‘Thousands of Uzbeks will start working in giant companies in the next 5 years’ – An interview with Uzbek programmer working at Amazon

Azimjon, who did not know who a programmer was 10 years ago, is working in the world’s most powerful companies at the age of 23. One of his main goals is to create a platform to teach programming from scratch and help youth who don’t have the opportunity to learn.

Leaving INHA

- I studied at the academic lyceum named after S.Sirojiddinov in Tashkent. At that time, INHA University was newly opened. There, students who entered the TOP-10 were covered for 1 semester of tuition. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I entered the university in the 4th place that year, they did not give me a scholarship. So I studied the 1st semester and then left.

After I left INHA, I was freelancing for a while. I got a job at Newmax and then at Super Dispatch.

Then I tried universities in Bulgaria and Korea, the prices were not right, it was not possible. I learned about Poland at the youth forum in Tashkent in 2019 and became interested. I came to Poland because the prices are cheaper. Another good thing is that I could do my work in Tashkent from Warsaw. Now I am studying at the 3rd stage of Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Poland.

Invitation from Facebook, Bloomberg and Amazon

- Last year, I received a letter of invitation from Bloomberg and Facebook for an internship. I didn’t reject because both are good companies. I planned to do an internship at Facebook in the summer and at Bloomberg in the fall. But the visa process in Poland has become more difficult now, thus I had to return to Poland earlier and postponed the Bloomberg plan to next year. In the meantime, Amazon offered me a full-time job, and I’m working here.

Importance of practice in large companies

- One of the biggest opportunities that can be obtained from studying at the university is Internship, that is, internships at FAANG companies such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google.

Application for internship usually lasts from September to December. In order to apply for the desired internship, you will be asked for a CV. It depends on your CV that you will be shortlisted for an interview among thousands of students. Your CV will be in the hands of a recruiter for only a minute. Therefore, it should not exceed 1 page and the most important things should be written.

A good resume is not created in a day, it is refined over months and years. To this end, saving each version of it allows you to see your growth over the years. The largest part of your resume is your education, work experience, and personal projects and accomplishments.

Facebook activity

- I did a 2-month internship at Facebook office in London. This means a big country, a big opportunity, a big team, big projects. Many people think about Facebook that it is not their place, there are very smart people working in the company. But they are people like us. Everyone is ready to share their knowledge with you. Here, I always felt the support of the company’s employees and members of my team.

Every weekend we traveled to some city. We met smart people we had never met before.

“They pay sufficient wages so that employees don’t think about money”

- Facebook has zones for various games and entertainment activities. Obsessing over something causes stress. Sometimes there is no solution in what you are doing. In such a situation, you need to occupy your mind with something else. Activities such as walking in the park often help in this. The exercises in the Facebook office are also designed to distract the developer a bit. I heard that the office in America has everything from a dentist to a hairdresser.

Here they pay sufficient wages so that employees don’t think about money. You can spend regardless of the numbers on your plastic card. Employees have a rest one day per month, one month per year. They assist in the visa process. Separate money has been allocated for a healthy lifestyle. There are so many possibilities, but you won’t have time to use them all.

“I am working on a project to help young people get a job in big companies”

— Facebook has 5 offices in London and thousands of people work there. But there are no Uzbeks among them. There are 50-60 Kazakhs. I think Kazakhs support each other well. For example, if 1 person gets a job, 10 people can follow him. As a team, they help each other. That’s my goal too. Now I’m helping people I know on Amazon. For 2 years, I have been working on a project to gather intelligent young people who are eager to gain knowledge and help them get jobs in giant companies. They are submitting documents to large companies. I can say that thousands of Uzbeks will be able to enter FAANG companies in the next 5 years. I have no doubt about it.

The best way to gain knowledge is to share

For three years, I have been sharing my programming knowledge and experience in the form of articles and video lessons on my Telegram channel. I think that I am contributing to the increase of programming resources in the Uzbek language, albeit a little. Seeing young people who are eager to gain knowledge, I want to share more knowledge. Whenever I have free time, I learn something useful or teach, I use both ways to improve my knowledge.

Books and bicycles

There are 2 things I like here: first are the bikes and second are the libraries. In Warsaw, there are bicycle rental points at every 500 meters, also, libraries are located at almost the same distance. The use of bicycles is almost free. I paid 50,000 Uzbek soums in 2 years. If you change the bike within 20 minutes, you can ride a bike for an unlimited time a day.

There are a lot of libraries in Poland, and people read a lot. When a new book comes out, it is immediately translated into Polish.

“What you find and read in a book stays in your memory for a long time”

- Recently, I got used to buying books in any city I went to. I went to Oxford, Amsterdam, Berlin and bought books. Because it is difficult to find books in English in Poland.

I can recommend “Atomic habits” and “The art of right thinking” to others among the books I have read. These teach you to think correctly, to think without depending on someone else’s opinion.

For the field of programming, I recommend such books as “Clean code”, “Clean coder”, “Grokking algorithms”. What you find and read in a book stays in your memory for a long time.

“A programmer is like a player whom expensive clubs buy”

- I am also thinking about whether it is good or bad for Uzbekistan if young people go abroad. For example, when Uzbeks are 20-30 years old, when they have a lot of youthful energy, it may be bad for them to spend all their energy abroad. But there is a good side of it. For example, if one of our players is bought by a European club, many people will be happy. But no one is saying that they are leaving us. In addition, those who work abroad also send their income back home. After leaving companies, programmers open their own startups, but still return to their roots. They develop Uzbekistan.