Case: Daria and SpeakUp [ENG]

Our matchmakers put a lot of care and effort into finding perfect organizations for everyone. Therefore, it is lovely to hear back about experiences our talents have at the place we have matched them with. 

Today we zoom in on Daria’s experience at Speakup. Daria is a 37 years old woman from Russia, who is currently employed as a junior front-end developer.

How did you find out about TalentIT, and why did you decide to let them help you?

“I first heard about TalentIT after I missed a local company meeting in Deventer, and a friend suggested I attend a similar meeting in Enschede. There, I met a representative from TalentIT, and after taking their contact details, I decided to apply to their program. I discovered TalentIT through their free program, and I applied to them because I was looking for help finding a job. I was applying at many places at the time and thought that TalentIT could be helpful in finding me a suitable position.”

Can you describe how the matching process with Speakup went?

“The matching process with TalentIT was fantastic, as they found a 100% matching company that met all of my requirements. I was impressed with how they were able to find a suitable match for me.’

How has your experience been working with Speakup?

“Although I’m not sure if I’m exactly what Speakup was looking for, I’ve really enjoyed working with them. The team is great, and I look forward to going to work every time. I’m given a lot of interesting tasks, and everyone has been very helpful and passionate about my work-progress.”

How has the overall experience been so far, and do you have any other comments?

“At first, I was a bit nervous because it was my first job in the field of study, but the developers at Speakup were very kind and helped me adapt to the team and workspace. While all of the conversations and presentations are conducted in Dutch, I view this as an opportunity to improve my Dutch language skills, which I know will be essential for my future goals. Overall, I’m very happy with my experience with  Speakup, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with such a fantastic team.

TalentIT did a great job and literally rescued me from a bunch of problems in my life. With their help, I was able to move to another level. I want to express my deep gratitude to you. I have already recommended and will recommend you to all my friends and acquaintances.

In my opinion, TalentIT offers an invaluable service to students who may lack the confidence and experience needed to navigate the job market in our field. As a beginner, I felt a lot of pressure to accept any job that came my way out of fear that I may not find any other opportunities. Thanks to TalentIT’s assistance in finding a 100% match for my requirements, I now have a job and a company that I am incredibly proud of. I believe that TalentIT’s work is essential in empowering students to make informed and confident decisions about their career paths.

I would also like to add that I had a lot of fears about finding a job in IT, I was afraid that companies would refuse me because I am 37, because I am a woman, because I am Russian, because I do not speak Dutch and because I don’t look like a typical nerd, I look like a normal person.

I did not understand who would take a student who can only work 16 hours a week, even without work experience. Many acquaintances said that this is extremely difficult, because when a company hires someone without work experience, they understand that they will have to train this person for some time, that is, invest time in him. When looking for a job, I did not meet vacancies for part-time work, everywhere they were required only for a full-time job.

I really think that finding the first job in the IT field is very difficult for everyone, as it requires a lot of courage, this is a big challenge for most students. It’s very scary, you know that you will come to a new company and you may simply not cope with their tasks, you may simply not pull out the intellectual load from the university and from the new job at the same time, so I was looking for a company that works with the same tools (programming language, frameworks) that I already know. And thanks to TalentIT, I found what I needed.

Moreover, it gives me much more pleasure to do assignments for my work than for the university.

Interview by Simone Dekker – for comments and questions, contact: simone@talentittwente.nl