Career or science: why at ITMO University you do not need to choose one thing
At first glance, few people can afford to learn and at the same time work. Especially in high school with high requirements for students, serious competitive selection, complex disciplines, which need to be devoted a lot of time. On the other hand, any study should carry some practical value - the student should be able to become an expert in the chosen field, an entrepreneur or a scientist. Today we will tell how the “career or science” dilemma is solved at ITMO University.
Photo of Hernán Piñera CC-BY
Businesses - both in Russia and abroad - are interested in cooperation with universities: after all, most of the employees of large technology companies themselves were once students and understand that new employees come into business from the university. The companies and universities have a lot of interaction formats, but summer and pre-diploma practices remain one of the most popular.
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In practice, there is nothing new: they are in almost every university. The problem is that very often such events turn into a formality and are perceived by the students themselves as a “socially useful practice”, which does not bring any knowledge, skills and valuable contacts (and even more so it does not become a “step towards real work”).
This is primarily due to the fact that there is a significant gap between students' ideas about the future position and what this position actually represents. Most companies refuse to young professionals due to lack of experience, and not from a lack of theoretical knowledge.
That is why the main task of summer or pre-diploma practice is not to spoil the summer for the student, and not to load it with incomprehensible tasks, but to try to minimize the gap between expectation and reality. Ideally - to give the most adequate idea of ​​what will be the work in a given position and the opportunity to get a proposal for the first job.
At ITMO University, Alfa-Bank, Ilim Group, Sberbank, etc. set up summer internships and internships. For example, Delovye Linii, a transportation and logistics company that delivers groupage cargoes in Russia and neighboring countries , is actively recruiting interns and trainees in the following areas: IT, marketing, logistics, personnel management.
According to the results of the job-offer, about 60% of trainees receive for various positions. Most of them, while still students, become employees of companies and try to apply their skills when writing diploma and master's theses.
There are many examples of successful combination of work and study. One of them is the history of Timofey Ovsyannikov (ITIP faculty), who at the 3rd bachelor’s course came to summer practice at Ilim Group and became an employee of the IT department. Now he successfully combines studies in a magistracy and work, and now, as an employee of the company, he himself attracts and searches for interns for summer practice and internships.
By the way, they earn such young professionals well. According to the ranking of technical universities in 2017, which was conducted by SuperJob, ITMO University is one of the three leaders in terms of wages of young professionals employed in the IT industry who graduated from university 1-5 years ago. The average salary of a graduate is about 100 thousand rubles. It may seem overpriced to most recruiters, but graduates of the ITMO University can really apply for it.
One of the reasons for the high salary is the fact that by the time of graduation from the University a young specialist already has work experience: 60% of students begin their working career in the second or third year of undergraduate education. And by the end of training 65% of all graduates are employed.
However, practice is not the only option to start earning more while studying. Some students choose a career as an entrepreneur, especially since a business can often be built “around” an educational project or laboratory development.
Additional assistance in the process is provided by university structures aimed at supporting innovation - business acceleration programs, business incubators and the Technopark of the ITMO University. For example, employees and students of the Department of Laser Technologies and Systems developed the technology of laser coloring of metals “Colorit” (the team of scientists was able to simplify and automate the process of color laser marking).
Subsequently, the development turned into the creation of a small innovative enterprise LLC “ Prokolit ”. The team received a grant for the development of the project in the amount of 2 million rubles and is now actively improving its technology and increasing sales.
Another example of educational development that has grown into a business is the project of Alena Nikolaeva, a participant in the Future Technologies program, which is being run by the University's business incubator. The project is associated with the creation of kits for environmentally friendly cultivation of mushrooms (the technology is suitable for both home cultivation and for use in industry).
The essence of the idea is to use coffee grounds as a raw material for cultivation, which is ejected daily by thousands of coffee shops and restaurants throughout St. Petersburg (scientists process coffee grounds and add oyster mushroom mycelium to the resulting substrate). Currently, the project team is engaged in putting mushroom mini-farms on stream.
It would seem, what could be more ungrateful business than doing science? Foggy prospects and paperwork - all this with a minimum of income and limited free time. However, this is just one side of the coin. Young scientists find many advantages in “academic work”: there is not much routine in it, a free schedule, there is an opportunity (and even a necessity) to take training programs and participate in scientific conferences in Russia and abroad.
Today, the career of a young scientist at ITMO University is quite comparable in terms of material incentives to work in business, but requires complete dedication from a scientist. The result: an opportunity to achieve significant results in the chosen field, and at the same time to see the world, make interesting acquaintances, take part in competitions and grants, become the laureate of the Prize of the Government and the President of the Russian Federation.
The career of a young scientist begins with admission to graduate school: ITMO University has 41 research laboratories, more than 15 international double degree programs and almost 300 budget places. Most graduate students combine graduate studies with work outside the University, but in areas as close as possible to their scientific interests.
By the way, admission is equally available not only for graduates of the University, but also for students from other universities in Russia and abroad - this is followed by the postgraduate education department. The university supports young scientists, they have the opportunity to take part in double degree programs and in parallel with the degree of candidate of science to get a European PhD diploma.
Graduate students and young scientists of ITMO University are participating in a number of ambitious projects, many of which have already been awarded prizes of the Government of the Russian Federation , the Foundation for Assistance to the Development of Small Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere, became finalists of the federal industrial accelerator GenS and other competitions . For example, in September, the Smart City project was presented at the International Innovation Forum to the Governor of St. Petersburg G. Poltavchenko. Undergraduates and postgraduates of ITMO University took an active part in its development. The status of a young scientist does not mean lack of money and the lack of prospects - this is a real alternative to own business and a career in corporations.
