Blind internship at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art
Hi, my name is Daniil, I am 19 years old, I am a student of the State Specialized Institution of Education and Study Center №2 .
In the summer of 2018, I did an internship at the Information Technology Department, Information and Digital Technologies Department of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art , which I want to share with you now. This was my first real job. It was she, perhaps, who finally convinced me that I was doing the right thing, wanting to connect my life with the sphere of IT technologies.
The internship was not quite normal. The fact is that I have only 2% of view. I move around the city with a white cane, and I use my phone and computer with screen access programs. Who cares what it is, you can read here ( "Development at a speed of 450 words per minute" ) Well, yes, everything in order.
In the spring, I realized that I was not interested in spending the whole summer at the dacha and decided that it would be nice to go to work. Through my acquaintances, I learned that in the Garage Museum there would be an internship in their inclusive department. I signed with the organizer Galina: it turned out to be not exactly what I wanted, but on the whole it would also be interesting, and we agreed on an interview. According to its results, another girl was taken for this internship, and I was offered to work in the information technology department. Naturally, I happily agreed.
')
The internship was much more focused on training than on work, for me it was also a huge plus, since I only knew Microsoft Office and some Pascal. My main responsibility was to register applications from users into an Excel spreadsheet, distribute applications among employees of the information technology department, monitor their implementation and remind colleagues of the need to give users feedback and close the application. In short, a kind of service desk system. In my free time, when a flurry of applications fell, I studied. After completing the internship, I started working with HTML and CSS, mastered JavaScript at a basic level, learned what API, SPA and JSON is, got acquainted with NodeJS, Postman, GitHub, learned about Agile philosophy, Scrum, Kanban frameworks, started to learn Python using IDE Visual Studio Code.
The Department of Information and Digital Technologies consists of 3 divisions. The information technology department is all about infrastructure, workstations, telephony, network technologies and other traditional IT services. The department of digital technologies, in which the guys are engaged in multimedia installations, AR, VR, organizing conferences, online broadcasts, film screenings, etc. The development department, then colleagues are developing information systems for the back and front office.
I had a personal tutor from the IT department, Maxim, who at the beginning of the day gave what I needed to do. At the end of the day I wrote a report on the work done. At the end of the week there were meetings with the head of the department Alexander Vasiliev and the development of a plan for the next week.
I would like to especially note that the team has a very friendly atmosphere, everyone was always ready to help if there were any difficulties. If there were any questions, you could immediately turn to Alexander, since he sat a few meters away from me.
Photo: press service of the Museum of Contemporary Art "Garage"
I was not the only intern, Angelina worked with me, a first-year student at HSE who came for an internship after Alexander's lecture at the HSE from the basic department of information technologies in the field of culture. Since I also plan to enter this university, it was interesting to talk and learn more about him.
In the Garage Museum there is a cafe in which I was ordered free delicious dinners. Also, it was possible to take coffee or tea with sandwiches and various snacks. This is also a huge plus.
Photo: press service of the Museum of Contemporary Art "Garage"
Absolutely none. The first time, Maxim or Galina met me near the metro in the morning and saw off in the evening. After some time, I started walking by myself. Galina and I specifically chose this route so that later I could walk on it myself. At first I also asked to see me off the office, and when I became comfortable, I began to move on my own.
The most positive. I will be happy to go to the Garage internship this summer too.
For me, an internship at the Garage Museum is a great experience, interesting acquaintances and the development of important connections, without which, as you know, in our world is nowhere. At the end of the internship, I was given a letter of recommendation, which will certainly help me in my further employment and in entering the university. With Alexander, we also worked through my resume, reviewed a few vacancies for which I could qualify as a novice specialist.
In conclusion, I would like to say that many companies, unfortunately, are afraid to take people with disabilities into the staff. It seems to me in vain. I believe that if a person really wants to do something, he will do it, despite the difficulties that may arise. I know that now Garage is developing a course for the blind and visually impaired, who in one way or another want to work in the IT industry. The course will train the blind and visually impaired in pair programming with sighted developers. For me, this is a great success and I will be happy to take part in it.
My project, which I did as part of an internship, you can find on GitHub at the link
Daniel Zakharov.
