From the ring to the IT field - 1

Sergey is a professional boxer from Chisinau, whose life was radically changed by a sports injury. Once upon a time, he decided to share his success story, or rather, to relate how you can recover from a blow of fate and build a new career in a completely different field. We hope this story will be motivation for someone to not give up and to work harder for their dreams.

Record of sports victories

Sergey was a very capable high school student: he did very well in the hard sciences. He could think well and was good at solving logical problems. But times change and as he got older, he became very serious about sports: there were competitions, victories and defeats. He dreamed of becoming a professional fighter and making his living that way.

Some of Sergey's biggest achievements were taking third place at the World Combat Sambo Championships (Moscow, 2012), twice becoming his country's combat sambo champion, as well as many victories in international MMA and wrestling tournaments.

But life has its own plans, and one fine day the earth began to slowly crumble under his feet. Sergey suffered a series of defeats, injuries, and worst of all — medical prohibitions on competing, which put an end to his dreams.

A long period of introspection

At that time, competing was the only source of meaning in Sergey's life. Losing that, he lost myself. It took 3-4 years to recover. He went abroad and worked anywhere: at construction sites, as a dishwasher, as a janitor. Anywhere, just to earn money to get by and try to find a new purpose in life.

Depression, disaster, meaningless existence — these words describe this period. But it was also a period of searching for and discovering the new me.

A random life-changing encounter

One fine day in the winter of 2017, a chance meeting with a stranger in the gym was Sergey's first step towards a new life, for which he is grateful to him to this day. After his workout, Sergey invited Vasya (a friend) to give him a lift.

Sergey noticed that he had a cool car, even though he didn't look like a gangster — he looked too kind. He asked Vasya what he did for work. He explained that he worked in IT and told me a little bit about his job.

This is when Sergey remembered that he had done well in programming at the university. Assembler, C++ — he had even written a couple of applications. But that was a long time ago. In the intervening years, he had forgotten almost everything. Starting with C++ seemed too complicated.

Vasya recommended that he learn Java. Sergey thanked him for the suggestion and for a time he buried his impulse to move into IT. A month later he left again to work in London. Again, he worked at a construction site by day, and by at night — as a janitor at a banquet hall, a security guard at a dance club, and a dishwasher at a restaurant.

Learning begins

Over time, Sergey revisited the idea of becoming a programmer. He started searching online for websites to learn Java, and that's how he came across CodeGym. At the time, he was still skeptical of any online learning program, especially platforms that required payment. But CodeGym hooked him with its design and the funny, engaging storyline involving Amigo.

Sergey opted for a premium subscription and began working through level after level during long evenings after his other jobs and time at the gym. According to Sergey, these were the most enjoyable times of the day. He would look forward to the evenings when he would have free time to read material and solve problems.

He reached Level 21. To achieve this took from April 2017 to September 2017.

Internship and first job

Soon Sergey learned from friends and job websites that a company in Chisinau called Endava was recruiting for an internship. He decided to submit a resume. After three interviews, he was accepted for an internship. For 3 months, he studied intensely and worked on a team. Then Sergey and his fellow team members presented the project on the assigned topic.

After the internship ended, they made him an offer he couldn't refuse — a job!

Sergey has this to say about his company, "We have fast-paced work, an excellent team, excellent salaries, and lots of opportunities for professional growth.

In his first year in the developer position, he passed the OCA8 exam, continued to advance on CodeGym to Level 26, and subsequently completed the entire course. Like a real athlete, he has no plans to stop, and is doing everything to grow even more.

After all, programming is endless (but enjoyable) process of learning and growth.