"Someone achieves success by losing, while someone else wins," — Mukhammadkarim Tukhtaboev on the beginning of his career in IT

Mukhammadkarim Tukhtaboyev, city — Tashkent, Lead of Microsoft Community in Uzbekistan, Microsoft MVP, Senior/Lead Software Engineer, @mukhammadkarim_tukhtaboyev

About Me

I am a Senior/Lead Software Engineer, a Microsoft MVP for 2023 in Uzbekistan, and the leader of the Microsoft Developer Community in Uzbekistan. I graduated from Tashkent University of Information Technologies in 2022 with a Bachelor's degree.

I started programming in 2013 thanks to my uncle Salohiddin and his son Nuriddin. They are software engineers like me. At that time, I participated in and won various programming competitions and school olympiads.

About My First IT Job

I started my career as a freelancer. At the age of 20, I began my professional career as a .NET developer at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan. There, together with Uzbek and international engineers, I contributed to the development of a platform that helps people in need of social protection. My responsibilities included solving problems that arose in the system. Additionally, I developed a special Telegram bot to facilitate the use of the system.

Employers tested my technical knowledge. At that time, I had sufficient knowledge and experience for this position. During the interview, I answered questions without any problems. After that, I was offered a part-time job because I was a student.

The interview stages included the following: an interview with HR representatives, a technical interview, and an interview with the department director.

I usually prepare for job interviews, but this time I didn't manage to. I was mostly asked about web application integration and security.

My higher education helped in the job search process. But when I started my career, my personal skills and qualifications were more useful.

About Difficulties

It is usually difficult for me to find a job, but I am skilled at networking. My first job was obtained thanks to these connections.

I failed many job interviews. However, I approach such processes with understanding. Experience can be gained in two different ways: some succeed by losing, while others succeed by winning.

When I do not pass a job interview, I draw lessons from it and fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Sometimes I get discouraged, especially if failures happen in a row, but I understand that this is useless. It is important to constantly work on yourself and draw lessons from every situation. I overcame difficulties by showing persistence and constantly working on myself.

Technical problems sometimes arise at work, but apart from that, I have not encountered other difficulties. I have always maintained good relationships with my colleagues. When technical questions arise, I turn to the team leader or look for answers on Google.

Beginners often face difficulties due to a lack of practical work experience. Usually, business owners do not trust commercial projects to juniors. Nevertheless, they can gain experience by participating in open-source projects.

3 Tips to Help You Find a Job in IT

1. Develop software skills

2. Study the English language

3. Gain experience working on open-source projects.