“Looking at the focused guests with laptops, I wondered what if I were in their place.” A former barista entered IT during the war. Here's how he did it

About Zaporizhzhia roots

The guy was born and raised in Zaporizhia. From an early age, he saw that his family was connected with professional sports and teaching, and initially planned to choose a path in one of these directions.

Moving in this direction, after school Semen entered Zaporizhia National Technical University, majoring in «Physical Education». But, unfortunately, his plans did not come true due to a certain list of circumstances in life and injuries that led to a lack of motivation and a reassessment of priorities. After that, the young man realized that he needed to look for himself in another field.

The first part of the journey

Then, at the end of his university studies, when he was 21 years old, Semyon worked as a bartender in several bars and restaurants.

«I think many have also gone through this, such an experience is difficult to consider useful in later life, but how exciting and unforgettable it is!» he adds.

Recalling his bartending days, Semen says that he met many interesting people, and, strange as it may sound, perhaps it was then that he first thought about further development in the IT field.

And he adds that in fact, when people with laptops were not busy, they were very interesting interlocutors.

I entered IT, but from the wrong side

After working as a bartender, namely since the end of the summer of 2018, an acquaintance helped Semen get a job as a technical support operator in a relatively small crypto project.

And so began his first steps in the direction of IT. The experience, according to the boy, was unusual and interesting, but short-lived. In almost 9 months, unfortunately for him, like many ICOs of those years, the project fell apart. «But it gave me an understanding that the world of employment is much wider than I imagined,» recalls Semen.

A new turn and a difficult decision

Along with the pandemic that came to Ukraine in 2020, Semyon was visited by the thought that it would be nice to try his hand at business, and together with his wife, he opened an online store with his own production of sportswear on Instagram.

And he adds that the products were of high quality. According to him, these are suits that still look great today and warm every buyer.

But, as Semyon says, things didn’t go as planned: starting with fairly tough competition, problems with contractors, setting up advertising, and ending with the start of a full-scale invasion. «In connection with this, I went through all the stages from anger to acceptance, after which I realized that I wasn’t the most successful businessman and the business needed to be closed,» he says of the difficult decision he and his wife were forced to make.

In the second round

After completing his work, the young man found himself at a crossroads of hesitation and doubt — «what should he do next?» And in the summer of 2022, he decided to try himself as a developer.

The decision was partly influenced by his best friend, Artem, who has been writing in Angular for over six years. And at that time, Semen himself already wanted to delve into IT, but he thought it was too late to take courses and learn. After another conversation with Artem, Semen decided to take a risk and chose the frontend direction at Hillel.

Even at the stage of thinking about courses, the guy began to gradually save money for his studies.

Adjustment by war

It wasn’t easy to take Frontend developer courses in 2022 in a frontline city. At some point, Semen even had to put the course on pause, because after another massive attack, he and his family left the city for a dacha. «The Internet was almost non-existent there, and sometimes there wasn’t enough time for anything,» the man explains.

The house the family moved to, according to Semyon, was not at all prepared for the cold, because they had previously visited there in warm weather. And a lot of time was spent on insulation and preparing the house for wintering, because there was an unknown ahead. But over time, the future AIT member and his family returned to Zaporizhzhia.

Happy ending in IT

All the hardships helped Semen understand in early 2023 that frontend is exactly what interests and excites him. Then he returned to the courses and successfully completed them, taking second place in the group.

Here, the help of a mentor came in handy, whose course the switcher accidentally got acquainted with. The Frontend course was attended by a girl who also took a course with experienced developer Volodymyr Shaitan. After watching just one video lesson, Semen also decided to join and took his Pro course on learning Java script and React. At the end of the course, Volodymyr suggested that he try himself in a startup, where he could gain a lot of experience — Semen agreed. And for over a year, the IT guy has been working at Skillzzii on developing a platform for training technical interviews, which he considers «awesomely interesting.»

First-hand advice for switchers and beginners

1. Don’t be afraid to start from scratch.
   Even if it seems to you that «time has passed» — it is not so. IT is a field where age and past experience often work in your favor, not against you.
2. Find a mentor or community
   Learning alone can be difficult. Talking to experienced developers or like-minded people helps not only with technical issues, but also with motivation.
3. Write code even if it’s «imperfect»
   The first few projects may be ugly or wrong, but that’s how you learn. Don’t wait for the «perfect moment» — just do it.
4. Don’t get hung up on one technology
   Frontend, backend, mobile development — try different directions before settling on one.
5. Find your way of learning
   Some people like courses, some people like documentation, and some people like YouTube tutorials. Experiment!
6. Take breaks.
   Burnout is a real thing. Sometimes it’s better to take a day or two off than to «force» yourself with code.

Useful resources

• MDN Web Docs is the best documentation for front-end developers.
• Stack Overflow is a place where Semen found answers or ideas on how to do something that even ChatGPT couldn’t help with.
• Telegram channel of the mentor who helped Semen — join, you will find a lot of interesting things there.
• Codewars — training algorithms in the form of a game.
• A large knowledge base with useful articles in Ukrainian.

Read the country’s main IT news in our Telegram

On the topic

Read the country’s main IT news in our Telegram

Enter QA. Aitovka advised a waitress who decided to change dentistry to testing, whether it is worth starting development in QA now and what is needed for this

On the topic

Enter QA. Aitovka advised a waitress who decided to change dentistry to testing, whether it is worth starting development in QA now and what is needed for this

To pay or not. Product Manager told about a case where a candidate passed the test with 3 out of 5 and he wants money for the revision. And what do the IT community think?

On the topic

To pay or not. Product Manager told about a case where a candidate passed the test with 3 out of 5 and he wants money for the revision. And what do the IT community think?

«Let them pray to me as to the Lord, for giving me a job.» Crude phrases heard in the IT sphere from managers

On the topic

«Let them pray to me as to the Lord, for giving me a job.» Crude phrases heard in the IT sphere from managers

«At one point, I even agreed to work for sandwiches.» The story of a Vinnytsia resident who got into IT on his fourth try: now he’s a DevOps and doesn’t regret it

On the topic

«At one point, I even agreed to work for sandwiches.» The story of a Vinnytsia resident who got into IT on his fourth try: now he’s a DevOps and doesn’t regret it