From the ring to the IT field

The story of how one athlete moved into a career in IT. May it become the inspiration for your further learning and maybe one day you’ll want to share your own story with us :) Hello, everyone! I want to share my success story, or rather to explain how this course changed my life. I hope my story will become a motivation for someone to not give up and to work harder for their dreams. After all, there was a time when I only dreamed of going to a job I love and using my brain to earn decent money... But first things first :) I was a very capable high school student: I did very well in the hard sciences. I was good at solving logical problems. My parents thought I would become some sort of professor :) But times change and as I got older, I became very serious about sports: there were competitions, victories, and defeats. I dreamed of becoming a professional fighter and making my living that way. Some of my biggest achievements were taking third place at the World Combat Sambo Championships (Moscow, 2012), twice becoming my country's combat sambo champion, as well as many victories in international MMA and wrestling tournaments.

Photo: https://netology.ru/blog/07-2019-kak-boec-stal-testirovshchikom

But life has its own plans, and one fine day the earth began to slowly crumble under my feet. I suffered a series of defeats, injuries, and worst of all — medical prohibitions on competing, which put an end to my dreams. At that time, competing was the only source of meaning in my life. Losing that, I lost myself. For several years, three or four to be more exact, I drifted aimlessly. I 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, to find meaning. Depression, disaster, meaningless existence — these words describe this period. But it was also a period of searching for and discovering the new me. It's just didn't immediately realize that. One fine day in the winter of 2017, a chance meeting (actually, I don't believe in chance) with a stranger in the gym was my first step towards a new life, for which I am grateful to him to this day. After a workout, Vasya, that was his name, offered to give me a ride — my house was on his way. I noticed that he had a cool car, even though he didn't look like a gangster — he looked too kind :) I asked him what he did for work. He explained that he worked in IT and told me a little bit about his job. I remembered that I had done well in programming at the university. I enrolled at the Polytechnic College but didn't finish my studies. Still, at the time I had a good understanding of programming in assembler and C++. I had even written a couple of applications. But that was a long time ago. In the intervening years, I had forgotten almost everything. Starting with C++ seemed too complicated for me. Vasya recommended that I learn Java. I thanked him for the suggestion and for a time I buried my impulse to move into IT. A month later I left again to work in London. Again, I 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. Slowly, I returned to the idea of becoming a programmer. I started searching online for websites to learn Java, and that's how I came across CodeGym. At the time, I was skeptical of any online learning program, especially platforms that required payment. But this course hooked me with its design and the funny, engaging storyline involving our friend Amigo. I opted for a premium subscription and began working through level after level during long evenings after my other jobs and time at the gym. Honestly, these were the most enjoyable times of the day. I would look forward to the evenings when I would have free time to read the material and solve problems. I really like the fact that the course has a huge number of practical tasks, which is helping my learning to go much faster. I reached Level 21. To do this, it took me from April 2017 to September 2017. Then I learned from acquaintances and websites that there was a company called Endava operating here in Chisinau (also known as Kishinev, the capital of Moldova, Eastern Europe — editor’s note) and that they were recruiting interns. I decided to submit a resume. After 3 interviews, I was accepted for an internship. For 3 months, I studied intensely and worked on a team. Then we presented our project on an assigned topic. After the internship ended, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse — a JOB! Now it's been a year since I started working at this company (as of January 2019 — editor’s note). Honestly, this is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. We have fast-paced work, an excellent team, excellent salaries, and lots of opportunities for professional growth. During this time, I passed the OCA8 exam, continued to advance on this Java course to Level 26, and I have no intention of stopping there. My near-term plans are to pass the OCP8 exam (I'm getting ready for it now), finish the course to the end, get an internship and, of course, make the greatest contribution to my company and continue to grow. Finally, I want to thank you all for taking the time to read my story to the end. May the new year bring you happiness, determination, and harmony. Go the distance!