Over 8 years, thousands of graduates have taken the CodeGym course. Today, the project website has more than 1.5 million registered users from 106 countries. Not all graduates had time to talk about their successes: about how they studied, passed interviews and started working as developers. But current students are interested in learning the stories of those who already work in IT. We took matters into our own hands and launched a new special series about developers from different countries and companies who have been trained on CodeGym. Our fourth story is about the developer Anzor Karmov . The guy was fond of coding in Pascal since school, but was not going to become a programmer. As a result, he learned CodeGym and has been working as a back-end developer for several years. Anzor tells how he did it.
"What the heck, I'll never get involved with this"
At school, I was fond of programming and the Pascal language, I went to a tutor. I entered the university with a degree in business analytics. We also took programming courses there, including C# and Java. I remember that I then vowed not to connect my life with Java: they didn’t explain the basics to us, the training material was given as if from the middle, so much was not clear. It was assumed that everyone already knew programming. Then I thought: “What a gesture, I will never get involved with this.” My path in IT began with the fact that I was interviewed by a company that was implementing an ERP system from Microsoft. They had two groups of employees in the IT department: developers and consultants. Consultants acted as testers and product managers, developers, respectively, developed. I went there as a consultant, but on my resume it was written, that at school I studied Pascal. Based on this, I was offered to become a developer. We wrote in C#L, affectionately called cal, it's some kind of "descendant" of Pascal. When I more or less got used to this place, I realized that this is, roughly speaking, the very bottom where you can work as a developer. Not because the company is bad, but because the language in which we wrote was very narrow-minded. With such knowledge, it was simply unrealistic to apply oneself somewhere else. I thought that if I'm already a developer, then I need to learn something more universal and widely applicable. but because the language in which we wrote was very narrow-minded. With such knowledge, it was simply unrealistic to apply oneself somewhere else. I thought that if I'm already a developer, then I need to learn something more universal and widely applicable. but because the language in which we wrote was very narrow-minded. With such knowledge, it was simply unrealistic to apply oneself somewhere else. I thought that if I'm already a developer, then I need to learn something more universal and widely applicable.
“When I abandoned my studies, I reproached myself for being so lazy”
When I decided to learn a programming language, I chose among C++, C# and Java. From what I read on the forums, it seemed to me that C ++ is a bit complicated for me and it will take a lot of time to enter this topic. I chose Java, probably because I came across CodeGym, I did not find a similar resource for C #. I learned programming language for about a year and a half. My boss "helped" me a lot: he strongly demotivated me to work, but motivated me to learn Java. He was a bad boss, and I wanted to leave him as soon as possible. But to understand that I want to leave, it took me about 1.5 years, I spent the same amount of time to learn. I learned differently. I planned for myself that I need to change my job and learn Java, but I couldn’t consistently devote time to this for a year and a half and I couldn’t do it every day. I had short breaks for a month or two and there were months when I actively studied. The schedule looked something like this: I woke up much earlier than usual, studied, went to work, studied something there, if I was not very busy, returned home and taught again. When I quit, I reproached myself for being so lazy, then “close cooperation” with my boss paid off, and I returned to training again. I remember that each new level was harder for me than the previous one. If the first levels took about a week, then closer to the middle I spent about a week solving one problem. The thought of giving up all this did not visit me, because it was the only time in my life when I decided: no matter what happens, I will reach the end. I had a motto: if you hammer at some point for a long time, then sooner or later, something will work out. Usually I got stuck on tasks, but since all the solutions were posted somewhere on the Internet, it was not difficult to find the right one. When it was completely unbearable, I just took a ready-made solution and substituted it. By the way, I had a study project. When I went to a tutor at school, I wanted to write a Sea Battle game. My idea was this: you play with the computer and enter the address of the cell you are shooting at in the console, and the computer gives out whether you wounded, missed or killed the boat. And in the same way, the computer shoots back, and you tell him whether he wounded, missed or killed. Then I stalled on the fact that I could not get the computer to shoot more thoughtfully if it hit a multi-deck ship. How a person plays: if you wound an opponent, and then missed, then the next time you will shoot either higher or lower, or to the right or left of the place where you wounded. I couldn't get the computer to shoot that way, because I probably didn't have enough brains. When I studied CodeGym, at some point I thought that I would finally implement this game. I sat down to write it and overcame this problematic moment. Even before level 28, I went to one interview, after which I decided that it was too early for me to do this. I realized that I didn’t know frameworks, I didn’t know how to work with the database. I had such a choice: either I study everything to the end on CodeGym and learn frameworks, or I start going to interviews. I decided to look for a job. after which I decided that it was too early for me to do this. I realized that I didn’t know frameworks, I didn’t know how to work with the database. I had such a choice: either I study everything to the end on CodeGym and learn frameworks, or I start going to interviews. I decided to look for a job. after which I decided that it was too early for me to do this. I realized that I didn’t know frameworks, I didn’t know how to work with the database. I had such a choice: either I study everything to the end on CodeGym and learn frameworks, or I start going to interviews. I decided to look for a job.
