Learn and work: the experience of undergraduates in the Faculty of Information Technology and Programming
We talked with teachers and graduates of the master's program “ Speech Information Systems ” about how the university helps to combine study and the first steps in a career.
Habraposty about our magistracy:
Photo by ITMO University
Students enrolled in the Speech Information Systems program take courses in digital signal processing, machine learning, multimodal biometrics, speech and acoustic event recognition, and natural language processing. This is one of the most relevant directions in the development of modern IT. The content of the disciplines of the program is constantly being modified taking into account the latest achievements in science and practical experience.
Thus, graduates receive relevant competencies demanded in the labor market and are ready to work in world-class companies.
As an additional incentive for development, we give young professionals the opportunity to participate in international conferences. Among the directions stand out: speech processing, machine learning, data mining, computer vision, neural networks and artificial intelligence . After graduation, students can enter graduate school under the double degree program. Partners are universities from Germany and the Czech Republic.
For example, our graduate Aleksey Romanenko, the winner of the internal competition for the “Best research graduate qualification work” among the masters of 2015, is today a graduate student at ITMO University and the German University of Ulm. Dmitry Ryumin, during his postgraduate studies in 2018, also took a three-month internship at the University of Pilsen, West Bohemia.
The knowledge gained at the university is worked out on real corporate tasks. The partner in this direction is the Center for Speech Technology group of companies. At the beginning of the first semester, undergraduates choose a research topic on which they work under the guidance of teachers or employees of a partner company. At the end of each semester, they prepare reports on the results and work on the preparation of scientific articles. So, students learn to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge, master modern technologies and gain experience in presenting the results of work on projects. Many students get a job or have an internship at the MDGs Group of Companies during their studies. They learn to work in a team, master new technologies and develop systemic thinking.
Photo by ITMO University
This form of cooperation between the university and business in training specialists is very effective. Since getting an employee ready to work on real tasks after a university, no matter how well taught, is very difficult.
As a rule, all students successfully combine study and work, and often from the first semester of the first year. As noted by Yuri Agafonov, the training load in the magistracy is less, since " more attention is paid to scientific activities ." Part of the courses takes place remotely, and students can master them at a convenient time for them. We also try to free entire classes from classes so that students do research or internships.
Work in the specialty also helps learning. Students are motivated by the very possibility and understanding that they can put knowledge into practice.
Specialists of the Center for Speech Technologies also help to cope with the load. Students who have taken a job at a company or are taking an internship are not thrown headlong into the abyss of business processes. The load increases gradually.
It happens that students already work in IT companies and come to us to improve their qualifications, to study the latest achievements in biometrics, speech recognition and synthesis. For example, Anton Alsufiev, project manager for the MDGs Civil Code , did so.
Thus, within the framework of the university, all students “at the entrance” are provided with equal opportunities for the implementation and development of a career. At the exit from the magistracy, we get professionals. They are ready for serious research and design work in the field of speech information technologies and multimodal biometrics.
Habraposty about our magistracy:
- How to start a career at the university - the experience of graduates of four specialized master's programs
- How do undergraduates of the faculty of photonics and optoinformatics study and work
Photo by ITMO University
University knowledge
Students enrolled in the Speech Information Systems program take courses in digital signal processing, machine learning, multimodal biometrics, speech and acoustic event recognition, and natural language processing. This is one of the most relevant directions in the development of modern IT. The content of the disciplines of the program is constantly being modified taking into account the latest achievements in science and practical experience.
Thus, graduates receive relevant competencies demanded in the labor market and are ready to work in world-class companies.
During the master's program in the program “ Voice Information Systems ”, analytical and research knowledge was acquired in the areas of software design and development, machine learning and artificial intelligence in general. This knowledge not only helped to get a job, but also entered the postgraduate study at ITMO University in 2016, which was successfully completed in 2019.
- Dmitry Ryumin, Researcher at the Laboratory of Speech and Multimodal Interfaces at the St. Petersburg Institute of Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences
As an additional incentive for development, we give young professionals the opportunity to participate in international conferences. Among the directions stand out: speech processing, machine learning, data mining, computer vision, neural networks and artificial intelligence . After graduation, students can enter graduate school under the double degree program. Partners are universities from Germany and the Czech Republic.
For example, our graduate Aleksey Romanenko, the winner of the internal competition for the “Best research graduate qualification work” among the masters of 2015, is today a graduate student at ITMO University and the German University of Ulm. Dmitry Ryumin, during his postgraduate studies in 2018, also took a three-month internship at the University of Pilsen, West Bohemia.
Company practice
The knowledge gained at the university is worked out on real corporate tasks. The partner in this direction is the Center for Speech Technology group of companies. At the beginning of the first semester, undergraduates choose a research topic on which they work under the guidance of teachers or employees of a partner company. At the end of each semester, they prepare reports on the results and work on the preparation of scientific articles. So, students learn to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge, master modern technologies and gain experience in presenting the results of work on projects. Many students get a job or have an internship at the MDGs Group of Companies during their studies. They learn to work in a team, master new technologies and develop systemic thinking.
I got a job at the Center for Speech Technologies in my first year. I am engaged in solving problems in the field of identification and classification of acoustic events. Responsibilities include: training models, reading scientific articles, implementing the approaches outlined in these articles, participating in embedding models in company products.
- Yuri Agafonov, MDC Researcher
Photo by ITMO University
This form of cooperation between the university and business in training specialists is very effective. Since getting an employee ready to work on real tasks after a university, no matter how well taught, is very difficult.
How to combine work and study
As a rule, all students successfully combine study and work, and often from the first semester of the first year. As noted by Yuri Agafonov, the training load in the magistracy is less, since " more attention is paid to scientific activities ." Part of the courses takes place remotely, and students can master them at a convenient time for them. We also try to free entire classes from classes so that students do research or internships.
Work in the specialty also helps learning. Students are motivated by the very possibility and understanding that they can put knowledge into practice.
In parallel with his studies in the magistracy, he worked as a software engineer on the project “Social innovation service“ Surdoserver ”for people with hearing impairment”.
- Dmitry Ryumin
Specialists of the Center for Speech Technologies also help to cope with the load. Students who have taken a job at a company or are taking an internship are not thrown headlong into the abyss of business processes. The load increases gradually.
Of course, working and studying is difficult, but possible. The main thing is not to start abruptly, to increase the workload gradually. Such an opportunity was provided: at first I worked at the MDGs for half the rate, then at 0.75, and then I went to full.
- Yuri Agafonov
It happens that students already work in IT companies and come to us to improve their qualifications, to study the latest achievements in biometrics, speech recognition and synthesis. For example, Anton Alsufiev, project manager for the MDGs Civil Code , did so.
I went to study at the Department of Speech Information Systems in 2011 at the age of 26, already being an employee of the MDGs. I lead research and development work, including with the involvement of state funding.
The training is designed in such a way that it is possible to combine study with work at the base enterprise. That is, the knowledge gained at a university can be immediately put into practice.
- Anton Alsufiev
Thus, within the framework of the university, all students “at the entrance” are provided with equal opportunities for the implementation and development of a career. At the exit from the magistracy, we get professionals. They are ready for serious research and design work in the field of speech information technologies and multimodal biometrics.
PS Acceptance of documents for the master's program “ Speech Information Systems ” and other training programs continues until August 5 .
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