Success stories of our beets

After finishing school, I was faced with the question of a place to study, and I had no idea where I wanted to study and what I wanted to be. Without any stress, I passed the exams excellently and could enter most educational institutions. But which one? Most school graduates don't know what they want to be. I submitted online applications to three higher education institutions for several majors and responded to the first call. That's how I got into the Vinnytsia Institute of Trade and Economics of Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics, majoring in Economic Cybernetics. We even had such subjects as web design; we were taught programming languages Html and CSS and programming (C++). And I even understood these subjects, but then they could have been more interesting to me. In the first summer after graduating from school at 17, I was already looking for a part-time job because I wanted to be financially independent. That's how I got into the restaurant business. I learned quickly, my work turned out well, and most importantly, I was paid for it. First, I fried burgers. Then, while working in a coffee shop, I fell in love with coffee and worked in a bar and restaurant. But later, I burnt out at work. I realized that I did not want to dedicate my life to this. And it also was the time to think about graduating and looking for a profession. And here came the coronavirus pandemic. During the quarantine, I had a lot of free time. At first, I was confused, got bored, and started looking for something to do. I read books and attended free webinars and courses. I tried everything that interested me. But I liked UI/UX design the most, so I started looking for a way to learn design without the long thorny path. That's how I came across Beetroot Academy. But I waited for the offline course to start for several months. It was the first course after the pandemic's start and, as it turned out, the last one. On October 6, 2020, three days after my wedding, I opened a new page in my life. I had no particular expectations from studying because I started learning from scratch. Before beginning the course, I watched videos and listened to free webinars to learn more about the profession. I tried working in Figma and spent over a week designing the main landing screen. Now I do it in an hour and many times better. Therefore, everything was new and extremely interesting for me in the course. After graduation, I already had several works in my portfolio, and I even like my thesis - a website for an online auto parts store. Moreover, I already knew how to move on. I liked that the course was very friendly; everyone helped each other and suggested how to do this or that better. It was the first training that was really interesting to me, and I was completely immersed in the process. And I only regret that I enrolled in paid studies for a master's degree at the university instead of taking the course earlier. A few months on the course gave me more than five years of study at the university. One of the biggest advantages of the course was that the diploma defence took place in the presence of representatives from various IT companies. One of the famous companies in the city liked me, and I was immediately invited to an interview for the position of UX designer. There were several job interview stages, and I passed the first successfully. But at the technical interview, two Lead designers discovered several gaps in my knowledge. After a few days of thinking, they gave me the topics to study and promised that I might be invited for a second interview in a few months. At the same time, I was invited to another company, where I was offered to come and work immediately. I thought for a while and agreed, and I've been working at Five Systems Development for the third year as a UI/UX designer and have a trainee. In general, the employment process took me 2-3 months. It was exhilarating to pass the first interview, and I also had to communicate in English. In addition, I was hesitant about whether I should wait for a few months for a possible re-interview at a company that was better known and, as I thought, was better for me or whether I should respond to another offer and start working already. It is necessary to gain practice now, and we will see later.

Studying began 25 days before the full-scale war. Before the war, I was a private children's institution network director. I also participated in opening a sizeable private gymnasium, where children from the first to the seventh-grade study. I am a German and English philologist by education. I loved my job very much and, unfortunately, I could have been more mobile. I had to work 24/7, almost without weekends and holidays. The work was very energy-consuming, and in the end, I exhausted my internal resource. I wanted a change and chose to study UI/UX design. I wanted to be able to work remotely, travel and be financially independent. The IT profession would help me achieve my goals. I was advised to join the Beetroot Academy by a friend who had already graduated and successfully worked for over two years in one of the best IT companies in Ukraine. As I mentioned earlier, the studying coincided with the full-scale invasion of Russia. Like millions of other Ukrainians, I was forced to leave the city where I used to live. Studying helped me come through it for six months. What struck me the most was that even though my classmates and I were from completely different cities and parts of Ukraine, we were on the same wavelength. There was a lot of support from all sides. It was a tremendous support, I received a lot of friendly advice, and I had incredible people by my side; I am very grateful for all this. Of course, I also got the knowledge I needed, so I achieved my goal. Three weeks after graduating from Beetroot Academy, I received a freelance project. Employers found me on LinkedIn thanks to my graduation project, which many people liked and commented on. The reach of my post was almost 8 thousand users. When I started working, many moments were for the first time for me. I wrote to my teacher, got some support from her, and started working. I worked on this project for two months. The company that communicated with me liked my work, so after another two months, they offered me a full-time position. This company is called E-cents, their main office is located in Dubai, but I work with their office based in Germany.