Bit to bit IT: an interview with the developer about studying, first job and prospects

On Thursday, October 25th, the first event organized by the Khmelnytskyi IT cluster was held. Representatives of local IT companies, cluster members, met with the students to get them acquainted with web development trends and share their success stories. Our developer Vitalii talked about his way from a student to an in-demand expert. The day before we spoke to him for our blog.

Do you remember when was the first time you used a computer? What interested you the most about it?

I was 12 years old when I used the computer for the first time. Probably, like all kids of my age, I had only one question — how to install games on it.

When did you realize that you want to be a web developer/programmer? Where did you study? How did you choose your major?

I studied at Khmelnytskyi National University. I got Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering and a Masters in System Programming.
At school, I really liked the exact sciences: mathematics, physics, chemistry. So when I was thinking about my future profession, I considered such options as engineering and economics.

Apparently, common sense helped me choose a profession related to information technologies because at the time I entered the university in 2012 there were many job opportunities in that field. Compared to other engineering jobs, this one was the most promising in terms of career. When I was applying to university, I had no idea what programming languages were and how to code programs or websites. I also used a rational approach to choose my master’s program. I chose System Engineering after I analyzed the student rankings for previous years. I noticed that students with the highest rankings chose this major, so I applied for it too.

How close was the course you were studying to what you are doing now?

Perhaps half of the course subjects were dedicated to the architecture of computers, processors, and their programming. I guess I was supposed to become a guy who solders the boards and programs them. However, there were some subjects that were pretty close to what I have to do now, in particular, an introductory course on HTML, CSS, JS. Later there was a course on SQL, and PHP databases.

Your first IT job, what was it? How did you get it?

About work, perhaps, I started to think very soon, at the end of the first school year as I got some ideas of what IT is. During the first summer break, I was studying web technologies watching pirate copies of video courses at home. Yep, shame on me, but that how it was at that time!

Later I posted my first resume of the layout designer at Work.UA. The representatives of one web company contacted me and gave me a test task, which I successfully failed because I didn’t know JavaScript well and couldn’t set up necessary plugins. During the next school year, I was working hard trying to catch up on these skills gaps and planning to find a job during the summer break. This time two companies responded to my resume and offered an internship. I went to the interview in both companies but chose the one whose atmosphere I liked the most. That company was Web-Systemes Solutions. Since then, almost 4 years have passed.

There are different directions in IT: front-end, back-end, design, management, marketing, etc., how did you choose yours?

My acquaintance with IT began with the front-end in the first school year when I had a class about these technologies. After that course, I had a plan to get a deeper knowledge of front-end development, and then start studying the back-end technologies to be a full-stack. I didn’t even consider other directions.

What is your current job? What technologies do you work with?

Now I work as Ember.js Developer. My team develops and maintains three web portals for a German company. On the current project, I work with such languages as JS, CSS, HTML, PHP (writing tests). There are so many technologies, you’ll get bored if I name all of them, but the main ones are SCSS, DOMPDF, Handlebars.js, Ember.js, jQuery, Chart.js, Behat/Mink, Selenium, Node.js, Gulp, Webpack, React.js, Rest, and CircleCI.

I know that you already have a teaching experience as a mentor. What do you teach your students? What advice do you usually give?

For a few years already, Web-Systems Solutions helps university students with job training. Trainees who come already have basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, JS. Before starting the practical course, I always give additional theoretical materials that need to be studied before the practice starts so that during the classes we could do programming exclusively. As a mentor of front-end groups, I teach to work with JavaScript frameworks. Together we build a web application with a chosen framework. When I share my own experience, first of all, I tell about the situation when I shot myself in the foot, so they learned from my mistakes. I also do mini-interviews on each technology. It helps to understand the material better, gives an idea of how interviews are generally held. Every week you need to perform a practical task. At the end of the course, I offer my students a plan for independent work with the links to studying materials.

To find out about the last practical course, read the interview with the developers about students, internship and opportunities for future programmers.

In your opinion, what disciplines are the most important for the future programmer?

As for me, the first subject was the most important as it helped me to decide what I want to continue studying further. In most cases, it was my independent work, since the practice was always ahead of theory (lectures). From my own experience, I can also tell that for the future programmer it is important to be able to learn quickly and on your own. And, when it comes to the first programming language, it becomes the most obvious.

If you could turn back time to the university days, what would you change?

Perhaps I would spend more time practicing, solving more problems, studying English!

What do you think are the qualities that every IT specialist should possess?

Patience, the ability to learn fast, good communication skills. The last one is the most difficult. According to statistics, most engineers are introverts, and therefore communication is perhaps the biggest barrier that has to be overcome. The larger the project, the more discussions there will be.

What technologies can have the greatest impact over the next 5-10 years?

In my opinion, such technologies are AI and VR. As for me, the most incredible thing is how these technologies are used in medicine for the study and diagnosis of diseases.