Andrey Litvin, head of the team of educational content developers in computer science Think24, candidate
Myth No. 1
For a successful career in IT, higher education is not necessary or even harmful
IT is a whole universe.There are a huge number of professions with different competencies. Undoubtedly, there are very simple and even mechanical tasks for which higher education is not needed, which even yesterday’s schoolboy can perform. If we are talking about IT of a creative nature, about creating a complex product or software, this requires enormous knowledge and experience. Often, even a graduate of a good university who comes to work needs a lot of time to adapt and upgrade his knowledge. Technologies are constantly evolving, so you need to immediately prepare for the fact that you will have to learn constantly.
Myth #2
You can learn programming in courses
For a programmer, first of all, it is important to getpractical experience and find like-minded people and mentors. Many startups began at university with classmates. Therefore, it is better to give preference to universities that cooperate with large IT companies, create joint programs, and attract practitioners to teach. Students get the opportunity to intern, do projects and write a thesis using real cases, and then get a job in their dream company. Not all online courses can actually provide this.
However, you will have to try hard to choose a university.Study the site carefully, go to an open day, chat with graduates and students. Or approach the problem from the other side and immediately look for targeted programs on the websites of large IT companies. Large companies also offer courses and programs for schoolchildren and students - it will be useful to study their websites.
Myth #3
It is enough to buy a computer — the child will learn everything himself if he is interested
Despite the fact that modern schools oftenWell equipped and trying to keep up with the times, there are a number of problems. For example, the main exams of the OGE and the Unified State Exam in computer science are focused on mathematics and theory, and not on the applied part and project activities. School assignments have little to do with the development of assignments.
You can’t raise a good developer without practice,Therefore, while still at school, it is worth thinking about additional education. Now there are many free options: IT cubes or quantoriums — These are full-time courses that are common in the regions.
There are also plenty of free online courses, for example, javarush, Stepik and the like, where you can learn programming languages online.
However, it is impossible to master programming without a mentorvery hard. These are isolated cases when a child was able to learn something from a book or video lessons; this really requires talent and predisposition. You can meet your “guru” at training schools and courses.
Thus, it is still worth consideringclassical educational trajectory and look for a mentor. With proper and timely planning of an educational track, a student who simply likes computer science or mathematics can be turned into a top-level specialist. To do this, you need to undergo career guidance in grades 8-9 to ensure the accuracy of the decision made and pay attention to a few tips.
Tip No. 1: don’t focus only on the Unified State Exam.
You definitely need to prepare, and it’s better to start doing this already in the 10th grade. Do not limit yourself only to solving standard tasks, but immediately look for other ways to apply and upgrade your knowledge.
The strategy could be like this:in the 10th grade, approximately determine for yourself one or more priority universities and carefully monitor the events and competitions from these universities, this will give an important bonus upon admission. Almost every good university has competitions that allow you to enter without exams or on preferential terms.
In addition to the events from universities, there are many moreOlympiads: regional Olympiads, ROSH and VSOSH. Yes, it is not easy to participate and win in them. But it’s definitely worth trying, because it’s at least more interesting than stupidly solving the Unified State Exam.
Tip #2: start making your own projects.
There are a lot of different events taking place in our country.IT conferences with the participation of schoolchildren. The top one is probably “Great Challenges”. It takes place every year in July in Sochi at the Sirius Center. With a great project you can easily reach the final without spending a penny. If the project is of interest to investors, then you can count on a budget for the implementation of the idea. And this will be a great boost to your career! Everyone who passes the “Great Challenges” automatically ends up in the register of gifted children in Russia. The best universities in the country monitor this register and invite children to budget places; in this case, the Unified State Exam result becomes completely secondary.
Tip #3: Build Useful IT Skills
The demand for IT specialists is now veryhigh. There is a shortage of high-quality personnel, there is a real hunt for them, so you should not limit yourself only to the school curriculum and the Unified State Examination - a strong specialist does not stop learning and developing.
- Mathematics.
A good programmer must definitely be a good mathematician. And this is precisely university-level knowledge, not school knowledge.
- English language.
There are a lot of books on programmingRussified, many companies are international and require a high level of language from employees. A good knowledge of both spoken and technical language will be useful. Although there is an old joke among developers that almost all English is taken from C++.
- Soft skills.
For those who plan to grow in the profession or engage in their own projects, the ability to protect your idea and organize work on it becomes critically necessary.
- Creativity.
It will be useful for future startups - often a business takes off precisely because of a cool idea, and at the initial stage you have to do everything yourself: creativity, development, design and even promotion.
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