Developing a successful career in IT
Anastasiya Liavotskaya left her native Belarus a year ago and came to Lithuania with her husband to pursue a career in IT. She is now working as a test engineer at the Vilnius branch of Devbridge, a digital product and technology consultancy headquartered in the US. Her determination stems from the desire to improve. For several years, she has been doing so in the area that strongly attracted her...testing.
Lithuania offers excellent conditions for IT specialists to grow and improve. Here I found a mature professional community where I can proceed and gain valuable professional experience.
- Anastasiya Liavotskaya, Senior Test Engineer at Devbridge
Anastasiya aimed to avoid routine at work.
The testing specialist emphasizes that she discovered the field of technology completely by accident. Having tried many other areas before and disappointed with the work at the time, she realized it was time for a radical change. Since her husband had good friends who were well-established in the IT sector. They suggested that she train up and try her hand at testing.
"I had to overcome many difficult stages from interviews to long and difficult tasks. Finally, after a three-month intensive learning cycle, I began to take the first steps in testing. It was a phase that required a lot of effort and application, but I managed to succeed in everything. Of course, my husband's support and encouragement were very important at the beginning when entering into a completely new field,” Anastasiya recalls.
The tester, who joined Devbridge a year ago, is now convinced that everything looks very scary and complicated until you try it.
"The demand for good IT professionals is huge, and the growth opportunities in this area are limitless. I face a lot of challenges every day, but that's why I love my job. If someone allows me to choose between a constant routine at work and peace of mind or daily challenges, I would definitely choose the latter. The members of the Devbridge team are open to all professional initiatives, and it is especially fun to be able to constantly change, propose, and be at the epicenter of constant change. It is never boring here, which is why I liked the testing profession," says Anastasiya.
Helping grow the tester community
According to Anastasiya, the desire to improve is one of the most important aspects for those aspiring to work in testing, as working in a design company projects change with work constantly adapt to new requirements and technologies.
"I try to constantly emphasize that age, gender, and nationality are irrelevant in our field. Everyone can establish themselves, as long as there is a sincere desire to learn a lot. I started working in Lithuania during the height of the pandemic. Although it was very strange to start working remotely with a completely new team and only communicate with one another on a screen, I nevertheless understood how important it is to be among mature people who know their job well. I like that I can always look for new ways to do my job, not only making it better but also more interesting, looking at the same problem from different perspectives," says our testing professional.
Anastasiya is currently working together with a close community of more than 100 testers, distributed in the Lithuanian offices of Kaunas, Vilnius, and Klaipėda.
The IT specialist also makes daily work meaningful by sharing her experience with future testers at the free Sourcery Academy for Testers, a company initiative.
"I am glad that as soon as I started working, I became a mentor at this academy. This allowed me to share my experience with anyone with minimal knowledge who wants to test their strengths in the IT sector. It is also fun to encourage those who are determined to change their profession. I know very well what that means and how scary it is to take this step. I don't have a degree in IT but I managed to make my dream come true. Not only is it important for each tester to be able to properly solve the complex puzzles hidden in the software in the field of testing, but also the personal qualities of the person, such as perseverance and curiosity, are equally important. And everything else will be possible to achieve with hard but very interesting work,” Anastasiya added.
This article was originally featured on 15min.
