From passion to mastery: insights from our senior software developer

In this interview, we spoke with our Senior Software Developer and Project Manager, Alexander Zhuravok, about his role in the company, his professional development, his recent achievement of becoming an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) 2024 Generative AI Professional, and his plans for the future.

What is your role in the company, and what are your key responsibilities? What value does your position bring to the company and clients?

I’m a Senior Software Developer and a Project Manager at EffectiveSoft. My primary responsibility is creating reliable and robust applications for our clients. I apply my experience and knowledge to find optimal and effective solutions for our clients, while helping them to overcome any challenges.

Why is it important to constantly develop as a professional? How do you maintain and enhance your expertise?

To learn new technologies and approaches is not just a necessity for me—it’s a passion. I see them not only in their utilitarian aspect, as tools, but also as works of art, immortalizing the beauty of engineering thought. Apart from applying these tools and approaches, I find it captivating and inspiring to participate in their creation and development.

To stay current, I follow news in the fields of IT and science. This helps me track trends and predict the direction of our industry. Thus, I can start learning tools that will become relevant in the near future.

How do you keep abreast of the latest advancements in AI and technology?

It’s not difficult to follow news in this area—it is everywhere! However, while there is an abundance of high-level information, it can be a challenge to find clear and in-depth articles about what’s under the hood. It’s essential to filter out truly useful information from empty promotional articles.

You reached a new milestone by earning the OCI 2024 Generative AI certification. Congratulations on your achievement! Why did you decide to pursue this certification and what was the process you went through?

Thank you very much! As AI has become integrated into my daily work, I’ve started to use and experiment with large language models (LLMs) for working with text and code, as well as with diffusion and speech-to-text models. I was overjoyed when I learned that Oracle had launched OCI Generative AI courses. It was a great opportunity to acquire more structured and comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge, as well as earn certification. It’s crucial that the course details the specifics of Oracle Cloud AI services, providing unique insights that you cannot simply find on the Internet. I couldn’t pass up such a great opportunity!

The process of obtaining the certification was standard and straightforward. However, the certification test was oriented toward people who actively develop AI applications, making it difficult to pass with just theoretical knowledge from the course. This was not a problem for me, as my practical background proved to be very helpful. My dear colleagues and friends also played a crucial role. Their support motivated me to continue preparing for the certification and achieve excellent results.

How do you think this achievement will impact your career growth and contribute to the success of the company’s projects?

There is a lot of hype around AI technologies with companies trying to add AI to every product. I don’t think I’m overestimating AI—this technology will find its niche and applications where it will be truly useful. I believe my expertise in this area will help our clients effectively harness the true power of the technology. It’s important not to focus on buzzwords but to engage in real, meaningful work. Now, I’m confident I can do this effectively, providing greater value to our clients.

What plans do you have for future career achievements?

To stay relevant for our clients, I, as a developer, am always pushed to learn new technologies and approaches. There is no finish line. Now, AI has opened up new technological horizons. I plan to build solid experience in developing various solutions, including text summarization, retrieval-augmented generation implementations, speech-to-text conversion, and more. When a new technology emerges, I aim to discover what it offers and learn how to apply it to meet the needs of our incredible clients!