"The most difficult thing in IT is finding that one place where you don't want to leave," — Ruslan Galiev on starting his career in IT

Ruslan Galiev, 24 years old, city — Almaty, Head of Backend Development at AO “Bereke Bank”, LinkedIn

About Me

I am involved in the development of the backend direction at Bereke and strive to spread my vision to a staff of more than 100 developers. I started my career as a fullstack developer, but later switched to frontend. When layout and playing with fonts bored me, I completely moved to backend and found my place there.

In more than five years in IT, I managed to work in startups, banks, and outstaff companies, creating projects for the oil industry, HR automation, FinTech, and other fields. I have seen how code becomes a product, and a product becomes a business. I have worked with different markets, such as Kazakhstan, Belarus, and the USA.

My philosophy is quality over speed. Each component of the product must work reliably and predictably, and development speed should be secondary to quality.

About My First Job in IT

My first job largely defined my career path. It was a startup engaged in creating a full-cycle HR platform. I got there through word of mouth, and for the first six months, I spent on an unpaid internship. The arrangement was simple: they gave me the opportunity to learn, and while learning, I tried to bring value.

It feels uncomfortable even now, remembering those tasks that could hang on the board for weeks and months. This was because I was far from IT. My colleagues spent a huge amount of time explaining to me what they were doing and, most importantly, why. All of them were true specialists in their field and, importantly, worked on a common cause.

It was at my first job that I laid a good architectural and engineering foundation, understood who a software developer is, and who the customers are.

Working with customers and clients especially influenced my development. Before each demo, we could test the system all night, quickly fixing errors. This brought us closer and gave a sense of belonging to something big and important.

Even after leaving the company, I continue to remember the old times and the lessons I managed to learn.

On Difficulties

The most difficult thing in IT is to find that very place from which you won’t want to leave in 5 or 10 years. Such a place is a concentration of all your standards and values. And sometimes it’s not always easy to understand this at first glance.

In my life, I have changed many workplaces: somewhere I left on my own, and somewhere external events forced me to leave. As a rule, if the decision to leave comes to you consciously — it means you and the employer are definitely not on the same path, and rebuilding your values for short-term gain is not a very good idea.

If you have to part ways for reasons beyond your control — it is always hard. I went through this twice. The first time after I joined “Alfa-Bank” — it was hit by sanctions. And the second time, I personally experienced what a recession and mass layoffs are like, where your personal drama becomes invisible among thousands and thousands of similar stories.

Each time I was left on the street with uncertainty in my heart. And there is nothing worse. In my case, both events happened before I had time to work for even half a year, and such “jumps” in the resume cause allergies among most HR specialists.

You are looking for a job and grab any more or less normal offer in the hope of weathering the storm under the roof, regain strength, and go back to sea.

For me, the roof under which I hid from the storm became a new home. Colleagues shared my values, no one interfered with work, and they were always open to initiative. My values found their home, and I stayed at AO “Bereke Bank”.

The main thing is not to stop. IT is constant search, development, and self-improvement. Those who learn and adapt will always find their place, unlike those who do nothing.

3 Tips to Help You Find a Job in IT

From all my experience, I can give three tips for those who want to start their journey in IT:

1. Focus on gaining quality experience, not on trendy employers and big money.
2. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Study how your colleagues work, and maybe their tasks will be closer to you.
3. Make, acknowledge, and learn from your mistakes. Only those who do nothing make no mistakes.

The most important thing is not to be afraid of change and constantly develop. Only then can you build a strong career and find your place.