Марія БровінськаІсторії
26 August 2026, 09:00
2026-08-26
"Military service burns you out from the inside, and a former soldier comes to the company not as fresh and energetic as a university graduate." The story of a veteran who entered IT after service
Before the war, Andriy Zhupnyk developed a business in Lviv that included renting musical equipment, rehearsal facilities, recording studios, and his own concert venue. In 2022, he voluntarily joined the army, and after demobilization, he decided not to return to business, but to try his hand at IT. He studied at the «IT for Veterans» program from EPAM Ukraine, mastered React and AWS, and eventually received an offer to join the company. He currently works as a Junior Software Engineer on the Digital FoodBank volunteer project.
Before the war, Andriy Zhupnyk developed a business in Lviv that included renting musical equipment, rehearsal facilities, recording studios, and his own concert venue. In 2022, he voluntarily joined the army, and after demobilization, he decided not to return to business, but to try his hand at IT. He studied at the «IT for Veterans» program from EPAM Ukraine, mastered React and AWS, and eventually received an offer to join the company. He currently works as a Junior Software Engineer on the Digital FoodBank volunteer project.
«It was a musical conveyor belt»
At one time, Andriy Zhupnyk created not just a musical equipment rental business in Lviv — it was a whole «musical conveyor belt.» He opened rehearsal facilities, recording studios, and his own 200-square-meter concert venue. It was a real rock club, where life was bustling every night, hundreds of people gathered, and bands recorded.
At the same time, such work was quite exhausting. For five years, Andriy worked almost without days off. In the end, this frantic rhythm exhausted itself in terms of ideas and development. The business brought good income, but the enthusiasm disappeared. So he decided to close down the business, sold all the equipment and switched to passive real estate rental — just to get at least a little free time and finally catch his breath.
It was during this free time that Andriy began to look towards IT. By 2014, he already had some experience coding in Ruby on Rails, and in 2021 he decided to resume this path: he completed project management courses and improved his English to level B2.
But February 2022 changed those plans.
«I went to the military registration and enlistment office as a volunteer»
After the full-scale invasion began, Andriy volunteered for military service. He says that getting into the army was a separate quest back then, with kilometer-long lines and confusion with units.
Moreover, even before the war he had a disability — he was missing part of his left hand. Despite this, he insisted on being drafted into the service.
«They kept me in line all day, and in the evening they said: ‘The military specialty is not suitable, go home.’ But I insisted,» says Andriy.
He initially served as deputy chief of staff of the TRO battalion, and later transferred to the brigade as senior officer of the military service security group.
He was demobilized in July 2024. By that time, he had a child and was already feeling the effects of physical exhaustion after his service. Andriy realized that he wanted to be with his family.
Upon returning home, he decided not to return to business, but to try to implement his long-standing plan to move into IT. To do this, he joined the " IT for Veterans " course from EPAM Ukraine.
«I simply didn’t have enough RAM»
After the service, Andriy had a hard time studying. His brain, accustomed to constant stress and military tasks, simply refused to memorize new information.
«I simply lacked 'working memory'. You’re sitting over the code, and unresolved problems from the battalion are spinning in your head,» he recalls.
However, the learning platform was convenient, and the emergence of artificial intelligence, according to Andriy, completely changed the rules of the game.
Previously, to find a trivial error in the code, you could spend hours searching for a solution on Google or contacting familiar developers. Now, it is enough to describe the AI problem and get an analysis.
«Now you just prompt the AI and within seconds you get a breakdown of flights. It speeds up the process a lot,» he says.
During his studies, Andriy chose frontend and studied React. Then he took a course on AWS, and eventually received an offer at EPAM.
The first project is Digital FoodBank
Andriy’s first project at the company was the volunteer Digital FoodBank. The team is creating a system that helps coordinate the delivery of food from large donors to shelters and soup kitchens.
For Andriy, this is a special experience, because the result of the developer’s work can be seen here not only in the form of code or product functionality.
«When you write an interface for this platform in React and realize that thanks to your work, elderly people or displaced people in a frontline city will receive fresh food on time, it’s fulfilling,» he says.
«A veteran comes to the company not so fresh and energetic»
From his own experience, Andriy believes that the return of veterans to civilian work is a delicate process. After military service, it can be difficult for a person to immediately return to the previous pace of life and work.
«Military service burns you out from the inside, and a former soldier comes to the company not as fresh and energetic as a college graduate,» he says.
In his opinion, during the adaptation period, it is important not to demand maximum productivity from a veteran from the first days.
«Completing a task by 75–80% is already an excellent result for a person who is adapting to civilian and working life. The main thing is not to rush, recover, and enter a new life step by step.»
«Моя фінансова мета — накопичити $1 000 000, щоб мати пасивний дохід і жити на нього». Як айтішники витрачають гроші та в що інвестують
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Ось його історія.
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dev.ua обрав найцікавіше з розмови.
