Would you think it possible to try your hand in the real project, while still being a student? Or to work in one team with colleagues from Ukraine and Hungary and remotely to boot? Or add an interesting case to your portfolio? All of this is the reality for students in pre-production laboratory of EPAM University Program.
“We have always aimed to bring learning environment for EPAM University Program students as close to the realities of working on projects as possible. And, along with studying actual theory, to give as much practical experience as possible, thus breaking the vicious circle "no experience - no work, no work - no experience." Students are able develop necessary skills and build a portfolio directly in the learning process,” says Maxim Pachabut, Director, Resource Development Head, CEE.
One of the projects in which EPAM University program students can take part is the development of the Dog Hotel website. This resource helps dog owners to find a temporary home for their pet during their absence.
“This educational project is being done entirely by volunteers. Both the EPAM University Program students and their EPAM mentors participate in it on their own initiative, combining these activities with studies or work on main projects. But the responsibility is the most real. Indeed, except for the absence of a commercial component, the project is no different from many others - the same development cycle, analysis of customer requirements, search for optimal solutions, sprints, deadlines, teamwork and everything that the work of an IT specialist involves,” says Mariia Basiuk. Resource Development Administrator, project coordinator. “Students get acquainted with the life-cycle of the project, understand the distribution of roles in the team, learn to be responsible not only for their part of the work, but also for the overall result.”
Dog Hotel is not the only one charitable project in the EPAM’s portfolio. For example, there is also a work on the website of the Klitschko Foundation and a web resource to support homeless people.
What is special about Dog Hotel?
“This is a new experience in building an educational project - international cross-location teams,” says Maxim Pachabut. “After the active work on the integration of educational approaches in the CEE region had begun, our colleagues from Hungary, who are also trainees of EPAM educational programs, have joined the project. Students from both countries got multiple unique opportunities at once: they got to practice in distributed teams, work with fellow students from other countries, improve their spoken English in real time without cutting slack and switching to their native language.”
“Students devote several hours a day to work on the project. The line-up of the teams may vary, but all participants are in a single information field, hold daily Scrum meetings and communicate in Microsoft teams,” comments Mariia Basiuk on the organization of work on the project. “This is not a one-time cooperation, but a long-term partnership. The customer expresses their expectations, and the team proposes and implements solutions. Everything is like in real life.”
“Despite us working remotely, the team spirit on the project is very strong,” Anastasiia Serdiuk, the project’s Scrum-master, shares her impressions. “At first, when colleagues from Hungary joined the project, the language barrier made itself felt, the communication was a little bit restrained. But this did not last long, everyone grew accustomed and became friends, got into the spirit of each other's culture, even learned national holidays. An important role was played by the fact that students from Hungary were already more mature professionally, had more experience, and therefore, showed more initiative and were not afraid to take responsibility. Their example set new standards and benchmarks. And it should be noted that the guys from Ukraine very quickly catched up.”
“The project’s globalization entailed the need to promptly translate the admin part of the site from Russian to English,” recalls Anastasiia Kotliar, business analyst for the Dog Hotel project. “But our back-end developers made a huge leap forward and got a considerable amount of work done in just 2 weeks.”
What benefits received participants?
“Learning the technology is only half the battle while creating a product in a team is a challenge of a higher level,” notes Anastasiia Kotliar. “For that reason, such educational projects are very important for future juniors. They give students a holistic comprehension of the process, allow them to see the entire lifecycle of a project: the work of a business analyst, communication with a customer, writing requirements, development itself, testing. They help shape an understanding of procedures. Once the students move into production, they will be ready to work and will not waste time learning already familiar processes.”
Working in the Dog Hotel project team helps even accomplished specialists to broaden their professional horizons. “Working in a team, consisting mainly of juniors, was a new experience for me” says Anastasiia Serdiuk. “I improved my skills in finding a balance between giving the guys a chance to make decisions on their own and sharing tips on how to do it best.”
“While working as a QA engineer, I took an opportunity to try myself as a business analyst for Dog Hotel,” adds Anastasiia Kotliar. “I gave it a try... and created a bond with the project. It is quite possible that in the future I will grow in the direction of business analysis. "
The first release of the Dog Hotel website (doghotel.com.ua) came out in January 2020, and the next one in May. “We made our way towards the release for almost a year,” says Mariia Basiuk, “when the team saw the result of their work, it significantly increased motivation, reinforced by an understanding of the value that their work brings.”
