ETV's daily affairs show "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported over the weekend that while a profitable economy is generally behind an increased average salary, an important role in the high wages for the IT sector is the fact that the average working hour is more productive than in other sectors, said Bank of Estonia economist Rasmus Kattai.

But international competition is even more important. "The main reason is that the IT sector is more open to international competition than any other sectors, especially in the context of the labor market. The IT sector here competes and battles for employees, who can also work outside of Estonia, which is why the wage level has caught up with that of neighboring countries," Kattai said.

Tallinn University of Technology's school of information technologies dean Gert Jervan said that people often make a career change toward IT. "What we see more and more is that people come for a second or third higher education in IT, either as supplemental learning or re-training," Jervan said.

Training company BSC Koolitus offers adults a re-training program called "Vali IT" ("Choose IT"). Rauno, a participant speaking to ETV, said one of the reasons he joined the program was the higher wages. "What is there to say, I did not make much as a chef, so I had the thought of wanting to earn more and there are higher wages in IT, I will never say no to that," he said.

Over the years, 600 people have been approved to the program, many of which still work in IT. "Over two thirds have remained in software development and the IT world. And most still work as software developers today," said BSC Koolitus board member Ants Sild.

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