PortaOne Education Center happened to be his way to IT. In June 2017, he joined PortaOne as a junior support engineer, and three and a half years later he was promoted into a position of a senior support engineer.
– Why did you choose PortaOne courses?
At that time, it was important for me to have real chances of employment after finishing my studies. Plus, my classmate graduated from the PortaOne Education Center, and I knew from him that the quality of teaching was high there. At that time I was also studying web-design , but I soon realized that I was more into administration and technical support, and I focused only on it.
– How did you find out about the PortaOne Education Center?
I graduated from the department of industrial electronics at Chernihiv Technological University. So, I knew about the Education Center. But I began to think about joining it only three years after graduation. I ran into an old acquaintance of mine at the bus stop who told me about the new enrollment. That was the start!
– How did you feel about your studies?
Those were two controversial feelings. At first, I was helpless, because I didn’t understand anything about the new topic. And then I got the hang of it and all this incomprehensible stuff amazingly fell into place.
– What was the most important thing to learn?
You don’t have to be a magician to deal with a working system. With a little time spent on it, you can figure out everything. And believe me, there’s a logical algorithm to solve any problem. Moreover, to understand it you don’t have to be a guru- developer with 30 years of experience in the field.
– Finish the sentence : “If it wasn’t for the PortaOne Education Center, …
…I would have looked for a job in web design or, even worse, would have gone back to being an electrician.
– What was your most stupid mistake during your studies?
During the mashup I tried to persuade my future team-lead that you can check specific ports with utilities ping. Big mistake!
– The brightest memory about study?
– Shock therapy during mashups. At first you are shocked when you think, “We didn’t study that, what’s going on here, where is all this stuff from, I haven’t missed a single class! But you have to work it out. There’s no other way! And gradually the task becomes more and more understandable. And you start getting some results. But you can’t stay calm, and even after you hand in your homework, you go home and surf the Internet to find information on the topic. And at this moment, making sure that the solution you chose is the right one, you finally calm down. Nice feeling!
– Did the work live up to your expectations?
When I was a trainee, I wanted to work in a technical support not as a developer. Support engineers have something new every day. The tasks are various. There is no repetitive routine. Plus, it is very encouraging that every day there are small victories. You have completed your task, the client is satisfied and you can be happy with the result. When you have been working on big tasks for months and months, you miss out on this opportunity to enjoy your success.
At first, working with customers directly was uncomfortable , but I quickly got used to it. What I like about the job is a lot of autonomy and that it is not necessary to coordinate every step with management.
– Your advice to our students
You can figure out everything, and the main thing is to take your time to do the task. Attending lectures is not enough, you have to read a lot on the Internet. It happens that you can’t wrap your head around a topic. You just need to find a proper explanation. Do not be afraid to ask questions! And, of course, engage in practice as much as possible. Theory doesn’t make sense without practice. Set yourself a task and do it. And you’ll get there!
