How to start a career at the university: say graduates of five specialized magistracy

This week in our blog on Habré a whole series of materials was published on how training and practice in the magistracy of ITMO University go:

• Undergraduates from the Faculty of IT and Programming share their experiences
• The educational process and working with light in our master's program
• Study and practical experience at the faculty of photonics and optoinformatics

^{Photo by ITMO University}

Today, several areas of the " National Center for Cognitive Development " are immediately in line. We tell how everything is arranged here in terms of study and practice.

The first work - in the laboratory of the university

Graduate students can try their hand at their chosen profession during their studies at the university. Students practice and begin to work in the laboratories of ITMO University.



According to Alexander Valerievich Bukhanovsky, director of the National Center for Cognitive Development , students from the first days are immersed in research and development projects commissioned by industrial partners. Thus, students apply their knowledge in real projects.

This approach also affects the individual educational trajectory. The student has the opportunity to choose educational modules from master's programs in accordance with the needs of the project he is implementing.



- Alexander Valerievich Bukhanovsky

An additional advantage of this approach is that students can work almost without interruption from studies. Projects on which undergraduates work in the laboratory often become part of the final or term paper. Many graduates even decide to build their careers in the laboratories of ITMO University. An example is the employment history of Anastasia Funkner. She joined the work on projects already in the process of entering the Digital Healthcare direction and continues to work at the university after graduating in 2018. At the moment, Anastasia is preparing to enter graduate school.

Employment by profession in partner companies

It is possible to practice while studying at the magistracy not only in university structures, but also in companies that collaborate with departments of the National Center for Cognitive Development . Among them: Gazprom Neft, LLC Infotekhnika, MTS. Still - banks and fintech companies:

Among the industrial partners of the program are large international fintech companies, for example ITIVITI. They provide both practice (in the form of solutions to very specific “combat” cases) and employment of graduates. Thus, there are opportunities for students in both the domestic and international labor markets.



- Bochenina Klavdiya Olegovna, Head of the program “ Financial Technologies of Big Data ”

In the case of partner companies, there are no contradictions between the educational activities and the tasks of the undergraduate in the workplace. The topics of semester research and the final master's thesis are focused on the tasks set by the employer.

The work was also a scientific activity, and the actual employer was the supervisor. AIS “ Antinar ”, IP IAO were engaged. In fact, all classmates worked, some were even colleagues, and older students worked in neighboring departments.



- Sergey Moiseenko, works in the Committee for Digital Development of the Leningrad Region

In addition to Sergey Moiseenko, another graduate of the Department of Management of State Information Systems, Ksenia Voronina, is building a career in a partner company (this department was reorganized into Digital Technologies of a Smart City ). She works in the Committee on Informatization and Communications of St. Petersburg and leads the development team.

At the time I started working in the Committee on Informatization, I was in my second year of graduate school. The knowledge acquired during the training turned out to be more than relevant and necessary for a specialist working in this field, also in such a specific area as informatization.



- Ksenia Voronina

The desire of students to combine work and study is supported by university teachers. Bochenina Klavdia Olegovna believes that the student’s work in a company that matches the profile of the program is not just an acceptable, but a desirable scenario. The undergraduate gets the opportunity to specialize in those professional tasks that he will have to solve at the end of his studies.





^{Photo by ITMO University}



At the same time, we and our partner companies are doing everything to make undergraduates comfortable and working, and learning at the same time. As an illustration, the experience of Ruslan Vergunov, a graduate of the direction " Big Data Financial Technologies ", is well suited. From the second year of the magistracy, he works as a specialist in the analysis and processing of data in a financial company.

Many classes took place in the evening or on Saturday - it was easy to combine them with work. Subjects that took place in the daytime were harder to visit, but you could come to the most important topics and study the rest yourself. I also managed to agree on a four-day working day when there was a need to attend a military department. Everyone was sympathetic to this and went towards it.



- Ruslan Vergunov

Also indicative is the experience of Lilia Shandalyuk, employed in the GOST group of companies. Lily worked half a day, and the other half attended classes. According to her, the employer understood that the activities within the university are important for the implementation of the company's projects. Therefore, problems with admission to study did not arise.

Work in third parties

The knowledge gained at the university helps graduates to get jobs in leading Russian companies. For example, Ruslan Vergunov says that he needed a university curriculum to complete a technical interview. Some graduates find work abroad.



For example, Stepan Rakitin did this when he completed the Big Data and Machine Learning program. Today he works as a Machine Learning Engineer at the German company HelloFresh. His tasks include developing infrastructure for machine learning. In the near future, Stepan plans to move to another Berlin company - Anaconda Inc.



According to him, the knowledge gained within the walls of the university helped a lot in interviews and helps during work.

I believe that the knowledge and practical experience gained at ITMO University was very useful to me. There I got an idea of ​​what machine learning is and data science in general, learned how to develop systems for processing large amounts of data.



- Stepan Rakitin

^{Photo by ITMO University}



Stepan also noted that the name of the university helps him in finding a job.

There are two “uni” to which I see a special relationship - ITMO and MIPT. Usually, candidates are considered a priority, even if you studied there a long time ago. Also be prepared for high expectations, because when you mention ITMO, you immediately went to the Olympics and went to ICPC .



- Stepan Rakitin

There are times when students open their companies. Bochenina Klavdia Olegovna says that one day, directly on the defense of the WRC, a business representative decided to help turn one of the protected works of a graduate student into a startup. He expressed readiness to find an investor for the development of this project.



Teachers, managers and partners of ITMO University are always ready to meet students who want to become highly qualified specialists and develop in their chosen field. For this, undergraduates are provided with all the necessary tools - theory, practice, internships and full-time work experience.

PS Acceptance of documents for the master's programs " Big Data and Moscow Region ", " Digital Health ", " Computer Game Development Technologies ", " Big Data Financial Technologies " and " Smart City Digital Technologies " continues until August 5 .