Catching up with Alina, a Back-End Developer in Poland

Alina joined us to tell us a bit about life in iTech’s Engineering team in Poland.

Give us a brief introduction to you — what’s your role and how long have you been at iTech?

Hi, I’m Alina. I joined iTech one year ago as a Back-End Developer. I’m currently working in Poland, but I’m originally from Belarus.

What has been your career journey so far?

I have lots of relatives who are doctors — medicine runs in my family — and at school I took advanced courses in chemistry and biology, but in the final year I decided this wasn’t for me, and I began to study mathematics and physics by myself.

I graduated from Belarusian State University, with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. In my country, programming and everything around it is considered an exclusively male profession, with a lot of negative attitudes towards women in the sector, and so I was one of very few women in my faculty.

I worked hard and won a scholarship to cover my tuition costs, and I know of only one other girl who did the same. That was difficult in itself, and even more so as a woman in a very male-dominated environment!

What does day-to-day life in your role look like?

This may sound pretty routine, but I think many developers have a day that looks like this. I start by checking open pull requests in the morning (this is a good use of time as my timezone is ahead of a lot of my team and it saves time during the day and allows me not to switch context). I respond to emails and messages in different chats. Then my team always has a stand-up where we share progress and discuss current issues. Then the day can be very different. Sometimes I spend almost every day in meetings: planning, discussing and reflecting on the latest results, and sometimes I have almost a free day to write code.

What has been your biggest learning at iTech?

Even when things are changing quickly — and they do here, as we work across some of the most competitive industries in the world — addressing any problems in time is the key to getting good results. Here at iTech, we can always ask for help and there’s no shame in it, it’s a learning opportunity.

What is something people don’t know about you?

I hate shopping and I don’t like cooking (I do like to eat delicious food though!).

If you could give one piece of advice to someone joining iTech, what would it be?

If you don’t like something or want to change something, talk about it! Our culture supports speaking openly and values opinions from everyone in the business.

What the best prank you’ve ever pulled?

I have a twin sister, we are very similar. At school, we studied in different classes and sometimes switched places to write a test for each other. None of the teachers knew about it!

Tell us your job only using only emojis

👩☕💻☕☕☕💻✨💻🌟

Interested in a career in Engineering in Poland at iTech? You can find out more and check out our open roles here.