Over the past 8 years, thousands of graduates have taken the JavaRush course. Today, more than 1.5 million users from 106 countries are registered on the project website. Not all graduates had time to talk about their successes: how they studied, passed interviews and started working as developers. But today’s students are interested in learning the stories of those who already work in IT. We took matters into our own hands and launched a special series about developers from different countries and companies who were trained in JavaRush. Our ninth story is about Madina Noren . She worked as an economist for many years, but she wanted to try herself in a different profession. At 43, she started learning Java and after a short time got a job as a junior at a Swedish bank. Madina wrote a post about her studies on the JavaRush forum , we were interested in her story, so we asked her to tell us in more detail about her studies and job search.
“It was boring, I wanted something different”
I am from Dagestan, the city of Makhachkala. She moved to Moscow in 2001 and lived there for some time. About 10 years ago I moved to Sweden for family reasons. I have a higher technical education (specialty “Information systems in economics”). My second specialty is a mix of information technology and economics. At the university we studied programming languages - Fortran, Turbo Pascal. But after training I didn’t write on them; now I don’t even remember what they look like. After graduating from university, I was supposed to have the skills of an economist and programmer. As a result, I got a job as an operator at the land committee. This served as an impetus for further development in the economy. I was offered a job in the field of economics, which seemed interesting to me and which I could not refuse out of pure curiosity. I worked in different positions, but I was bored and wanted something different. When I moved to Stockholm, I spent a long time looking for a job - I sent 20-30 resumes a day to different organizations for two years. Then I was lucky and got an internship at one of the largest banks in Sweden - it was something new for me, because I had never worked in a bank before. Due to the fact that the bank is large, it is possible to develop in different areas.
“I was immediately drawn to Java”
I discovered JavaRush when I was 43 years old. I thought that I could try programming and decided that I would learn Python, since it is easy and is used in many areas. I started looking for a site where I could learn, and came across JavaRush. I became interested, I solved the free problems, and then it got longer. First I bought a subscription for a month, then for a year. This was in October 2019. I think the JavaRush learning style suited me, which is why I became so interested in Java. I was immediately drawn in, not like a child, I didn’t sleep normally at first: I studied on the computer and on the phone, rode on the bus and gave lectures, sometimes I tried to write programs on the same bus, but it was inconvenient. As a result, I had to take control of my training, because I had to work during the day and sleep at night. I tried to set a limit for myself - not to turn on the computer after 21:00. My classes depended on my free time: I came in during working hours, when I had a free minute, and in the evenings, and on weekends. In just 3 months I reached level 13. Then they sent me a link to a Stanford course on Python. This course lasted 2 months and I decided not to get everything in my head, so I took a break from JavaRush. By the way, after this course I again realized that Java gives me more pleasure. Since November, unfortunately, I have not studied Java anymore due to lack of time. The new job took a lot of strength and energy. So I returned to learning this language. In November 2020, I reached level 28 on JavaRush. At that time, I was interested in a course on ethical hacking and also didn’t want to mix it with Java, so I took a break again. I haven't worked out since November. There was no one to ask about Java, but the comments on the site saved me - someone had already solved this problem before me and knew how to find the right solution.
“I never even dreamed of getting a job as a programmer”
By the time I got a job as a programmer, I had already worked at the bank for 5 years. One day I mentioned that I was learning Java. They remembered this and called me for an interview. I didn’t even dream of getting a job as a programmer; everything happened spontaneously. It was a victory for me just to be able to pass this interview. It’s great that my knowledge was positively assessed and I got a job as a junior. As a programmer, I will work at the bank on software that began to be implemented in 2013. This is a large platform that combines many tasks. We, the developers, make changes to the software to adjust the software to the needs of the bank. The bank has been working according to the agile system for several years now (flexible development methodology - ed.), we have several value streams (from English - value stream - ed.). There are about 150 people in my value stream, many developers who work with the program. The program itself is also divided into parts, and each part has its own developers. I got the job of feeding programs for various reports. Other divisions of the bank make their own calculations based on the data they receive from our program. I had to learn English because our bank is international and in the development sector there are many people from the Baltic countries, Great Britain, and India. We have all documentation in English. We use Swedish less than English. I have not encountered ageism in Sweden. Here, on the contrary, it is welcomed that a person has a store of knowledge. It is believed that if a person has worked in different areas, he has a broader vision of work processes. The first striking thing I noticed was that the Swedes are much more accepting of human errors. There will be no harsh punishments for mistakes, and there will be no condemnation either. But in general, I think this is not only the case in Sweden. It’s unlikely that people are being severely punished anywhere now. The Swedes are very friendly and tolerant. They meet you halfway, always encourage you and will never say that your language is bad.
Tips for a beginner developer:
It all depends on interest. I learned Java because it was very interesting to me. I think the JavaRush learning style suited me: a lot of practice, less theory. This method works for me.
Read posts on the site, comments. I found many useful links. There I saw a link to a book called “Code: The Secret Language of Computer Science” - an immersion book for beginners about how a computer works.
To not give up. At first, every day I thought that I was not smart at all. For example, for a long time I did not understand how cycles work. Understanding came thanks to the fact that I consistently solved problems on this topic.
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