Last year, Symphony Solutions launched DevOps School, a new exciting training course that welcomed undergrad students from Ukraine, interested in exploring new opportunities and getting started on their career path. The intense 8-week course became a launch pad for some bright and talented minds who have now joined the company as Junior DevOps Engineers. Why is DevOps so attractive to Computer Science majors? What are the perks and benefits of DevOps for professionals? What challenges did the students encounter when the war in Ukraine coincided with their studies? Is formal education a must-have to pursue a career in IT? Let’s hear from our DevOps School Graduates of 2022 and learn from them about this one-of-a-kind experience. 1. What do you like about working at Symphony Solutions? Pavlo Pavlichenko Most of all, I like the people who work here. They are always ready to help no matter what. There’s a friendly atmosphere, no concept of “all are equal, but some are more equal than others”, and this makes the work more comfortable. But the main thing is that no matter what team you are working with, the principles remain intact. Anton Didenko I like the loyalty of the company and that it really values its people. We came together at a difficult time, and it really showed what it stands for. I’m grateful to the company for the opportunity to learn and work at this time, for the support, and that they hire these amazing people that are so cool to work with. And, of course, they are really worthy of respect for all their support of the UAF. Artem Stankov There’s no excessive time tracking and micromanagement. Bohdan Karashchuk There are quite a few cool things about the company that I like. But the best part is probably the professionalism of the people that I get to work with. I can say that about my project colleagues, people partners, DevOps leads, managers, etc. I also like how the company tries to help in different complicated situations. Can’t forget about team building, of course, especially at times like these, the company still tries to make a place for live communication. Then there are timely compensation reviews which are also important and not often mentioned. Oryna Otkalenko What I like most of all at Symphony Solutions are the people who work here. Each one is ready to help out with an issue, either professional or personal. It’s impressive how experienced engineers are so eager to share their knowledge and insights with the younger generation. At the start of the war, when my family and I left Mariupol, at least seven people from the company contacted me personally and offered help. 2. What was it like to study during the war? Do you have any stories from your time attending the DevOps school? Anton Didenko February 24. The entire country woke up from explosions, I immediately went to my parent’s place. No one knew what to do or where to run. In school chats, everyone was asking to post status updates. We had an urgent call with the professor, no one knew what to do, and I was the only one who got the idea to ask if we’re gonna have classes that day. At least we had a bit of a laugh out of it. What were you doing when the war started? How did you get through this time while attending DevOps school? Did Symphony Solutions provide help? That morning I went to see my parents. This was in Kharkiv and we lived in different districts. I had an emergency backpack ready with all the necessities. I spent a few days at their place until the air raids began and the enemy forces started to enter the city center. We’ve decided that it’s time to leave. It took some time and effort to convince my mother, and my father stayed behind (they’re alright now). So, we went to Lviv, and one of my coursemates offered to stay at his place for a while. Symphony Solutions also offered shelter at their office, and that’s where I helped get settled some of my friends and volunteers from Kharkiv. Continuing studies after that was quite difficult due to exhaustion and mental distress. Thanks to Symphony Solutions, all the students from the DevOps school found projects, which I really appreciate. It’s understandable, that the times were complicated and they had all the legal right to terminate the contract due to unforeseeable circumstances. However, that was out of the question. They kept in touch and supported us throughout. Pavlo Pavlichenko Sadly, I don’t have any stories – there wasn’t enough time for something memorable to really happen, and then the war is now everyone’s reality. Bohdan Karashchuk The full-scale invasion coincided with the studies, so the plans went awry. In the end, everyone managed to get on a project, thanks to management. I spent some time at the office, while they were taking in people for temporary shelter, and I was very grateful for this opportunity. 3. What was the most challenging part of the course? Artem Stankov Get up every morning earlier than usual 🙂 Bohdan Karashchuk The most difficult part was probably learning Kubernetes. Oryna Otkalenko I’d say the sheer amount of information and how fast we were presented with it. It wasn’t always possible to keep pace with the mentors and lecturers, so some topics were more challenging than others. Of course, the speed of consuming information is a personal matter, so I tried to compensate it by dedicating more of my time to studying. 4. Did you make friends with any of the guys that attended the school alongside you? Do you meet up outside of the coursework (online or offline)? Pavlo Pavlichenko Most of the people studying with me on the team were already my good acquaintances. After school, these relations became even stronger, and now we had this professional side to our conversations and many new interests. Anton Didenko Yes, there was a time when we would meet in the office or outside of work. One guy even offered me to stay at his place while we were looking for accommodations in Lviv. I’m very grateful for that. Although, we aren’t interacting all that much lately. Bohdan Karashchuk The teambuilding was a great activity. I really enjoyed the team building with all our guys from the DevOps school. We had a great time, and got to know better the people from our projects. Pavlo Pavlichenko Most of the time on the Ukrainian teambuilding I spent with my friends from DevOps school. One positive thing was to see how big and friendly is the company where I work. However, my team is relatively small, so I didn’t know all that many people at the teambuilding, so it was awkward in a way. 5. Why did you decide to pursue DevOps? Bohdan