"Sooner or later, you will realize what your soul is drawn to and what your natural inclinations are," — Daniyar Toembayev on starting a career in IT

Daniyar Toembayev, city — Almaty, information technology, Head of IT Department, @dtoembaev

About Me

I was born in Semey. I spent most of my childhood in the town of Altai in the East Kazakhstan Region. In the seventh grade, I enrolled in the "BIL" school in Ust-Kamenogorsk. Later, I earned a bachelor's degree in "Computing Technology and Software" at SDU University.

During my school years, besides mathematics and English, I enjoyed computer science. When I was finishing the 11th grade, one of my teachers recommended that I pursue an IT specialty, as he believed it was the future. Today, I am a co-founder of the Choco holding and also work as the Head of the IT Department at the "Ryadom" project. "Ryadom" is a grocery delivery service that delivers products within 15 minutes.

About My First Job in IT

I started my professional career at the company UPITER Global Systems in Almaty when I was 20 years old. There, I worked as a programmer. Prior to that, I had a short stint as a web administrator at the publishing house BIKO.

I was involved in developing various systems, primarily websites. My responsibilities included development, writing technical specifications, and other documentation. I also frequently communicated with clients to identify their needs and business pain points. I found the company through HeadHunter. One of the reasons I chose this company was that I liked the manager and his friendly attitude toward me.

The interview process consisted of two stages. The first stage was an interview conducted by the company's manager. The second stage involved completing a test assignment. The test assignment entailed developing a website where users could take tests. To be honest, I don't remember the specific questions anymore, as it was a long time ago. The only question I do remember was about life goals.

My education and personal qualities helped me receive the job offer. At university, I learned to work with PHP, HTML, and JavaScript, which enabled me to complete the test assignment.

About Challenges

Of course, there were difficulties when searching for my first job in IT. In those years, working in a bank was considered prestigious. I also submitted my resume there but did not receive a response.

It is normal to receive rejections during the job search, especially for someone without professional experience in the field. After each interview, it is important to get any feedback from HR, even if they rejected you. Based on this feedback, you can try to improve your answers in subsequent interviews. For example: "I don't know how to do it yet, but if it is needed for the job, I will definitely learn."

There were many difficulties at the job itself, as the company was still young at that time. My range of responsibilities was broad: I was involved in writing technical documentation, interacting with clients, and researching their businesses to determine how we could help them by automating inefficient processes. After a few months, I was already leading a small team of developers and designers.

The IT field is quite vast. It is difficult to immediately determine what will suit you best. Rejections due to lack of experience can undermine self-confidence and cause feelings of disappointment.

3 Tips to Help You Find a Job in IT

First: Look for a job where there is a strong manager and a team that will help you grow quickly as a professional. When searching for a job, do not prioritize material benefits if possible.

Second: Improve your skills through internships and courses. Create a development plan. For HR, this is a bright indicator that the candidate knows what they want, where they are going, and how.

Third: Sooner or later, you will realize what exactly your heart is drawn to and what your natural inclination is. It is important to go through different stages to reach this understanding.