“At some point, it broke through and everyone started calling me”
When learning Java, there are two options: go to back-end development or Android. Therefore, in parallel, I also began to learn Android. Wrote a couple of primitive applications. One is a number game and the other is a calculator. The first interviews were unsuccessful, because I still did not understand and did not know many things. I made the decision to go back to interviews more than six months after my first interview, which I failed miserably. When I was much less educated in Java, for some reason they called me for interviews, and after some time, when I upgraded, they stopped calling me. This lasted about half a year, and they were quite painful. It felt like it was all for nothing. The scheme was simple: I continue to study and sooner or later I will be called for interviews. On my blog, I started posting answers to questions, which may be asked at the interview. Collected information, studied and began to post it. Some guy from CodeGym wrote to me, thanked me for these posts and offered his help in compiling a resume if needed. He wrote feedback to my resume, I corrected it, but for some reason I was still not called for interviews. I attribute this to a period of calm in the market: probably, then no one needed junas. Then at some point it broke and everyone started calling me. There were several interviews. For example, a group interview, when it was necessary to prepare answers on sheets, and then the developers were called in turn to answer. The third was an interview at the company where I currently work. This is the Loyalty Factory company. She started out as a startup. The company develops marketing tools, designed to increase consumer loyalty to a particular brand. Our product is a set of marketing tools that we make for various brands, mainly restaurants, but also suitable for gas stations, beauty salons, shopping malls. The product consists of a CRM system and a mobile application. If we consider it on the scheme with a restaurant, then we are making a mobile application for it. This mobile application is downloaded by restaurant customers, the restaurant owner gets access to the CRM system, in which he sees his audience, and can send him offers for various promotions. The audience gets the opportunity to accumulate points in the application and exchange them for certain gifts. Integration with payment gateways can be singled out as a separate block of our work. We entered the international market much earlier than quarantine, but it was during quarantine that food delivery to home was massively required. Many needed the ability to place orders through a mobile application, and many turned to us. Our customers who did not use the delivery module asked us to set it up for them. This helped them keep their business going through the lockdown, as restaurants were only able to survive on delivery.
“I took sick leave at work, ate, slept and wrote a test”
I got to them, probably, thanks to my cover letter. It was my hundredth response, the mood was lousy, no one called me anywhere. In my letter, I laid out all my pain and sent. The recruiter later told me that it was the most touching cover letter in her life, and I was called for an interview, probably thanks to him. As a result, they gave a test: to write a program with a web interface that carried out tests of an android application via Wi-Fi. My program had to display in the interface which tests passed and which failed. A week was allocated for the test. This has been the most active week in terms of coding in my entire life. I took sick leave at work, ate, slept and wrote a test. In the end, I did and sent. After some time, the recruiter called me and said that I did the test so cool, that they will not wait for other candidates. Since I was going to a Java developer, but it turned out that this vacancy was closed, I was offered to become a tester who should write autotests. Nobody in our test department knew Java except me. I was told that there is a system of manual tests of mobile applications. It was a program with a web interface: you go there, connect the test application to the test session, and you will see what needs to be done. My first task was to replace the tester who clicks through the test session. After some time, everything started up, I automated my first test case, then there was a second, third ... Unfortunately, my brainchild never saw production, because mobile applications went ahead much faster than I had time to adapt autotests for them. Later, I was given a second autotest project - to test the web interface, it was necessary to cover the self-written admin panel with tests. I started writing a program from scratch that tested it. When I was finishing the third project, I was offered to move to the server development department and write code for them. I rejoiced at this. In this department, I began to deal with minor improvements, familiarity with the system. I was a little afraid of each new task, there was excitement that I might not be able to cope. In the end, everything worked out. Now I am a team leader for the mobile application backend. My subordinate, who is also my cousin, also studied at CodeGym, I mentored him, he now takes the role of junior. You could say that I motivated him to study. This training helped change my life for the better, and I wanted to share this opportunity with loved ones.