Photo of Hernán Piñera CC-BYThe first step in the profession - practice
Businesses - both in Russia and abroad - are interested in cooperation with universities: after all, most of the employees of large technology companies themselves were once students and understand that new employees come into business from the university. The companies and universities have a lot of interaction formats, but summer and pre-diploma practices remain one of the most popular.
')
In practice, there is nothing new: they are in almost every university. The problem is that very often such events turn into a formality and are perceived by the students themselves as a “socially useful practice”, which does not bring any knowledge, skills and valuable contacts (and even more so it does not become a “step towards real work”).
This is primarily due to the fact that there is a significant gap between students' ideas about the future position and what this position actually represents. Most companies refuse to young professionals due to lack of experience, and not from a lack of theoretical knowledge.
That is why the main task of summer or pre-diploma practice is not to spoil the summer for the student, and not to load it with incomprehensible tasks, but to try to minimize the gap between expectation and reality. Ideally - to give the most adequate idea of ​​what will be the work in a given position and the opportunity to get a proposal for the first job.
At ITMO University, Alfa-Bank, Ilim Group, Sberbank, etc. set up summer internships and internships. For example, Delovye Linii, a transportation and logistics company that delivers groupage cargoes in Russia and neighboring countries , is actively recruiting interns and trainees in the following areas: IT, marketing, logistics, personnel management.
“Now we have such a principle in the company: everything that is not automated needs to be automated. Therefore, we have a very strong staff of our IT-specialists, and we are committed to the development in the format of digital-communication both with our client and with our internal employees. We have developed a website, chat bots, instant messengers, and applications. Therefore, we are interested in enabling young specialists to undertake educational practice so that they can join our team in the future, ”
- says Julia Erofeyeva, recruitment manager in the field of marketing.
According to the results of the job-offer, about 60% of trainees receive for various positions. Most of them, while still students, become employees of companies and try to apply their skills when writing diploma and master's theses.
There are many examples of successful combination of work and study. One of them is the history of Timofey Ovsyannikov (ITIP faculty), who at the 3rd bachelor’s course came to summer practice at Ilim Group and became an employee of the IT department. Now he successfully combines studies in a magistracy and work, and now, as an employee of the company, he himself attracts and searches for interns for summer practice and internships.
By the way, they earn such young professionals well. According to the ranking of technical universities in 2017, which was conducted by SuperJob, ITMO University is one of the three leaders in terms of wages of young professionals employed in the IT industry who graduated from university 1-5 years ago. The average salary of a graduate is about 100 thousand rubles. It may seem overpriced to most recruiters, but graduates of the ITMO University can really apply for it.
One of the reasons for the high salary is the fact that by the time of graduation from the University a young specialist already has work experience: 60% of students begin their working career in the second or third year of undergraduate education. And by the end of training 65% of all graduates are employed.
Own business on the basis of a research project
However, practice is not the only option to start earning more while studying. Some students choose a career as an entrepreneur, especially since a business can often be built “around” an educational project or laboratory development.
Additional assistance in the process is provided by university structures aimed at supporting innovation - business acceleration programs, business incubators and the Technopark of the ITMO University. For example, employees and students of the Department of Laser Technologies and Systems developed the technology of laser coloring of metals “Colorit” (the team of scientists was able to simplify and automate the process of color laser marking).
Subsequently, the development turned into the creation of a small innovative enterprise LLC “ Prokolit ”. The team received a grant for the development of the project in the amount of 2 million rubles and is now actively improving its technology and increasing sales.
Another example of educational development that has grown into a business is the project of Alena Nikolaeva, a participant in the Future Technologies program, which is being run by the University's business incubator. The project is associated with the creation of kits for environmentally friendly cultivation of mushrooms (the technology is suitable for both home cultivation and for use in industry).
The essence of the idea is to use coffee grounds as a raw material for cultivation, which is ejected daily by thousands of coffee shops and restaurants throughout St. Petersburg (scientists process coffee grounds and add oyster mushroom mycelium to the resulting substrate). Currently, the project team is engaged in putting mushroom mini-farms on stream.
Career in science
It would seem, what could be more ungrateful business than doing science? Foggy prospects and paperwork - all this with a minimum of income and limited free time. However, this is just one side of the coin. Young scientists find many advantages in “academic work”: there is not much routine in it, a free schedule, there is an opportunity (and even a necessity) to take training programs and participate in scientific conferences in Russia and abroad.
Today, the career of a young scientist at ITMO University is quite comparable in terms of material incentives to work in business, but requires complete dedication from a scientist. The result: an opportunity to achieve significant results in the chosen field, and at the same time to see the world, make interesting acquaintances, take part in competitions and grants, become the laureate of the Prize of the Government and the President of the Russian Federation.
The career of a young scientist begins with admission to graduate school: ITMO University has 41 research laboratories, more than 15 international double degree programs and almost 300 budget places. Most graduate students combine graduate studies with work outside the University, but in areas as close as possible to their scientific interests.
By the way, admission is equally available not only for graduates of the University, but also for students from other universities in Russia and abroad - this is followed by the postgraduate education department. The university supports young scientists, they have the opportunity to take part in double degree programs and in parallel with the degree of candidate of science to get a European PhD diploma.
Graduate students and young scientists of ITMO University are participating in a number of ambitious projects, many of which have already been awarded prizes of the Government of the Russian Federation , the Foundation for Assistance to the Development of Small Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere, became finalists of the federal industrial accelerator GenS and other competitions . For example, in September, the Smart City project was presented at the International Innovation Forum to the Governor of St. Petersburg G. Poltavchenko. Undergraduates and postgraduates of ITMO University took an active part in its development. The status of a young scientist does not mean lack of money and the lack of prospects - this is a real alternative to own business and a career in corporations.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/342688/
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