Увійти в ІТ

Junior Python Developer Olga Magerya did the incredible thing — she finally got a job after more than six months of searching. Her post on this occasion gained a crazy reach and number of likes, as for her page, which caused sincere surprise even for the IT-star herself. It would seem that it is a completely banal thing — a person simply found a new job, so what’s the big deal? But given how difficult it is now for a young person with little experience to break through and gain a foothold in IT, this has already become equated to a slight variation of a miracle.

Amid the boom in artificial intelligence and changes in the job market, more and more people are questioning the value of higher education. But tech leaders — those directly working on these changes — are in no hurry to abandon universities.

When people talk about international education for IT professionals, they usually imagine moving to the States or Britain, a sky-high price tag, and years of waiting. But the reality of 2026 looks different: you can get an American diploma, study English, and do internships in global companies — and at the same time stay in Ukraine, without giving up your job and family. American University Kyiv (AUK) is a university in partnership with Arizona State University, where both fresh bachelors and experienced engineers who decided to add systems education to their practice study. We asked three students to tell their stories — from doubts before admission to the real impact on their careers.

Back in 2021, Vitaliy Opaynych worked as an investigator in the tax police — seven days a week, with constant stress and on-duty on holidays. Today, he is a frontend developer at the product company Dripify, with a completely different rhythm of life, environment, and sense of control over his own time. His transition into IT looks almost like a textbook case: a few months of training and only three weeks to find his first job. But behind that is burnout, doubts, and the decision to start from scratch at the age of 30.

The story of «quick entry into IT» has long become part of Internet folklore. One has only to go to YouTube and dozens of promises appear before your eyes: learn C++ in a week, master React in a month, change your profession in one course. It seems that a few videos and a little perseverance are enough to open up a new career with a good salary.

American academic standards, industry-based faculty, international scholars, and a vibrant IT community — this is what a master’s degree for engineers at American University Kyiv looks like today. Serhiy Tytenko, Deputy Dean of EPAM School of Digital Technologies and Associate Professor at American University Kyiv, talks about the philosophy of the Master of Software Engineering program and its real benefits.

A post from Tamara Kolyada, Business Software Solution Architect, appeared in Threads, in which she publicly criticized educational development courses promoted on social media and aimed at IT beginners.

In a world torn by wars and economic recession, people are looking for stability and prospects. Against this rather gloomy backdrop, a career in IT often seems like a shining beacon of hope. A dream paradise where it is supposedly enough to just sit at a computer, write code and receive solid money. It is this attractive image that encourages people of all ages and professional experience to retrain en masse. But does the reality match these expectations? As the founder of a programming training center, I see dreams collide with reality every day, and I want to share my perspective on it.

In 2023-2025, 883 Ukrainians received vouchers for training in IT specialties from the State Employment Service, which allowed some of them to restart their own careers in a new professional field and shine in IT. It is worth recognizing that IT is not one of the most popular areas of study among voucher recipients (in total, 67,000 vouchers have been issued for all professions since the beginning of martial law, so it is possible to compare these figures), but, nevertheless, it demonstrates stable demand. This is mainly about obtaining a second higher education in IT specialties in a number of universities.

What do the richest countries in the world have in common? High levels of education. What is the main driver of technological progress? People who never stop learning.

Even during a full-scale war, Ukrainian businesses should not stop, says Vitaliy Syomka, CEO of Anteniti and founder of the educational startup JayJay. While large companies are counting losses, his team has not only preserved its business, but also entered a new market, launched an EdTech platform in Indonesia, and attracted $1 million in investment from Jooble Venture Lab. dev.ua talked to Vitaliy about how he entered the new EdTech field for him, what challenges he faced in a country with a different culture, and why launching in Indonesia took much longer than it seemed at the start.