The secrets of successful learning from the leaders of the most popular directions

DevOps  

Let us face it, becoming a DevOps is not easy. This is the most intense and longest educational program at EPAM University. You need to know the development process and the operation of servers, understand all stages of the software life cycle, different development methodologies, and master many tools. Also, you should be able to build various cloud infrastructures and more. But then, when a large system is built, automated, and at the click of one button, thousands of processes are launched at once — somewhere in the world, one happy DevOps engineer smiles. It could be you. 😊 

Andrii Kostromytskyi, Head of DevOps, BA and Python Labs, says: it won’t be easy. Although, it will be interesting. Before starting DevOps training to facilitate further adaptation, do the following: 

1. Do anything yourself. For example, your website using HTML, PHP, Java, or Python. Try it — there are enough materials on how to do this on the internet. 
2. “Play” with networks. Set up a home network with multiple computers and a router. Check what worked and how. 
3. Get acquainted with cloud technologies. Since now 99.9% of everything is deployed in cloud infrastructures, this is a must. Use a free trial period to mount the server, save data, host your site in the cloud. 

One more tip — be a little childish: build, break, analyze what led to the failure, and... set it up again. Liked it? Feel free to sign up for a DevOps recruitment. 

FrontEnd  

Serhii Shcherbak, head of EPAM University in Lviv and coordinator of FrontEnd Lab Online, recommends those who are interested in IT to go through this checklist first: 

1. Read a lot. I recommend starting with W3schools.com and CodeWars.com! There are final solutions and the opportunity to work with tasks independently. There is others — free and systematic knowledge that will be your first step in getting ready. For general knowledge and understanding of what is happening in the industry monitor DOU, Medium, thematic communities on social media platforms. The main thing is that you receive dosed and pertinent information daily and thus make your vision. Even better is to read thematic literature in the original. Even on Amazon.com, you can find many electronic versions of textbooks. Yes, in English you will read slowly, but such thoughtful reading will not only improve the language but will also contribute to better assimilation of information. 
2. Search for people. Get the support of a mentor. You can find it on the corresponding free services, or your acquaintance IT specialist can become your mentor. Thanks to competent people you can shorten the path to the IT industry. 
3. Deal with the technical skill matrix. It is about what you need to know at the beginning and what you will have to master in the future. This way, you can plan how to do it. It can be educational online programs. Remember, any course is just a guide to action, an opportunity to familiarize yourself with topics and find auxiliary tools. 

Another important observation from Serhii. Candidates are often tempted to catch up on everything and ask several questions at once. This is very difficult. If you have a plan, it is better to stick to it and move consistently from simple to complex. Keep in mind that the process of immersion in a specialty can take from four to ten months, depending on the effort and time spent. 

.Net  

Yulia Kramar, a professional teacher and head of the .Net lab at EPAM, believes that the secret of success for beginners in any direction is in a flexible approach to learning. Therefore, she recommends the following: 

1. Be proactive. Do not stick to “from and to” in the knowledge that you are going to obtain. There will be starting points, but then you make your own route. Remember about the competition—it is very motivating.  
2. Do not be afraid if you do not know something. This ancient Socratic quotation, “The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” should not confuse you. There is what you already know and what you must learn. To do this, you need to look for people, resources that will give you the knowledge you need. 
3. Use Google. Do not wait for someone to come to you and tell you everything. Admit that there are things you do not know, but you can get them. This skill is appreciated both during training and after employment.  

Test Automation  

Every four seconds, a new digital product appears somewhere in the world. Testers are responsible for their quality, in particular, specialists in a relatively new direction—Test Automation. The direction is popular, so their number is growing every year. The head of the QA Lab, Olena Plokha, says that test automation engineers write code that will try to break the low-quality code in which the program is written. In fact, arrange a battle of codes! If you are interested in this area, carefully read Olena’s recommendations: 

1. Understand the theory of testing: which tests should be automated to cover the functionality of a particular program.  
2. Know programming languages. Basic knowledge of one of the object-oriented programming languages (for example, Java, C#) in which you will write program code.  
3. Know test frameworks (for example, Selenium). These are the tools that allow you to automate the actions of your web browser.  

Also, you might need the knowledge of SQL, an understanding of how to write queries to databases, understanding of Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery processes. All this you will learn in the lab. 

As you can see, the recommendations are different. They often depend on the direction (except for English, which everyone should know, without exception). But they have one thing in common: they are all about your ability to learn, relearn, search and process information. And not at all about whether you are a third-year student or a humanist, how old you are, or where you live. So, get ready and see you at EPAM University.