In the summer of 2018, I did an internship at the Information Technology Department, Information and Digital Technologies Department of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art , which I want to share with you now. This was my first real job. It was she, perhaps, who finally convinced me that I was doing the right thing, wanting to connect my life with the sphere of IT technologies.
The internship was not quite normal. The fact is that I have only 2% of view. I move around the city with a white cane, and I use my phone and computer with screen access programs. Who cares what it is, you can read here ( "Development at a speed of 450 words per minute" ) Well, yes, everything in order.
How it all began?
In the spring, I realized that I was not interested in spending the whole summer at the dacha and decided that it would be nice to go to work. Through my acquaintances, I learned that in the Garage Museum there would be an internship in their inclusive department. I signed with the organizer Galina: it turned out to be not exactly what I wanted, but on the whole it would also be interesting, and we agreed on an interview. According to its results, another girl was taken for this internship, and I was offered to work in the information technology department. Naturally, I happily agreed.
')
What did I do there?
The internship was much more focused on training than on work, for me it was also a huge plus, since I only knew Microsoft Office and some Pascal. My main responsibility was to register applications from users into an Excel spreadsheet, distribute applications among employees of the information technology department, monitor their implementation and remind colleagues of the need to give users feedback and close the application. In short, a kind of service desk system. In my free time, when a flurry of applications fell, I studied. After completing the internship, I started working with HTML and CSS, mastered JavaScript at a basic level, learned what API, SPA and JSON is, got acquainted with NodeJS, Postman, GitHub, learned about Agile philosophy, Scrum, Kanban frameworks, started to learn Python using IDE Visual Studio Code.
How was everything organized?
The Department of Information and Digital Technologies consists of 3 divisions. The information technology department is all about infrastructure, workstations, telephony, network technologies and other traditional IT services. The department of digital technologies, in which the guys are engaged in multimedia installations, AR, VR, organizing conferences, online broadcasts, film screenings, etc. The development department, then colleagues are developing information systems for the back and front office.
I had a personal tutor from the IT department, Maxim, who at the beginning of the day gave what I needed to do. At the end of the day I wrote a report on the work done. At the end of the week there were meetings with the head of the department Alexander Vasiliev and the development of a plan for the next week.
I would like to especially note that the team has a very friendly atmosphere, everyone was always ready to help if there were any difficulties. If there were any questions, you could immediately turn to Alexander, since he sat a few meters away from me.
Photo: press service of the Museum of Contemporary Art "Garage"
I was not the only intern, Angelina worked with me, a first-year student at HSE who came for an internship after Alexander's lecture at the HSE from the basic department of information technologies in the field of culture. Since I also plan to enter this university, it was interesting to talk and learn more about him.
In the Garage Museum there is a cafe in which I was ordered free delicious dinners. Also, it was possible to take coffee or tea with sandwiches and various snacks. This is also a huge plus.
Photo: press service of the Museum of Contemporary Art "Garage"
Were there any difficulties with moving?
Absolutely none. The first time, Maxim or Galina met me near the metro in the morning and saw off in the evening. After some time, I started walking by myself. Galina and I specifically chose this route so that later I could walk on it myself. At first I also asked to see me off the office, and when I became comfortable, I began to move on my own.
What impressions did the internship leave?
The most positive. I will be happy to go to the Garage internship this summer too.
Results
For me, an internship at the Garage Museum is a great experience, interesting acquaintances and the development of important connections, without which, as you know, in our world is nowhere. At the end of the internship, I was given a letter of recommendation, which will certainly help me in my further employment and in entering the university. With Alexander, we also worked through my resume, reviewed a few vacancies for which I could qualify as a novice specialist.
In conclusion, I would like to say that many companies, unfortunately, are afraid to take people with disabilities into the staff. It seems to me in vain. I believe that if a person really wants to do something, he will do it, despite the difficulties that may arise. I know that now Garage is developing a course for the blind and visually impaired, who in one way or another want to work in the IT industry. The course will train the blind and visually impaired in pair programming with sighted developers. For me, this is a great success and I will be happy to take part in it.
My project, which I did as part of an internship, you can find on GitHub at the link
Daniel Zakharov.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/445638/
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