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Олег ОнопрієнкоІсторії
21 July 2025, 09:00
2025-07-21
"I was covered after three months of searching." How a June IT girl made her way to an offer in IT through depression, constant attacks and trashy interviews
Alyona Bagrytska, a back-end developer, went from a quiet life under the sirens to her first offer in IT. Her story is not about quick success, but about night codes, depression, antidepressants and an unexpected breakthrough during the war. She survived fake interviews and instability under fire, but in the end she received an offer that led her to her dream job. dev.ua talked to Alyona about what it's like to "enter IT" in the difficult year of 2025.
Alyona Bagrytska, a back-end developer, went from a quiet life under the sirens to her first offer in IT. Her story is not about quick success, but about night codes, depression, antidepressants and an unexpected breakthrough during the war. She survived fake interviews and instability under fire, but in the end she received an offer that led her to her dream job. dev.ua talked to Alyona about what it's like to "enter IT" in the difficult year of 2025.
Life before IT
Before I became a developer, I worked as a 1C database administrator. It was in the IT department, but at that time I didn't consider myself a full-fledged IT person and I wasn't involved in programming. My responsibilities included supporting database users: helping them navigate the system, solving everyday issues. I was also responsible for financial reporting, generating queries, making reports, and passing them on to those who needed them. That is, it was technical work, but more about supporting and organizing processes than about development.
The field I worked in before was familiar and understandable to me, I was able to cope with the tasks. But over time, the routine began to exhaust me: the same checks, reports, user support every day. It was stable, but very monotonous work. The most disappointing thing was the lack of prospects. There was almost no professional growth there, except to become a 1C programmer, but, to be honest, it seemed to me that neither I nor my growth were particularly interested in anyone. And this was the point where I realized I needed to move on.
Push for change
The turning point for Alena was a deep depression caused by the war and emotional burnout. It was then that she decided that she had to start a new page — for herself and her future.
The idea of going into IT, namely development, had been brewing in me for a long time, I lacked determination, but my curiosity remained. The real trigger was 2022, a full-scale war, anxiety, darkness, fear, and the unknown. During this period, studying became a way for me to preserve myself. Programming gave me focus, a sense of control, and perspective. It was like a hobby that grew into something more, not just a profession, but an internal resource. In addition, at the same time, my husband went into the service, and I felt that I needed something to keep my mind focused.
This feeling lived inside me for a long time, like an inner calling that I ignored for a long time. And then it just burst out at some point spontaneously, without a plan. I was inspired by different people: bloggers, IT people, artists, just interesting people that I followed. Each in their own way, each with their own story. It was more like a mix of external impressions and an inner need to change something.
The most frightening thing is not the external difficulties, but the internal struggle with doubts.
At the start, I was not even afraid that something would not work out, but that I would not finish the job again. There was a fear that this was just another stage when I would catch fire and then give up. At that moment, everything was unstable, war, constant anxiety, the unknown. And inside I had this feeling, "What if I can't stand it, will I suddenly let myself or those who believed in me down?"
Learning IT during wartime
During the period when I started studying, everything was only getting worse both in the country and within me. Blackouts and mass shelling of Ukraine began, all of this added to my anxiety.
Anxiety became a familiar background, and in this reality it was difficult to maintain concentration.
I didn't have stability, there were weeks when I couldn't do anything at all. Because my thoughts weren't about code. But learning itself became my spark. As soon as I felt a little better, I immediately grabbed my laptop. And, interestingly, if you look at my repositories on GitHub, you can literally trace my psychological state. There you can see when I was actively studying, and when I dropped out of the process for weeks due to internal or external circumstances. Now I look at all this and think, how was I even able to learn anything in such a state?
At those moments, I had to “live during the day and study at night,” I just went with the flow. If I was depressed, I allowed myself to be in it. I would sit at my laptop, look at the code, and realize, “Nothing is working,” then I would just let the situation go. And there were days when inspiration came and then I could study for hours, nonstop. That is, it was not an organized process, but more like a storm, then a calm. I don’t want to tell people, “Oh, do the same,” but at that time it was the only way I could study and live.
Antidepressants, coffee and walks in the fresh air
After studying, Alena's internal state began to deteriorate, so she sought help from specialists who prescribed her antidepressants, which ultimately helped her find her first job in IT.
I started taking antidepressants after finishing my studies, around the third month of actively looking for a job. At that moment, I was honestly just overwhelmed. It felt like I had hit a wall and didn’t see any way out. Constant mood swings, exhaustion, complete confusion. I realized that I needed help. I went to a psychiatrist. He diagnosed me with a depressive-anxiety disorder and prescribed treatment. These were prescription antidepressants, with which we adjusted the dosage every month. The psychiatrist immediately warned that the condition might worsen in the first weeks.
I literally "fell out" of reality for a month, and didn't even turn on my laptop, let alone look for anything.
Gradually, this state of the “wall” in front of me began to change and I was able to see that there was a “door” behind it. I found the strength to get up, gather myself, and continue my search. And it was then, in a more stable state, that I was able to find a job.
