Aim. Empirical substantiation of the model and approbation of the scheme for studying the psychological difficulties of the professionalization of IT specialists in different conditions and situations of professional activity: individually, in a team, as a project manager.

Procedure and methods. 87 articles and 32 Internet resources were analyzed to characterize the peculiarities of the work of IT specialists. The positive and negative aspects of the work of IT specialists are revealed. Surveys were conducted using a specially designed questionnaire to identify the difficulties of professionalization, testing to determine individual features. The test of E. Heim, the motivational profile of S. Ritchie and P. Martin, adapted by A.V. Bulgakov, associative methods of studying social identity L.B. Schneider, V.V., Khrustaleva diagnostics of organizational culture K., Cameron R. Quinn. The sample was 148 people, of which 12 are managers, 48 are individually working people, 88 are members of a team. The obtained data were subjected to mathematical and statistical processing. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for independent samples at p≤.01.

Results. The negative aspects of the work of IT specialists are identified: work after work, low start in a career, high competition in the future, high mental stress, sedentary work, strain on the organs of vision. The main groups of psychological difficulties are revealed. At the individual level: there are 1) motives for professional activity in social contacts, at the level of significance, in gaining recognition from other people, in influence and power, in improvement. 2) In the cognitive sphere: the presence of critical thinking; the ability to look for relationships between phenomena; perseverance; mindfulness; self-organization; non-standard approach to solving the set and unexpectedly arising tasks; understanding of the need to constantly learn. Use of a foreign language with colleagues in professional interaction, in work with documents; computer knowledge; modern IT technologies and IT programs. 3) In the emotional sphere, the levels of emotional burnout are different; self-control. At the level of interpersonal and intragroup interaction, difficulties are determined in the skills of presenting what has been done; responsibility; ability to work in a team; manifestations of diligence. Difficulties determined by differences in the structures of organizational cultures of companies associated with entering its divisions are revealed: order and creativity. There were no differences in professional identity. Professional identity of all compared categories of IT professionals have high and medium levels of professional identity. Differences in the use of coping strategies were determined: problem solving; social support; problem avoidance. A difference was found in the distribution of adaptive cognitive strategies; maladaptive cognitive strategy; behavioral copings.

Theoretical and/or practical significance. A model of a scheme for studying the psychological difficulties of the professionalization of IT specialists at different stages of professional activity has been developed. The results can be used as the basis for supporting the professional development of IT specialists.