior-Lead positions than men.
Among the newcomers, ¾ are women. Among the managers – ¾ are men

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Meanwhile, 2/3 of art directors took more than 3 years to grow into their roles. So, let’s see in a few years if the distribution among leaders changes.

Avito entered the top 5 companies where product designers want to work

Respondents chose companies based on various criteria: for 80%, a cool product is important, for 73%, interesting tasks, and for 67%, a strong team.

Here are other leading employers from the study:

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Top 20 companies where designers want to work

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Half of designers are ready to change jobs

It seems employers should be on alert, as just over 50% of the study participants are actively or passively seeking employment. The primary motivation is the desire to increase income and find a competent team for professional growth.

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Red: “I do not plan”, Blue: “I’m considering offers, but not actively looking.”, Yellow: “Yes, I am actively interviewing.” 51.8% are ready to change jobs.

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When searching for a new job, only 16% of product designers categorically refuse to work for a Russian company. The majority of study participants either work for or at least consider the possibility of working for a company with its headquarters in Russia.

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Yellow: “Yes, I am currently working for a foreign company, but I am ready to work for a Russian company.” Blue: “No, I don’t work for a Russian company and I don’t plan to in the future.” Red: “Yes, I am working for a Russian company now”.
73.6% currently work for a Russian company.

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You can find out which roles designers choose to transition from in the study.

Designers who have already left do not plan to return to the Russian Federation

A third of designers work abroad: they can be found in Cyprus, Georgia, Serbia, and other countries. Only 3% of those who have left are definitively planning to return to Russia. The majority have a skeptical outlook.

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1. Yes I am planning to return.
2. Rather yes than no.
3. Rather no than yes.
4. I do not planning to return.
5. Another ⅓ don’t know. They will be guided by the situation.

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Designers want to develop in related fields

We asked designers to indicate which tasks they do and how often they do them. We found an interesting relationship: they see tasks to which they devote little time every day as their growth zone. This is conducting research and developing strategy.

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Statistics on product designer tasks

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We asked the question, “Choose 3 skills in which you feel least confident and would like to improve?” and observed that exactly those tasks topped the list.

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1. Knowledge of product metrics.
2. Qualitative and quantitative research.
3. Long term vision.

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In the full version of the study, there is much more interesting information: we created a portrait of a product designer, learned about the specifics of the profession and its main skills, asked about relocation, remote work, jobs, and also found out who designers in the community are keeping an eye on.

👉 See the study

Share your thoughts in the comments: how things are going in your company, which observations you agree with and which you don’t.

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