The agreement was signed on Tuesday, February 14th, at the MediatechCompany. Its CEO, Yuri Sobolev, told Vladimir Vasilyev of his company's development and its latest successes.
Mediatech deals in development, introduction and support of software for advertising networks with high workload. Its specialists also provide the whole range of related services: from programming and marketing to technical support and accounting. Mediatech's main service and partner is the Adsterra Network — an advertising platform that provides eight formats of Internet advertising in 190 countries. The company's specialists have developed a special program solution for this platform, which was designed to deal with high loads and maintains up to 150 million ads a day, underlined Yuri Sobolev.
According to the agreement, ITMO will collaborate with Mediatech in two main directions. The first is organization of short and long-term internships for students. The second is creation of a coworking, where the students will have a chance to work with a professional team, try themselves in real projects or propose and develop their own ideas.
As Elizaveta Tsareva, Mediatech's HR-manager notes, short-term internships will be launched in the coming days. During the first week, the participants will learn how large IT-company work, as well as test their knowledge and refresh them, if necessary. They will also get a chance to improve the so-called soft-skills — to work in a team, present projects, conduct them in accordance with the standards that are common for leading IT-companies, and take note of their advantages and drawbacks.
"The first week will be introductory. First, we plan to launch a series of seminars where we'll explain what Scrum is, and what is necessary to successfully work as a team. We plan to have some practical workshops, as well. This will help define the participant's levels, and improve some of their skills so as they would correspond to the company's requirements. Then, we will invite the students to take part in two-week sprints. Surely, their working conditions will be more flexible, as they have to study, as well", shares Elizaveta Tsareva.
Long-term internships are to be launched by summer, after the student defend their theses and will have time to fully immerse in the projects. Such internships may well take from one month to a whole summer. The coworking project will last till September, 2017.
According to Elizaveta Tsareva, this is the first time when Mediatech does this kind of a collaboration project.
"This is a pilot project, and both sides are really interested in collaboration. When looking at how students approach our problems and propose new solutions, our specialists may well become inspired as well. We also want them to develop as teachers, team leaders, so that they will understand such responsibilities", underlines Mediatech's HR-manager.
As Nina Yanikina, Head of ITMO's Project Management and Innovation Department, notes, this collaboration with Mediatech's experts gives students more opportunities on the labor market. First of all, the experience the company's experts can share can give them insight into how major players of the IT market work. What is more, this collaboration will give the students an opportunity to try developing their own ideas towards getting an end product with the help of a professional team.
"We believe that these two approaches — joining a team to work on some invention and working on your own idea that can become a successful commercial project — is like two sides of the same coin. In the end, this’ll get us a highly qualified specialist, who already has experience in the market. Thus, our main goal that we plan to achieve by this collaboration is to give our students additional opportunities, show them what they can become in the field where they'll be working after they graduate", comments Nina Yanikina. "Also, by working with Mediatech, we will understand what kind of specialists are in demand, and integratethis knowledge and experience into our educational processes".
The first even that will be part of ITMO and Mediatech's collaboration will take place this Friday, on February 17th. During the event, technical experts from Mediatech will tell the students of their company's experience, successful cases and the peculiarities of working in the ever-changing IT market.
