Organizational Psychology

The article presents the results of a theoretical analysis of the features of the professional activity of IT specialists in the context of the risks of burnout syndrome. Burnout is considered as asystemic quality of the subject of labor, having a three-component structure (subfactors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, reduced personal accomplishment). Burnout syndrome is formed due to the interaction of the subject of labor with stress at work. Burnout manifests itself in negative mental states, attitudes, self-relation, personal accomplishment, and work. Purpose. The purpose ofthis study was a theoretical review of modern publications on the problem of burnout syndrome of IT and the definition of determinants of IT professional burnout. The analytical method is used in thework. Results. In modern research, there is no unambiguous answer about the specifics of IT specialist’s burnout: according to some authors, burnout by the subfactor emotional exhaustion and reduction of personal accomplishment is characteristic for IT specialists, according to others — depersonalization (cynicism). Obviously, the revealed differences in the typology of burnout of IT specialists are related to the variety of IT professions that need to be considered when assessing the severity of individual burnout subfactors. Three groups of determinants of IT specialists’ burnout are presented: personal (gender, age, lifestyle, psychological readiness for professional activity, attitude to professional activity), professional (high learning requirements, combination of team and functional roles, high uncertainty — unpredictability of work tasks, illusions of flexible schedule, remote communication, occupational diseases), organizational (virtual organization, specifics of remote personnel management). Thus, ananalysis of the literature on the problem of burnout confirmed the multifactorial and poly-deterministic nature of burnout syndrome, as well as the presence of specific features and risk factors of burnout for the IT profession.