Julia Zavileyskaya is the Senior Vice President of Global HRM and Communications at DataArt Inc, a global technology consulting firm that specializes in custom software development. With over 20 years of experience in the tech industry, Zavileyskaya has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing companies in the sector. In this article, she shares her insights on the past year at DataArt and what the future holds for the company and its employees.
Over the past year, DataArt has faced a number of challenges and changes that have required the company to adapt. One of the major challenges has been managing the rapid growth of the company, which saw an increase of 61% in 2021. This has required DataArt to focus on how to hire and integrate new hires efficiently and maintain high levels of quality. In addition to this, the company has had to prioritize resilience, especially in the face of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the resulting disruption to work and personal lives.
According to Zavileyskaya, “In 2021 we grew by 61%, and we mostly thought of how to cope with the extremely high growth rate: how to hire fast, onboard and integrate all the newcomers effectively, and how to preserve the quality of delivery with such a high number of newcomers. All of that was, of course, relevant not only for us, but for most IT companies. If you remember, there was a huge deferred demand after two years of the pandemic. There was a sincere belief that everything needs to undergo a digital transformation, that brick and mortar are dead, that everybody will keep on working remotely, that all the goods will be delivered to the door.”
The culture of continuous learning at DataArt is an important aspect of the company’s strategy, as it helps employees stay current on the latest technologies and maintain a competitive edge. DataArt offers its employees access to external learning platforms, an internal library of books, and courses designed by experts. The “learning by doing” approach is emphasized, with most courses featuring practical assignments that are assessed by senior developers.
In terms of the skills and qualifications that engineers should focus on in the coming year, DataArt recommends staying current on the latest technologies and developing a strong foundation in core engineering principles. It is also important to be adaptable and open to learning new things, as well as being able to work effectively in diverse, cross-cultural teams. This is particularly relevant as the company continues to diversify its labor markets and hire in a more balanced way across different countries.
Looking to the future, Zavileyskaya notes that “For the next year, our main task is to continue diversification of our labor markets. In 2022, we entered several new countries. We are already hiring in a much more balanced way. In 2021, we hired the most in Russia and Ukraine. In 2022, we exited Russia. Now, candidates from all other countries where we work, from Kazakhstan to Uruguay, are represented equally. Hopefully, next year we will enter new parts of the world. It means that we will have to learn to work in teams that are even more culturally diverse. This is very interesting and challenging, but manageable.”
Overall, the past year has been a challenging one for DataArt, but the company has shown resilience and a commitment to continuous learning in the face of adversity. Looking forward, the focus will be on maintaining this resilience and adapting to the changing needs of the market, while also continuing to provide employees with opportunities to learn and grow.