I had my own little ritual that really helped me stay focused, every morning I would buy coffee and go for a walk in the parks. I would listen to podcasts, stand-ups, sometimes just music in my headphones. I would go somewhere quiet and peaceful, just think. These walks were like grounding, they helped reduce my anxiety level and organize my thoughts a little. I still do this when I have a task at work that needs to be thought about.
But what kept me going the most, of course, was the support of my family and friends. You can count them on your fingers, but it was these people who were there when it was most important. We talked almost every day, with some on the phone, with some we just texted, and sometimes we even ran out for coffee. Their presence was invaluable. When you are rebuilding your whole life, starting something new from scratch, and even against the backdrop of war, instability, and internal breakdown, it is very important to have those around you who do not push you away, but support and believe in you.
The long-awaited first offer
I was invited to an offline interview and I went from Zaporizhia to Dnipro. To be honest, online interviews just got to me. I always felt kind of awkward, uncomfortable during them, as if I was showing something through a screen, not communicating. And here, live communication, real people, an atmosphere are completely different. I was very nervous then, but at the same time I felt that this was exactly “mine”. We talked not only about technical things, but also about the approach, about thinking, about my experience. And for the first time at an interview, I didn’t just answer questions, but really communicated. I had the feeling that I wasn’t just being tested, but that they were getting to know me.
A different Alena came back to Zaporizhia. And when they called me later and said: “We are taking you on for an internship,” it was a moment of happiness. I realized that I had not spent so much time trying, that I had not traveled across half the region in vain. This was my first offer and a very cool start to my journey.
My first commercial experience was freelance. At that time, I was just gaining confidence, but I already knew enough to do small projects. So I started by developing Telegram bots. These first projects gave me an understanding of how to take responsibility, see things through to the end, and that a developer deals not only with writing code, but also works with a lot of infrastructure. That's how I started to discover and learn new technologies for myself. And then there was my first full-fledged team project in which I developed the backend for an online store. Everything was more serious there: architecture, interaction with the frontend, order processing, admin panel integration, documentation, testing, deployment. And this project became for me "this is real development." I worked in a team, discussed decisions, committed to the repository, and for the first time felt like a real developer.
Reality Check: June 2025
This is no longer the same period as before Covid in 2017–2018, when you could jump into IT right away. Today, you really have to fight for a place in the sun.
From the very beginning, I realized that what I was learning was just the tip of the iceberg and that what was to come would be more difficult, deeper, and more serious. And so it happened. Development in the field is very fast, everything changes, and learning never ends. This path is not for the faint of heart. You really have to “plow” here, especially at the start. A lot, constantly, without instant results. But that’s the point, first you work for the future, and then the future works for you.
I didn't go into IT for easy money or because of the hype. I went because I had a clear picture of what I wanted to do, what team I wanted to work in, what kind of development I wanted. I read a lot, talked to people from the IT field, understood the market situation, what salaries, what challenges. So there were no rose-colored glasses.
Of course, there were unpleasant moments. For example, interviews. Very different, sometimes very strange. Especially when you apply as a Jun, and at the interview they treat you not as a person they want to get to know, but as someone who can be humiliated in order to rise. There were situations when you are interviewed by a conditional "young IT director" from a no-name company that is two months old, and instead of a normal conversation you get a circus to demonstrate how "cool" he is. It's disappointing, because you expect a professional conversation, not a show.
There was also disappointment in myself. When you're really nervous and your brain just refuses to work, and you know the answers, you've written them a hundred times, and at the interview it's just blank, and that's it, the screen, a stupor. I had such an interview, after which I just sobbed for an hour and thought: "Maybe this isn't mine? Maybe I'm just not getting the hang of this game?"
I was looking for an atmosphere where there was no toxicity, where people laughed when solving problems together, were not afraid to ask questions and did not build hierarchies. For me, this was one of the key factors when I was considering offers. I understood that I wanted not just a good position, but a great team.
“My work has changed the lives of my clients for the better — it fills them with light and gives them the strength to keep working.” The story of a designer who left a high-paying IT job for yoga
A day at work goes by like all Junes. At first you open the documentation and don't understand anything. You just sit and stare at it like it's ancient writing. And then you get a little bit involved. Then someone from the team comes up to you, starts asking some questions, and you're so confused, as if they're asking you how much Jupiter weighs. But it's a thrill, seriously, when you don't just read, as someone once described it in the article "A Day in the Life of a June," but go through it yourself, and that's a thrill. My morning starts with coffee, of course, and a walk! I walk, think about the day, about the tasks. Then I come, sit down at my laptop: I write, ask, write, read, write again, joke, sometimes get stupid, sometimes I'm happy and learn something new.
While Alena has just begun her journey in IT, the IT professional plans to consolidate her acquired skills and constantly learn new things so that she can get a kick out of her work and projects that she is not ashamed to show to others.
“I lost the thrill of what used to be so inspiring.” The story of an iOS developer who left an IT startup to create his own apps and a family brand of scented candles
