"We are looking for our future colleagues at universities," says the CTO of QazCode on preparing a new wave of IT specialists.

More than 30 third- and fourth-year students from Kazakhstani universities participated in the IT Olympiad QazCode Analytics Challenge. The goal of the Olympiad is to identify talented students who aspire to build their future careers in IT and to form a pool of young developers, analysts, and other specialists for QazCode — a leading Kazakhstani company specializing in artificial intelligence solutions.

Kuatbek Muratov, CTO of QazCode
We initially built our internal processes to ensure that new hires could onboard as quickly as possible, integrate into our workflow, and start demonstrating effective performance. Our company faces new challenges, and we understand that we will need talented individuals and future experts. By establishing an internal mechanism to recruit individuals at the very beginning of their careers, we decided to go further and consider those who are just finishing their studies, aiming to nurture them from their university days. 

The university Olympiad format is perhaps the most suitable for scouting future colleagues: the two stages of competition allow us to identify those who best understand work in the IT sector.

Abyl Aslaleev, Head of IT Product Analysis at QazCode
The first stage is theoretical: a test consisting of 30 questions to be completed within 45 minutes. We ask basic questions necessary for systems analysis. The second stage is practical — participants are given real-world tasks that we encounter in our daily work.

Like in school Olympiads, participants solved IT tasks individually here — without teamwork. After the first stage, students left the exam room with their laptops and discussed among themselves how difficult the theoretical questions had been.

Aidin Yesenzhanuly, student at KBTU
I am a third-year student at KBTU, and when I heard about this Olympiad, I decided to test my knowledge and skills in practice. Although this is my first experience participating in a systems analysis competition, I believe the questions were at the right level — just enough to check basic knowledge and understand whether we have chosen the right field of activity.

After the first round, the jury, consisting of lead and senior members of the QazCode team, selected the top 19 participants, who then proceeded to a two-hour practical session.

The session consisted of several parts. For example, participants had to analyze cases involving pizza and taxi orders, describe business processes — how customers interact with the application, and what scenarios might arise. Additionally, participants were asked to work with databases.

Kuatbek Muratov, CTO of QazCode
Eight years ago, our goal was to create an internal IT team dedicated to developing our own products. At this stage, that goal has been achieved: we have grown into an independent IT company that confidently develops its product solutions not only in the Kazakhstani market but also internationally. Therefore, it is so important for us to nurture our own talents. Through this Olympiad, we aim to gather motivated, talented, and challenge-ready individuals from all Kazakhstani universities and give them the opportunity to create a bright future for our company and, more broadly, the IT future of Kazakhstan, together with us.

During breaks between stages, students informally communicated with QazCode representatives, inquiring about career opportunities, products, and company solutions — specifically, the superapp Janymda and the first Kazakhstani language model, KazLLM. It was evident that creating relevant IT products for fellow countrymen is a dream shared by many participants.

Diana Bagonbay, student at the Kazakhstan-German University
I subscribed to QazCode’s Telegram channel and see that the company is actively developing its IT direction, hosting events, and attracting young specialists. To me, QazCode appears to be an attractive employer. Previously, I had not participated in such Olympiads — my major is not directly related to programming — but when the opportunity arose, I decided to try. Of course, I hope that our skills and knowledge will be properly recognized. And if I were able to pass and join the company, it would be a real stroke of luck, as this rarely happens without prior experience.

The Olympiad concluded with the awarding of winners: they received certificates, gift cards, and monetary prizes for the top three. Diana Bagonbay took first place and received an invitation for an internship at QazCode. According to the organizers, the company plans to hold similar competitions at least once a year among senior-year students in the future, to continue searching for talents for the domestic IT industry.