Tips for a novice developer:
1. How to organize your studies
First, let me tell you about how I studied. I learned in waves. I had periods when I did not study at all, probably because I burned out. There were periods of a month or more when I did nothing. And then came the upswing. When I realized that if I continued to do nothing, then nothing in my life would change. And this led to the fact that I woke up at 04:30 in the morning and did something about my studies before work. Learned on the job. And after work I came home and also studied. This naturally led after some time to burnout and a month of doing nothing. I did not give up completely just because I clearly realized that if I stopped, then my life would remain the same. I didn't like my old life. Therefore, psychologically, I tried not to allow the thought that I would stop. My motto was: “If you hammer at one point for a long time, then sooner or later something will work out.” Now, 4 years later, I would not advise doing the same. I don’t think that everyone will go through such violence against themselves. Working without rest leads to burnout. Stress is only beneficial when stress is followed by some relaxation. Therefore, in organizing my studies (as in everything else), I would advise you to study a little bit, but regularly over a long period of time. Be sure to rest. Don't force yourself. The brain will still begin to assimilate everything only during rest and sleep. Therefore, be equally responsible for your training and rest. Stress is only beneficial when stress is followed by some relaxation. Therefore, in organizing my studies (as in everything else), I would advise you to study a little bit, but regularly over a long period of time. Be sure to rest. Don't force yourself. The brain will still begin to assimilate everything only during rest and sleep. Therefore, be equally responsible for your training and rest. Stress is only beneficial when stress is followed by some relaxation. Therefore, in organizing my studies (as in everything else), I would advise you to study a little bit, but regularly over a long period of time. Be sure to rest. Don't force yourself. The brain will still begin to assimilate everything only during rest and sleep. Therefore, be equally responsible for your training and rest.
2. How to look for a job
Well, everything is simple. When looking for a job, your first goal is to get an interview. Most likely you will fail it. So do not think too much about where to get settled right away. To get started, you just need to get on social security. To do this, you need to do only 3 things until you are invited somewhere:
Write a resume.
Send out your resume to everyone.
Look at the feedback. If there are few answers, then most likely your resume is not attractive. Read about how to write a resume, how to apply for jobs, what cover letters to write. Go to step 1.
After you fail your first interview, praise yourself. This is a great achievement to master a certain layer of knowledge and pass an interview. It would be a big mistake to give up here. Of course, it's frustrating to get rejected. But everything is going according to plan, and you have become much closer to your work. Your next goal is to fail another interview. And then another one, and then another one ... And after each interview, draw conclusions. Take a look at your gaps and tighten them up. There is nowhere to hurry. The main thing is regularity and non-violence towards yourself. You are doing everything right. One day you will receive an offer. This is what you were going for. Your well-deserved offer. You are well done! When discussing the offer, feel free to ask questions. Ideally, make a list of questions ahead of time. Ask them to tell you how the workflow works. What tasks will you have to do. What, if you don't feel like working one day and you decide to take a break. What if you get sick. As with a vacation, can you leave for all 28 days at once, or is it not practiced. Will you have a mentor, etc. It is better to ask all questions at once and agree on everything on the shore than something will turn out to be an unpleasant surprise for you later. Remember, an interview is a mutual show. They need you as much as you need them.
3. How to get comfortable at work
Be yourself. Feel free to ask questions. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. If at first you don’t understand much, this is not a reason for stress. At first, it's not clear to everyone. You will start bringing real profit to the company somewhere in 6-12 months. All this time, immerse yourself in the process, study the product, continue your education. Note from the CodeGym team: at the moment, Anzor Karmov has decided to change the company he works for. However, he plans to further develop as a developer.
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