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Наталя ХандусенкоAround IT
11 August 2025, 14:55
2025-08-11
"We were connected by IT": how to find love on a dating app and combine family and career - the story of a developer couple
Alexey Lesnyak and Yulia Khitrukhina got married 3 years ago, but have been together for 6 years. They met on one of the famous dating apps, where it would seem impossible to find love. Yulia was thinking about switching from retail to IT, so the fact that Alexey was a developer prompted her to agree to meet.
So, what is it like to be an IT couple, maintaining a work-life balance with two children, meetings, and different work schedules? A couple of IT professionals told us in a flash interview.
Alexey Lesnyak and Yulia Khitrukhina got married 3 years ago, but have been together for 6 years. They met on one of the famous dating apps, where it would seem impossible to find love. Yulia was thinking about switching from retail to IT, so the fact that Alexey was a developer prompted her to agree to meet.
So, what is it like to be an IT couple, maintaining a work-life balance with two children, meetings, and different work schedules? A couple of IT professionals told us in a flash interview.
To be honest, I swiped in the right direction, because it said he worked as a developer. At that time, I was very interested in working in IT, but I didn't understand what exactly would suit me and generally didn't know much about what roles there were in this industry. At the time of meeting, I worked in retail - I was engaged in electricity, tools and other things. And so I thought that maybe this was a sign. It turns out that IT connected us.
Yulia works at Dev.pro as a Software Engineer. Oleksiy is a Senior .NET Engineer with about 14 years of experience. According to the couple, their joint work in IT is only a plus.
You understand better what a person does, you have common interests, at least in work. There is an understanding that there are situations when you need to work longer somewhere, and that this can affect our personal time. Well, you don't have to explain to your relatives what kind of rallies you constantly go to.
Alexey and Yulia often discuss work in their free time: they are interested in each other's progress and what new things they have learned, they ask for advice when one of them is more knowledgeable about a certain technology. They also discuss moments when they need the opinion of a user, not a developer.
In addition, the couple is engaged in professional development together.
“We discuss how to grow — what to look at, where to dig, and what to learn more about. We choose courses together. There were cases when we had to delve into technology that the other person didn’t understand — we watched the courses together with a simultaneous expert explanation,” says Yulia.
The only thing the couple doesn't talk about when it comes to work is the details of their projects. When asked if they've ever had any arguments over their professional activities, they say no.
"Maybe if we disagree about the appropriateness of a certain technology or something else during the discussion, but these are not quarrels. All misunderstandings related to work could arise if there was no understanding of who does what and what situations can arise - but there are no problems with this," says Oleksiy.
The couple works in different rooms so as not to disturb or distract each other. But with the outbreak of full-scale war, when the family moved a lot, this was not always possible.
"With the beginning of the war, we moved and traveled a lot - and not everywhere it was possible to separate workplaces. So, of course, it was the case that we worked in one room and the rallies coincided. Then one of us would go to another room if possible. The most important thing is to remember that there is a person next to you who also needs to concentrate, and try not to disturb them. So, for example, music that is heard not only by you will not be appropriate," says Yulia.
There are also different work schedules depending on the projects, so you have to make changes to your family's daily routine.
"In such cases, we have to reschedule lunches and dinners. And we also need to understand when we can be together, pay attention to each other and the children. This can be difficult, because sometimes rallies are held in the evening," explains Oleksiy.
But the family spends the weekends together: doing household chores and relaxing. They love to travel and visit new places — so they rarely sit still.
Yulia and Alexey have two children: a son and a daughter. Of course, there were some funny incidents during the rallies.
"Such cases happen more often when a child really needs something and right now. There was a case when, in the middle of a demo, my son decided that he needed to turn the volume on the TV to maximum. But most of my colleagues also have children, and it happens that the child came back from kindergarten and wants to share what happened during the day. Or jump behind you on the couch," shares Yulia.
Nikita's son is already interested in his parents' work. Ksenia's daughter is only a year and a half old, so she doesn't show that much interest yet.
“My little daughter doesn't really understand what we do yet, but she watched a lot of profile videos with her mother when there was a break at work, and I tried not to miss the news and continue to grow,” Yulia added.
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