What company do you work for now? What position do you hold? What are your responsibilities?
I currently live with my family in Munich and have been working at IBM for the past two years. Quite often in companies, you can find a lot of different job titles, sometimes even funny ones, but they don't tell you much about the actual responsibilities. To summarize, I work as a systems engineer in the Cloud Operations team. The main task of the team is the production operation of services based on cloud technologies. CloudOps engineers are the first to be notified in case of any problems and take measures to fix them. For the last few months, I have been acting as the Lead of the Automation Squad, a unit that automates most of the checks and audits of the services we support.
What projects have you participated in?
Projects are not the main goal. On the contrary, the experience gained deserves special attention. It is very important to try to use your time to your advantage, so that when you look back, you will be pleased to remember the work you have done. Moreover, it is these two parameters that your future employers will be most interested in. By mastering professional skills, learning something new, and constantly gaining experience, a person goes from a beginner to an expert. It is important to understand that for most of this journey, you will need to participate in other people's projects and implement someone else's architecture. And this is normal. However, by practicing and solving new problems on a daily basis, you will be able to achieve more complex tasks, even designing new architectures (both software and system).
What is the most challenging and interesting project you are proud of?
I've been quite lucky since the beginning of my career, and I've almost always been involved in very challenging tasks. And the more experience I gained, including negative ones, of course, the sooner I was ready for a new level of complexity. But every time I noticed that everything was already solved, built and working, I got bored and changed jobs, not giving myself a chance to become a hostage to a monotonous routine. So, at my first job, I designed and we, together with the team, successfully implemented L2 and L3 networks within the entire company, for the first time testing in practice all the knowledge I received at the Academy. While working for an Internet service provider, I designed and deployed a comprehensive mail system, migrating data from an outdated system. In my subsequent jobs, I had the opportunity to design and implement Geo-distributed networks and network services, work with high-load services and resist DDoS, participate in the creation of a Private Cloud and a platform that provides all the necessary services for assembling, deploying, launching and operating cloud-based software products.
Are there any links to your projects?
Relatively recently, I started running a technical blog that focuses on various aspects of engineering in the field of software and computer systems. There you can find links to my LinkedIn and other social media profiles. Also, for more than two years now, my wife and I, who, by the way, also studied at the Academy many years ago and now works at SAP, have been vlogging on YouTube. On the channel, you can find playlists about Computer Science (fundamentals), IT (resume writing, interview process in an IT company), self-development (time planning, learning foreign languages), and many other topics that are somehow related to our lives. I will be glad if someone finds something useful for themselves on these resources:
Blog (eng): https://vorakl.com
Vlog (rus): https://youtube.com/PotentialDifference
What role did ITSTEP Academy play in your life?
I think the role was key because it supplemented my higher education (telecommunications engineer, specialist diploma) with the knowledge I lacked - computer networks and Linux administration, which is what determined my future professional career.
What advice do you have for our students?
Regardless of the person's occupation, all professionals and experts have one thing in common: the time they consciously set aside to constantly learn and gain new experience, continuously honing their skills. This does not happen overnight. It takes time! On average, a person needs 10,000 hours to reach a professional level, which is about 20 hours a week for 10 years. It is not enough to complete one course and remain a qualified specialist for the rest of your life. There is no magic book or training. Only constant learning and practical work throughout your professional career can lead to self-realization and the realization of meaning and satisfaction in life.