My speciality

Generally speaking, choosing a career is one of the most important things in our life. The dynamic social and economic changes of the modern society define the main personal and professional qualities (with required qualifications) and skills of the young specialist. In our modern world, the industrial scene is changing so quickly that many workers with special skills find that these are no longer needed and that they must retrain for new job. So they have to adapt to new circumstances. Opinion polls of attitudes in Russia regularly demonstrate that the Russian are not always satisfied with their job.

I have taken my choice. I am a second-year-student of The Northern Arctic Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov. I am a student of Institute of Information & Space Technologies. My speciality is Informational Systems and Technology.

My typical University day starts at 8.20 am with 6 hours of classes divided by short breaks. Classes are followed by a «lunch hour» at which meals are provided. Classes finish around 4.05pm.

We have two terms in a year with about 10 days of holiday at New Year, 2 weeks in February, and about 10 weeks in the summer. So, it is not easy to be a student, I think.

I’d like to be a top specialist in the chosen field. I remember how IT specialists are sometimes shown on the movie or television screen. I’ve read much about them. I often think of Stephen Bryant’s words about the World Wide Web: «… it contains millions of pages and it is growing more quickly every day. It is likely that hundreds of new pages will be added while you are reading this chapter. No one can say exactly how big the Web is at any moment, but it is probably bigger today than any library on Earth. Almost anything you could want to know is on the Web – somewhere. But that’s the problem …». I am absolutely sure it is true.

I am convinced the most important qualities for a successful career in Information Technology industry are: having ambitions, working hard, being open to new ideas, knowing about computers, speaking foreign languages or having linguistic abilities, having a sense of humour, and others. Some of my friends are mouse-potatoes. Not me!

I think all the students of The Northern Arctic Federal University are motivated. There are some reasons for it! I mean the international reputation of NArFU and the creation of Space Monitoring Center of the Arctic in 2010. Multimillion ruble investments in NArFU are creating a lively environment in which to study and relax. We have access to a wide range of online resources. The Internet Center opens during the week so students can use IT and Computer facilities at time that suit their needs. All the students have access to e-mail and Internet facilities at the Internet Center.

Each department of our Institute provides a stimulating and supportive environment and has a wide range of teaching and learning resources dedicated to the students: course materials, video and CDROM collections. NArFU also has some fully equipped computer laboratories.

There are opportunities to learn abroad at universities in Norway, Sweden etc. So, there are many good reasons to learn English. To my mind it is really important now. It broadens the mind, we learn about other cultures and about other ways of thinking. Our English exams are not easy. We have speaking and translating parts. We have to do translation from English into Russian and then also comment on the text.

Learning English helps in talking to my international friends (I mean overseas students of NArFU), sending and receiving e-mails, reading instructions. Generally, it opens up much a wider range of sources of information. I think if I am going to work in a field where important events happen abroad, like IT industry, and I want to be up-to-date with progress in the chosen field, I have to translate the latest reports.