Where and how to grow talents?

Where do talented programmers live? How to grow them at home and what they should catch? Under the cat a detailed story by Parallels academic programs director Anton Dyaykin.


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- I would like to start with enough common things. Why do companies engage in educational projects? What affects their quality and scope?

- In fact, the business of any company is based on the right people. In the IT industry - this is especially noticeable. The quality of people determines the vector of development and the future of a company. Today, it is obvious that we are witnessing the greatest battle for the minds. And everyone wants to get into their ranks the best of the best. Parallels in this sense is no exception. Many high-tech companies implement their own educational initiatives in collaboration with universities. This can be realized in the form of basic departments, research laboratories, separate educational units or electives within the framework of the general educational program. Of course, this is a costly story, but today it’s almost impossible to get involved in the struggle for talent. Of course, the wider this work is put, the, unfortunately, lower conversion. For example, if we talk about Parallels, then we have our own basic department at MIPT. And despite the fact that, in general, this kind of work is considered not the most efficient, compared to other companies, we have a fairly high influx of talented young professionals. Now it is at the level of seventy-five percent of the number of graduates of the department. Given that the average figures for the industry - from five to twenty percent. This means that, having begun educational work with hundreds of students, only one-fifth can reach the finish line with you at best. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that such work with such an outcome as ours, significantly higher than the average level, requires considerable efforts and funds. For large companies, there are some solutions, for small companies - others. But I want to say the basic thing: you won’t get the best specialists if you don’t participate in their training at the university. And if you plan to do this, you need a dedicated person. Must be in an academic environment. Simply, if you are not there, it will be almost impossible to get through to talented young professionals.

- When you say that the format of the basic departments is inefficient, do you speak in principle of a similar educational model or of some of its elements?

- I meant primarily the financial component. The format of the basic departments is certainly effective in terms of results. But if we analyze the volume of expenses, then in figures it turns out that a passive search in the labor market for potential candidates in terms of money is cheaper. At the same time, it is still necessary to understand that their quality cannot be compared with specialists who have been raised in their own educational programs. If you prepare promising personnel to take into account the specifics and interests of your business, you will receive “piece specialists” who are ready to perform exactly your tasks, who are motivated to work for you, loyal to the company.



- How can you measure the effectiveness of educational projects? After what time can we say that this or that initiative was effective?

- The simplest is the number of graduates of your educational program who joined the company after graduation in a year. The higher the percentage of young professionals who come, the more effective your educational project. At the same time, we mean that this is the quality of people that are necessary for your business here and now.

- Are there any misfires? Cases when people prepared by you go to other companies, for example.

- If you are serious about your educational programs, then you know almost every student in person. So - misfire excluded. For example, in Parallels mentors are assigned to each student. They communicate with their students weekly, and sometimes every day. With this approach, it is impossible to miss random people. Of course, as time passes, a student may decide to build a career in another company or even move from IT to another industry. Programmers are creative people. This happens, and it is impossible to exclude such a scenario. Moreover, we, on our part, do not conclude any enslaving contracts with students. The basic principle of our academic programs is the highest internal motivation of students. If you like the atmosphere in which you study and work, if you are ready for ambitious tasks in the company of world-class professionals, you will be interested in us. If your priorities or ideas about the future have changed, we will not repair any obstacles for you.



- How do you feel about the opinion that the position “let them teach me” is still popular in Russia? This is a kind of passive attitude towards corporate education, when people expect that the necessary knowledge will be given to them without additional efforts.

- In my opinion, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of corporate training and academic programs. In the first case, we can talk about the development of employees already inside the company. In the case of academic programs, we are talking about the training of promising personnel from the student's bench. Of course, there are people here and there who are not ready to take a proactive stance. And this applies not only to learning, but also to life in general. At the same time, if you focus on the best of the best, they, of course, are focused on the result and have clear guidelines. Today, students of technical universities in IT departments, starting from the first or second year, basically understand what they want. From the third year - have an idea where they would like to work. By the fourth course to find a future graduate without a fixed place of work is extremely difficult. It's no secret that developers today are at a great price. A talented programmers even more so.

If we talk about Parallels, then we work with leading technical universities of the country. These include the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Moscow State Technical University, the Higher School of Economics, and the Moscow State University. These universities have the highest entrance requirements for applicants. They take the best of the best into their walls. And with these talented guys we are already doing our breeding work.



- How is a similar approach developed? Is your experience unique? How to replicate it?

- I do not think that we are doing something supernatural. I'll give you a simple example. MIPT is a unique university. In my opinion, it is perhaps the only educational platform in our country where the symbiosis of industry and education has been so successfully implemented. There are about 130 basic departments. Education in this university, conditionally, is divided into two parts. Basic university education in the first two courses, and then follows a highly specialized education in the framework of the existing basic departments. Other universities now only approach this model or are gradually moving in the same direction. MIPT in this sense is a trendsetter who has implemented a working perspective model in life. Just imagine - more than a hundred basic departments! These are more than a hundred enterprises that are interested in training young professionals who are ready to invest in vocational training and subsequently provide jobs. And we are talking about a very broad industry focus. Today, representatives of industrial enterprises, IT giants work in MIPT in the format of basic departments, and more recently bankers have arrived. Therefore, there are quite a few companies involved in the field of vocational training for young personnel; another thing is that they may have different approaches and tools. At present, the MIPT model is being actively implemented in various Russian universities. This opens up the whole range of opportunities for companies in different regions of the country.

When it comes to IT giants, no one has any questions about the costs and scope of their activities. But what to do if you are a representative of a small or medium-sized business and the training of young specialists from the student’s desk is insanely expensive for you? The answer is to cooperate. You can again refer to the experience of Parallels. For example, our basic department is the result of the joint work of the companies Parallels, Acronis and Virtuozzo. We have joined forces and jointly solve tasks in the field of educational initiatives, despite the fact that we have separate management, different projects and financing. Cooperation in the case when own budget is not enough - an excellent solution. At the same time, I repeat, one of the conditions for success is to have a person on staff who understands how to succeed and is fully responsible for this direction. When working with universities, fine-tuning of interaction, understanding of the specifics and nuances at the interface of business and education is needed. In addition, taking into account a certain inertia of educational standards and curricula, you need to work proactively to match the content of the educational process and research projects to the constantly changing demands of the industry.