Karashchuk I started my professional journey with programming. It’s difficult to say what I like more. DevOps also often requires programming skills; it’s growing rapidly, and this tendency is going to continue into the future. I like what I’m doing right now, and in my free time, I sometimes go back to programming. Oryna Otkalenko While attending the university, I realized that programming and full-cycle software and application development is probably not for me. However, I’ve always found the IT sphere impressive and wanted to be a part of it. DevOps turned out the perfect solution for me. I like all the different technologies that DevOps works with. There’s a lot to learn and explore, so there’s not a boring minute at work. Artem Stankov It’s one of the youngest professions that is expected to grow exponentially. Pavlo Pavlichenko I’m impressed by the opportunity for multi-faceted development in DevOps. Sure, you can pursue life-long learning in any domain and still not have the full grasp of it. DevOps covers such a vast spectrum of technologies, that if you realize that something isn’t working for you, you can pick something else with no fuss and almost completely change your work process. Anton Didenko I worked as a system administrator for a few years and started approaching this topic. I found it very interesting – more complicated cases, challenging tasks, and automation. I would go to conferences with a colleague from my previous job where we would learn more about it, what are DevOps, and what they do. At the end of 2021, I tried going to interviews. And now I’m here at Symphony Solutions. 6. In recent years, there has been a lot of concern raised regarding university education for IT majors becoming obsolete. Companies are competing with universities as they are launching their own internships and training schools. Would you agree with this? What would you say is the role of universities in the educational system of today? Do IT professionals need formal education? Anton Didenko I don’t really have a formal IT education. I studied at the IT STEP academy back when it was still a state university. So, I don’t know what it’s usually like. From my side, I can say that it can give you a good foundation and make it easier to acquire professional knowledge. I don’t think that formal education is all that necessary to be a successful IT specialist. Oryna Otkalenko I think that higher education is certainly necessary for someone who wants to achieve something remarkable in their life. At the same time, the diploma on its own doesn’t guarantee you success by default. Formal education is more like a resource than the end goal. You can use it to access all the different opportunities for the future. Educational institutions teach you discipline, all the different subjects expand your mind and make it possible to decide on what career you are most passionate about. In my case, the university gave me a lot of useful connections in IT and many good friends. Bohdan Karashchuk In short, I think that education is not necessary to succeed in IT. But there’s always a ‘but’. University education, at least in my case, gives a broader outlook on the domain in general, which is quite useful. I’ve met developers with a lot of experience, who couldn’t even understand the basics of SDLC if they weren’t directly related to their line of work. I think this isn’t cool because in this case the person may not be considered a professional. Again, it depends on the person and there’s nothing stopping you from expanding your knowledge. One thing worth mentioning is that IT professions have a lot to do with fundamental sciences, such as probability theory, discrete mathematics, etc. It’s more complicated to obtain such knowledge on your own and here’s where universities can help, although, without giving any guarantees. Pavlo Pavlichenko As a 3-rd year student, I completely agree with this notion. I wouldn’t go through the root cause of the problem, but the most obvious issue is the outdated syllabus. In order to teach modern technologies, you need modern specialists with practical experience not from 40 years ago but those who are working with these technologies right now. Or, at the very least, the syllabus should be updated once a year. That’s why, unfortunately, you think that it’s pure luck to get relevant information and universities are not the place where you come to learn but meet new people. For the time being, formal education doesn’t have a lot of weight in the IT field. Hopefully, this will change in the near future. Artem Stankov I agree that most universities have an outdated syllabus, and for the most part, it’s too broad and all-encompassing. That’s why we constantly compare it to all these courses and internships that are offered by different companies, which can afford to invest more resources and make it more relevant. I think that formal education has its place in modern society, but we need to update both the syllabus and the teaching approach. 7. More and more young people are interested in entering the IT field. What would you advise those getting started or thinking about IT? Pavlo Pavlichenko First of all, you shouldn’t expect to have everything handed to you. There’s a lot of false information being shared online. They tell you that you’re gonna be earning millions working ten minutes a day, and all you have to do is pay a hefty sum for some unique, never-before-seen one-month course. IT is just like any other area of specialty. If you want to become a specialist, just coming up with this decision is not enough. And here’s where the second fact comes in – you need to study continuously. And, of course, believe in yourself, be more confident, and be aware of the ever-growing competition. Bohdan Karashchuk I’d advise learning the fundamentals and a broad spectrum of knowledge. I think that is going to distinguish you in the job market from the typical “someone who finished a training course”. Artem Stankov I’d recommend reading up on all the different professions, picking one, and studying it systematically. Anton Didenko You shouldn’t pursue this career only for the high salary rates. If you like what you’re doing, then go for it. Otherwise, it’s better to look for something that you really find enjoyable. If it’s IT – welcome and be prepared to always learn something new. There’s a lot of work ahead of you. Oryna Otkalenko I’m not that far ahead of these ‘young people’ but I’d advise not to waste any time and start deciding on what direction they want to take in their IT career and follow that path. First of all, the current job market requires you to be competitive. Second, the IT sphere never stops evolving, and the entry-level requirements keep shifting further. It’s easier to stand out in a crowd of candidates for a position if you start your professional development early. 