It’s a Match! Mentorship guidance and persistence

Life is a captivating journey filled with aspirations, unforeseen challenges, and moments of triumph. One of the most challenging parts of starting a new journey is believing in yourself and that you can accomplish great things.

Alina Cuznetov is currently working as a Frontend developer for Sofatutor.

Alina Cuznetov made the leap into the tech world after completing her Bachelor’s degree in International Business from the Berlin University of Technology and Economics and having started her professional career. Despite her background in International Business, she was drawn to web development and decided to fully commit to this new goal.

Embarking on a career change meant starting from scratch, which was not an easy decision to make. Alina decided to stop working and dedicate herself to training and attending a technical school full-time. She mentioned that having a goal and working towards it helped her make this change. Alina set her sights on becoming a frontend developer for the company Sofatutor.

Her dedication led her to participate in the HTML System course offered by ReDI School over the course of a year. The course was held in person and provided a refreshing change, in contrast to all the online work she had been doing through her online tech school. The in-person experience allowed her to engage directly with teachers and students, ask questions, and build deeper connections.

Talking about her experience at ReDI School, she praised the well-structured courses for further enhancing her learning experience.

“It met my expectations and more. It is a friendly environment, and it’s very well organized.”  

One significant connection was with her mentor, Amjad Oudeh, through ReDI School’s mentorship program. Amjad is a former ReDI School Student who now works for SoundCloud.

“The mentorship experience was truly helpful. My mentor helped me believe in my abilities and how to highlight them during the interview-ing process. Additionally, he helped me out with many other aspects of job search. Besides having a great mentor, I also gained a good friend who is always willing to help!” 

In her mentorship, she was guided through the process of preparing for interviews and helped with her LinkedIn profile, CV, website, and more.

With her newly gained skills and experience, Alina obtained two internships. However, finding job opportunities proved to be difficult. 

“It was very difficult because the market was not that great at the time. I started looking for a job in September/December of last year [2023], and nobody was really hiring. Also, companies don’t hire juniors that often. It was pretty frustrating, and it took me five months.”

Despite these hurdles, she remained persistent, utilizing all available resources and maintaining her focus on her goal.

Alina’s persistence proved to be beneficial when after five months of searching, she applied and got her dream position as a frontend developer at Sofatutor.

Talking about her job, she says, “It’s perfect, actually. I’ve been following this company for over a year, and when they opened the position, I applied and got in.”

Looking at Alina’s timeline, from starting the courses full time to doing ReDI School and getting the job, it’s important to note how it took Alina a few months, five to be precise, to get the position. She didn’t get the job as soon as she completed the intense tech and ReDI courses. She had been following the company for over a year and had to watch carefully, seeing when they had a position open that she could fulfill. She was actively working on improving her skills and abilities. 

The saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” resonates with this. It can be implied to other people on their journey that reaching the destination or the end goal may take some time, and that’s okay. No two paths are the same, but it’s important to remember and renew one’s intentions and motivations from the beginning, including the confidence and belief in oneself mentioned at the start of the journey.

It is a human experience to gain personal growth and gain discovery when facing various challenges and obstacles. Throughout this whole process, Alina gained insight into herself. 

“I learned that I get desperate very easily. I should just keep going and doing what I’m doing, and at some point, it’s going to work out, and I should not give in to desperation so fast.”

Alina encourages “Have faith and believe in yourself. Everything is going to work out.”