Internship at Meta, Master's in Italy: Saadat Nursultan on Starting a Career in IT

Saadat Nursultan, city — Padua, Software Engineer, LinkedIn, Instagram

About Me

I was born and raised in Almaty. Before high school, I attended a gymnasium, and then I entered the Nazarbayev Intellectual School specializing in chemistry and biology. I graduated from high school with the "Altyng Belgı" award.

I received my bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Nazarbayev University. Even during my time at the gymnasium and the Nazarbayev Intellectual School, I enjoyed programming, and at university, I learned about the opportunities available to IT specialists: engineers from Google and Meta visited, and hackathons were held. I also joined the NU ACM Student Chapter, where I participated in internships and prepared for technical interviews alongside other students.

In the spring of 2020, I passed the selection process for a Google internship. Upon receiving the invitation letter, I was amazed, as the competition involved hundreds of thousands of candidates. Unfortunately, due to the closure of international borders caused by COVID-19, my plans had to be changed.

Determined to continue my path, I applied for a master's program in Europe and was accepted into the University of Padua in northern Italy. A key factor was receiving a scholarship from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI), which fully covered tuition and living expenses. During my master's studies, I successfully passed the selection process for a summer internship at Meta in 2022.

About My First Job in IT

I am grateful to the companies where I had the opportunity to work in Kazakhstan: Glotus, BTS Digital, and DAR. These companies operate in different sectors of the economy, and I held various positions: Android Developer, AI Sound Intern, and Frontend Developer. The most important thing for me is to create meaningful IT products that truly help people.

My first job after completing my master's degree was a position as a Software Engineer at the headquarters of UNOX in Italy, in the province of Padua. This is an international company specializing in the production of professional ovens for restaurants. I have been working there for over two years now. My responsibilities include system design and the development of cross-platform applications. Currently, I lead a team developing Data Driven Cooking, an application for viewing analytics and monitoring UNOX ovens in real time.

I found the company through Career Days, an event organized by the University of Padua. At this event, students learn about the skills in demand in the market and available career opportunities, while company representatives find potential candidates.

I liked the company because of how they conducted the technical interview: the task was at the level of a Big Tech company, and I was evaluated seriously. To obtain the Software Engineer role, I had to go through several stages: resume screening, technical interview, Observation Day, and an interview with the CEO. My resume stood out due to my experience at Meta, my projects, and my publication in a scientific journal. I prepared for the technical interview by solving algorithmic problems on LeetCode. My previous experience with similar interviews also helped. The most unusual stage for me was the Observation Day: I spent a whole workday with my potential colleagues, helped solve real product tasks, observed, and participated in pair programming. At this stage, teamwork was evaluated.

There is a term I learned during my internship at Meta: "target university." This is a university from which a company willingly accepts students because there are already graduates with high levels of knowledge and skills working there. For UNOX, this university became the University of Padua. Additionally, my internship experience at Meta greatly interested the head of the IT department. I was hired for the position even before finishing my master's degree. I believe that unconventional thinking and the ability to adapt to new conditions played an important role: programming a professional oven is quite different from what was taught at university or during internships.

About Difficulties

I was lucky that English is spoken at UNOX. Many foreign classmates faced difficulties in finding a job specifically due to the language barrier. In Italy, knowledge of the Italian language can play a key role in employment. For integration and effective communication with colleagues, the Italian language is simply necessary. During my time at the company, I improved my level of proficiency in the language.

Before working at UNOX, I applied to other companies. I often received rejections, and sometimes I didn't get any response at all. During such moments, my family and close friends helped me, supporting me and not letting me give up. After COVID-19, companies are less likely to sponsor visas and more likely to hire remotely, but I wanted to work with people in person.

The main difficulty for entry-level IT specialists is the lack of practical experience. Many employers want to see work experience on projects and the ability to work in a team, while beginners usually have only theoretical knowledge. Currently, there is high competition among candidates for junior positions, so it is important to be able to make your resume stand out. I worked as a mentor at Exponential, where we helped people create resumes and portfolios, overcome interview anxiety, and pass mock technical interviews. Practice makes candidates more confident and helps them better prepare for real tasks and interview formats.

3 Tips to Help You Find a Job in IT

1. If you lack work experience, do pet projects: create web or mobile applications, use in-demand technologies. Participate in open-source projects, sign up for hackathons, and look for internships — this will add experience to your resume and develop teamwork skills.
2. Learn how to pass interviews: practice algorithms and typical tasks. Prepare short stories using the STAR method about what you did during your studies, courses, or projects — this will come in handy during behavioral interviews.
3. Communicate: expand your network on LinkedIn, join Telegram chats for finding internships and jobs. Communicate with students, developers, ask questions, and look for mentors.

All three points have been tested in practice during my mentoring at Exponential. And most importantly: do not wait for ideal conditions — start acting now, even if it seems like you are not ready yet.