8. After graduating from DevOps school, you were hired on a commercial project. What was or still is the biggest challenge in this regard? Bohdan Karashchuk We have quite a big project, so I’m still occasionally facing challenges when I need to work with something new. That’s always interesting. Oryna Otkalenko I guess, the biggest challenge for me right now is keeping up with all the information that I keep getting from working with new technologies. After the DevOps school, I haven’t stopped learning for a minute, quite the contrary. Anton Didenko Lack of some basic understanding of the development process. I hadn’t worked with it before, so it was all very new to me, which led to some unfortunate mistakes. Then there was the sprint review with the client. But it’s much better now. Artem Stankov The biggest challenge was to get into the workflow. I started getting tasks assigned to me in my first week on the project, pretty much right after a short onboarding. Pavlo Pavlichenko Obviously, the most complicated part of the job is to understand the processes, from first approaching the task to reporting on task completion. Then there are moments when you can’t just ‘google’ and have to come up with your own solutions. However, I think all this is due to the specifics of DevOps and not so much the fact that this is my first job. 9. What do you do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies? How do you unwind? Pavlo Pavlichenko Right now, it just so happened that I spend most of my time at home. And if you account for the fact that you learn while doing something, I spend my free time working and thus learning what I like. On weekends, I like to either bake or cook something savory. Oryna Otkalenko At home, my main hobby was baking pastry. It’s my big passion. Right now, I can’t really do that, so I’m finding other things to do, like drawing. But what helps me unwind most of all are cats. It’s always been like that. I love cats, but right now, the only cats in my vicinity are those who live near our apartment block. We have our daily routine where we come out to feed them, give lots of head scratches and hang out. That’s a really good distraction from everything around. Anton Didenko Before the war, I would do social dancing. After coming to Lviv, I met a lot of my friends from Kharkiv and also attended dance classes for some time. Then I took an acting class, which I found very interesting and beneficial for my self-improvement. I like to be active – go snowboarding, diving, biking, and hiking. I like playing board games and gathering company for a game night. I used to play electric guitar and plan on continuing lessons once the situation in the country is more stable. Artem Stankov I watch movies and TV shows and play video games with friends. Bohdan Karashchuk Since I’m still studying, a lot of my time free from work I need to dedicate to schoolwork. Otherwise, I can meet up with friends, play video games, watch movies, or play football when it’s warm outside. 10. Do you have any role models (family members, acquaintances, or public figures)? Who are they, and why? Oryna Otkalenko I admire the unbreakable spirit of our military and what they are doing for our country. Artem Stankov I can’t say any specific names, but I admire people who, no matter the circumstance, nurture their skills and share their experiences with others. Anton Didenko I admire my girlfriend Olya. She is a bright example of what I’ve mentioned before. A great level of self-awareness when it comes to studies, work, and rest, so that’s basically all areas of life. I can learn a lot from her. Also, I get inspired by people who really like what they do, and whose eyes light up when they talk about it. It’s interesting to interact with such people, they motivate you to make your life better. Bohdan Karashchuk I admire all the people I know from DevOps school and the projects. They motivate me to stay disciplined and not slack off. They don’t say for anything that the environment builds the person. Pavlo Pavlichenko I wouldn’t say that I have such people. Having any achievements is already motivating enough to keep going. An opportunity to have a happy life in the future is what affects my life decisions. That’s why I don’t pursue an existing ideal but create my own. 11. What do you consider necessary (skills, principles, actions) to become an expert? Bohdan Karashchuk Definitely discipline. The ability to set and achieve goals. Anton Didenko It all starts with you expressing a desire to learn and staying curious. Then you need to be disciplined and not rely on motivation, which is very fleeting and not all that helpful. Discipline, time management and a desire to get better in your area of specialty – all that can turn anyone into a strong professional. Oryna Otkalenko You need to have a clear understanding of what your goal is, be determined, and disregard irrelevant advice from those who have no idea what they are talking about. Artem Stankov I think that in order to become an expert, first of all, you need to study your area of work continuously. However, aside from ‘passive’ learning, i.e., reading articles and taking classes, you need to be an ‘active’ learner, which means applying your knowledge in practice. Pavlo Pavlichenko As I’ve already said, self-confidence, constant learning, and personal development. Sometimes people stop after having achieved something because of laziness. However, each open door is followed by ten more, meaning more opportunities are to follow. Also, I’ve noticed that teaching others really helps digest the learning material, so you shouldn’t be afraid to talk to your colleagues and help them whenever you can. DevOps opens up many opportunities for professional development, whether you are a seasoned programmer looking to switch directions or a recent graduate just starting out. Symphony Solutions has garnered some fantastic results from the DevOps School, and the next season is already hovering over the horizon. Follow Symphony Solutions on our social media channels to not miss the call for the next enrollment period. Read more from Symphony Personas and their professional insights and experiences working at Symphony Solutions.
Symphony Solutions
Donate now
Symphony Solutions
Donate now