Anastasia Prichislenko, Personal Efficiency and Time Management
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
Because HRs are saying so. On a more serious note, though, you can be very clever and everything, but you can become happy only if you understand your own dreams and your own ways.
A song you can listen to forever?
The Phantom of the Opera.
The book everyone should read?
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell.
Best movie of all time?
If you could be an expert in any field, what would you choose?
Psychology and genetics.
Mikhail Kurushkin, Internationalization of Research
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
Nowadays, the ability to communicate effectively is the key to success for those working in technical fields.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
The Neva River panorama from the Troitsky Bridge.
A song you can listen to forever?
My Mistakes Were Made For You by The Last Shadow Puppets.
Best movie of all time?
Dream travel destination?
The Angel Falls waterfall because it is magnificent, a force of nature.
Yulia Ryabukhina, Emotional Intelligence
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
Be it technical fields or humanities, soft skills are something that takes you beyond any major or specific field and gives you the opportunity to look beyond the horizon.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
The Islands and Novaya Derevnya with St. Seraphim’s Church on the other side of the Nevka.
The book everyone should read?
Froth on the Daydream (L'Écume des jours) by Boris Vian.
Best movie of all time?
Favorites of the Moon (Favoris de la Lune) by Otar Iosseliani.
Dream travel destination?
Australia because I haven’t been there yet and it’s very unlikely I will ever get there.
Natalia Ten, Management of Scientific Research
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
We all live in a world of humans not machines, that’s why we have to communicate with each other to achieve success. And soft skills is what helps you ensure efficient communication.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
The Spit of Vasilievsky Island.
The book everyone should read?
The Harry Potter series in English!
Your most essential travel tip?
Always choose the largest suitcase, just in case.
Best movie of all time?
If you could be an expert in any field, what would you choose?
Robotics for sure, as I’m studying and teaching robotics.
Elena Karpova, Personal Efficiency and Time Management
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
Soft skills are all about time management, creativity and communication. Time management and career planning is a must for specialists in all fields, especially technologies, which put a premium on precision and efficiency. Creativity has to do with being flexible, thinking outside of the box, and having a critical mind towards different concepts and ideas. Communication, which implies being able to negotiate, work effectively within a team, and get your point across, is crucial by definition.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
Nevsky Prospect.
A song you can listen to forever?
Last Christmas by George Michael, and Fragile by Sting.
Your most essential travel tip?
There is a solution to any problem.
If you could be an expert in any field, what would you choose?
Teambuilding and critical thinking.
Valeria Limonova, Management of Scientific Research
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
Today we live in the VUCA world – the world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. That’s why soft skills are what the market needs today. Only specialists with highly developed system-strategic thinking skills, emotional intelligence and ability to make quick decisions and analyze large amounts of data in a short period of time will remain successful.
The first app you check in the morning?
Now I try to practice Zen-mornings without emails, Trello or Instagram. So my answer is the meditation app Pacifica.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
Home, ITMO. I also always enjoy spending time in Okhta Lab.
A song you can listen to forever?
Angie by Rolling Stones.
The book everyone should read?
Ohhh, there are so many of them! A great book to feed the mind is Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long by Dr. David Rock. An amazing book to feed the soul is the kindest and so very funny A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
Your most essential travel tip?
Try to live as a resident of the country you visit: walk around unusual and unknown places, live in apartments found on Airbnb, eat in restaurants popular among local people, do not be afraid of public transport, make friends with strangers and read local newspapers.
Best movie of all time?
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Dream travel destination?
Tokyo, Japan – I lived there as a child and still hoping for a comeback.
Yulia Romanenko, Efficient Team Management
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
First of all, soft skills make you more self-aware and help you interact with other people in a more effective way. They make you realize that relationships with other people mean a lot and they really propel you towards making progress and achieving goals in your studies, work and personal life.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
St. Isaac’s Square.
The book everyone should read?
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
Your most essential travel tip?
Don’t take it too seriously and let yourself be spontaneous.
If you could be an expert in any field, what would you choose?
Negotiations & conflict management. That's the field I'm constantly developing in.
Nataliya Hohlova, Efficient Team Management
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
Soft skills are what we use every minute of our lives. And that’s what makes them so important not only for students in technical fields, but for all people in general.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
Sverdlovskaya Embankment with the view on the Smolny Cathedral.
The book everyone should read?
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
Dream travel destination?
I would like to travel to India, to some Buddhist temple off the beaten track, and live there for a while to experience Buddhist philosophy through my own experience.
If you could be an expert in any field, what would you choose?
I would like to be an expert in child-parent relationships as well as psychology.
Dariya Treskunova, Efficient Team Management
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
If you want to thrive in the modern world, having an education, speaking two or three languages, coding for different platforms and devices is not enough. The most successful people today are strong in communications, negotiations, leadership, and team building; in other words, they have good soft skills. Soft skills training is a core direction of the HR-policy of many leading companies, so it’s great that ITMO provides its students with an opportunity to develop soft skills as part of their studies.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
Olgin Pond, Peterhof.
The book everyone should read?
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
Your most essential travel tip?
Don’t forget your phone, credit card, passport and good company. All the rest doesn’t really matter.
Dream travel destination?
Iceland because of its unique scenery.
Anastasia Bodnya, Efficient Team Management
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
Because if you want to be successful, you need to be flexible.
A song you can listen to forever?
We Will Rock You by Queen.
The book everyone should read?
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
Best movie of all time?
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by Mark Herman.
If you could be an expert in any field, what would you choose?
Psychology and medicine.
Michael Tupikin, Efficient Team Management
Why are soft skills so important for techies?
First of all, you always work with people, even if you are a physicist or programmer. You always need skills to communicate effectively and maintain positive relationships with your colleagues. Second – you always work for people. That’s why it is extremely important to understand people’s needs and emotions.
Favorite spot in St. Petersburg?
Vasilevskiy Island.
A song you can listen to forever?
You and I by Arctic Monkeys.
The book everyone should read?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig.
Best movie of all time?
The Ghost Writer by Roman Polanski.
