How a Kazakhstani woman without an IT education built a successful career in France

Arailym Pernebay, City — Paris, Data Engineer, Instagram, LinkedIn

About Me

I was born and raised in the small village of Turar Rysqulov in Southern Kazakhstan. In 2017, I graduated from Kuralai Secondary School and entered KazNU on a grant for the major "Marketing." During my studies, I participated in regional and republican marketing olympiads. In 2019, I passed all stages of selection and prepared to spend a semester in Italy, but due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, everything was canceled, and my studies continued remotely.

In my final year of undergraduate studies, I actively prepared for admission to a master's program in Europe. I submitted applications to several programs with full scholarships and received three grants: from Poland, Italy, and Hungary. In the end, I chose Hungary.

In 2021, I graduated from KazNU with honors and moved to the city of Győr, where I studied at Széchenyi István University in the field of "International Economics and Business." Over two years, I managed to participate in Erasmus and ESC programs, traveled, and gained valuable experience. Currently, I am continuing my studies in the Data Engineer program and working in Paris.

About my first job in IT

I entered the IT field quite pragmatically. I realized that marketing was not quite suited to my personality. During my undergraduate studies, I completed a short remote internship at the American company Alyssa A. Hogan Enterprise, and during my master's studies, I combined my studies with online practices at Hesperium Marketing and IFORTIS WORLDWIDE — a subsidiary of American Ruler Private Limited, where I worked in marketing and sales. This experience helped me understand that constant negotiations, presentations, and active communication were not quite my format.

I have always been closer to mathematics, macro- and microeconometrics, and statistics — everything related to numbers and logic. Therefore, I decided to develop in a direction where these skills are in demand. After my master's in Hungary, I moved to Nice, where I lived for almost two years. During this time, I actively developed my professional portfolio: I completed more than 40 projects, improved my programming skills by solving problems on LeetCode and HackerRank, and learned through YouTube tutorials and platforms like FreeCodeCamp.

Currently, I work at Believe — one of the leading international companies in the field of digital music and technology, which helps artists and labels develop in the online space. My role as a Data Engineer involves monitoring and managing data quality: every day we process millions of rows and solve tasks related to building data pipelines, optimization, and verifying their accuracy.

I found this and previous job opportunities through LinkedIn. I think the key role was played by the fact that I actively maintained my profile: I regularly published projects, certificates, and achievements. Over time, my account became not just a resume, but a full-fledged professional portfolio that really worked for me.

One important piece of advice I received from a colleague in IT: do not send resumes through websites, as ATS systems often filter them out before a recruiter sees them. It is better to write directly to company employees. I followed this advice and, in two and a half months, contacted approximately 164 specialists through LinkedIn and email, collecting contacts from open sources.

To expand my opportunities, I subscribed to LinkedIn Premium for a month and actively used filters and access to HR. As a result, out of 164 contacts, I received 12 interview invitations and two offers: from the French Ministry of Overseas Territories and from Believe for the Data Engineer position.

The choice was not easy, but I chose Believe. First, I am drawn to the modern, creative environment associated with digital technologies and the music industry. Second, it is an international company represented in more than 50 countries, where English is actively used. Since French is my fourth language, this factor helped me adapt more smoothly and feel comfortable in the new work environment.

The interview stages at different companies were roughly the same. Usually, it is a three-step process: first, a phone conversation, then an interview with HR, where education, experience, and personal qualities are discussed, and the final stage is a technical interview with the IT department manager, focusing on projects, skills, and tools.

I prepared carefully for every interview: I studied the company, its products, and current projects to understand the context and show interest. In interviews, I was most often asked about the tools and programming languages I work with, and asked to provide examples of projects where I applied them, as well as to talk about the results.

Usually, for the first technical question, I politely asked for permission to share my screen. For each interview, I prepared several of my own projects performed using technologies applied in the company. This allowed me not just to talk, but to show real results and explain technical tasks and solutions, which made a strong impression.

At the time of job hunting, I did not have a professional IT education, but I am confident that my academic and international experience played an important role. University taught me to work structurally, meet deadlines, take responsibility, and adapt quickly — and these qualities are valued in any field.

Moreover, during my studies, I participated in international Erasmus programs in Spain, Germany, Greece, and Serbia. The project topics were far from technology, but this experience developed flexible thinking, the ability to work in a multinational team, and respect for cultural differences.

In interviews, I always tried to talk not only about technical skills but also about qualities such as openness, willingness to cooperate, and a desire to learn. Companies value specialists who can not only write code but also integrate harmoniously into the team.

About difficulties

When I started looking for my first job in IT, I only spoke English. In France, of course, there are companies where all documentation is in English, but in everyday work, people still speak French — and it was precisely because of this that I was often rejected.

After six months, I realized that without French I would not get further, and I applied for a state program where foreigners can learn the language. I initially received a rejection, but four days before the course started, I received a call offering me a place.

The training lasted six months: for the first four months, I went from zero to B1 level, studying from morning to evening, and for another two months, I continued at the B2/C1 level. All this time, I simultaneously learned programming and worked on my projects. After the course, I was already speaking French fluently and successfully passed an interview at CCAS de Cagnes-sur-Mer, where I was accepted under the Service Civique program — a paid internship.

For six months, I helped the French with technical issues, and this experience further strengthened my language skills and confidence. As a result, over two years, I got exactly what I lacked to start my career: a language base, local experience, and a technical portfolio.

Of course, there were rejections — and for the first six months of job hunting, before the language course, I almost constantly faced only rejections. In six months, I received more than 800 rejection letters!

I am an optimist by nature and try to find the positive in this. After each rejection, I felt that I needed to move forward, because it seemed: one more step — and I would achieve my goal. But, of course, it is impossible to be strong and optimistic all the time.

Support from loved ones helped me, who believed in me even more than I did myself. Thanks to their belief, I did not lose motivation and continued to act until my efforts began to bear fruit.

Starting work in any company is always difficult: you need to understand the tools and build interaction with colleagues. In my case, I was lucky — the team is very friendly and always ready to help, so the main decision is simple: ask if something is unclear.

As for the main difficulty for beginners in IT — it is not about the lack of education. I have met people with several technical diplomas who still faced difficulties. The advice I was once given: if you have no experience — create it yourself through projects and show them.

3 tips that will help you find a job in IT

1. Projects are your strength. Create projects with different tools and technologies to demonstrate skills in practice.

2. Keep track. Monitor your steps, achievements, and job search process in Excel or Google Sheets — it is important to see your progress.

3. Keep going and stay open. Do not stop, look for opportunities and try new things — this helps a lot on the path to IT.