Olga Kudriasovais a talent acquisition manager at EPAM Czech Republic and Slovakia. For almost ten years at EPAM she stated a lot of questions to potential EPAMers. However, today, Olga answers our inquires as we inspect some common hiring myths and discuss the career opportunities at EPAM. Keep listening to learn more and share your thoughts in the comments.

Timestamps:

In today’s special program we explore how the winter holidays are traditionally celebrated in the Czech lands. Our experts on Czech Xmas are amazing People Team of EPAM Czech Republic. We talk about Christmas traditions, food and drinks, films and music, decorations. And also share laughter and Christmas stories. So get yourself in the Christmas spirit and enjoy Christmastime with EPAM family!

Olga Kudriashova is responsible for a perfect match - finding the right person for the job. She connects EPAM with great professionals to drive new projects forward. Olga also leads and manages a pool of Talent Acquisition specialists (TAs). Let’s learn more about Olga and her work at EPAM!

If you prefer reading you can check out the interview here: https://community-z.com/communities/epam-czech-republic/articles/1445!

Adrian Benko is a Lead Software Test Automation Engineer at EPAM Slovakia. Apart from being responsible for the app's quality on his project, he also leads and manages a pool of seven very talented Quality Assurance specialists (QAs). Adrian is an active member of the QA society: a mentor, a regular conference speaker, a lecturer and a blogger. Together, we are inspecting some common Software Testing Myths and discussing the career opportunities for a QA. Keep listening to learn more and share your thoughts in the comments.

· (00:00) – Intro, ‘This or that’ game

· (03:10) – What’s the difference between a tester and a QA?

· (05:35) – Software testing as a career path

· (06:45) – Myth busting #1. Developer Power: Developers Make. Tester Power: Testers Break. Is it true?

· (09:00) – Myth busting #2. Being a tester is easy: “Automate, sit back, and relax”

· (13:30) – Is it possible to build bug-free software?

· (15:00) – How much testing is enough?

· (17:30) – What is Agile testing?

· (20:00) – Agile testing practices at EPAM

· (22:00) – How does retesting differ from Data Driven testing?

· (25:20) – Overview of a QA’s role and responsibilities at EPAM

· (27:50) – Best practices and sources for the QA specialists

· (30:10) – What’s the future of the QA?

· (34:10) – Life at EPAM: case studies and blogs at epam.com

· (35:10) – Main takeaways and Outro

Pawel Labaj, the Lead Software Engineer at EPAM, has almost 20 years of experience in IT. Besides being a Lead engineer, Pawel shares his knowledge as a mentor at our eKids training programs. He is also a proud father of two teenage daughters. One of his daughters has just won the bronze medal at the European Coding Championship. Curious about how to inspire kids to join the program, open kid’s creativity, and get excellent results? Listen to this episode to learn Pawel’s tips and experience on teaching coding to kids.

Timestamps:

· (00:00) – Intro, ‘This or that’ game

· (02:30) – Why should you teach your kids programming?

· (04:15) – When to start teaching coding to kids?

· (05:30) – How and where to start teaching programming to kids?

· (06:30) – The best experience of being a tutor at EPAM’s eKids programs

· (08:45) – How to teach programming to kids

· (10:15) – How much time to spend on teaching kids to program?

· (10:45) – Best platforms for practicing coding skills with kids

· (12:30) – Contests and championships as means of practicing coding

· (14:30) – Scratch - the best resource for teaching coding

· (16:00) – Best resources for teaching logical thinking to preschoolers

· (19:00) – Best resources for teaching logical thinking to school kids

· (20:45) – How to motivate teenagers to continue coding?

· (22:45) – How to show hardware to kids?

· (25:45) – Message to parents: how to teach coding to kids

· (26:05) – Main takeaways and Outro

Fall has just begun, and for many of us, it means 'back-to-school.' Today we continue our "Ask the Expert" series with digital parenting tips from psychologist Dániel Tóth. If you missed our first digital parenting story with Dániel, be sure to check it out here and let's dive into a new lesson on digital parenting together!

· (00:00) – Intro, ‘This or that’ game

· (02:00) – What can parents do to ensure a good school year’s start?

· (05:00) – How to set up family tech boundaries?

· (09:45) – What are the worst tech habits and how can we break them?

· (10:20) – How to stop phubbing?

· (12:15) – Dark side of using gadgets in digital parenting

· (15:35) – Do you need to check kid’s chats?

· (16:25) – What is a family digital device contract and how can we use it?

· (20:15) – Social media registration dilemma: to forbid or not?

· (22:45) – How does the family social media account work?

· (23:20) – How to use family chats effectively?

· (24:45) – How can we gamify our family time with the help of tech?

· (27:15) – How can we minimize the ‘zoom fatigue’?

· (28:15) – How to organize digital detox?

· (31:15) – How to shift from FOMO to JOMO as a family?

· (34:45) – A piece of advice from digital kids to parents

· (36:00) – Main takeaways and Outro

"I see a lot of positive changes and we should be very proud of that." – Zoltan Szeni, Vice president and Head of People in Europe and the Middle East, shares his insights of his 5 year-journey with EPAM.

Zoltan Szeni has many years of international work experience, a client-serving mindset, and a business background. We sat down with Zoltan to hear about his five-year journey at EPAM, last year's obstacles and opportunities, and the future of EPAM! Happy listening!

· (00:00) – Intro

· (00:45) – Zoltan’s 5 year-journey with EPAM: what has changed?

· (01:30) – Consequences and lessons learned from the pandemic

· (07:25) – Cultural changes at EPAM: new social and professional communities

· (10:30) – Knowledge-sharing during the pandemic at EPAM

· (12:30) – Remote working at EPAM and social side of WFH

· (14:40) – Virtual team-building and fun events at EPAM during the pandemic

· (17:30) – EPAM’s next goals as a company

· (21:53) – Outro

"At EPAM we set the bar extremely high when it comes to software engineering." – Zoltan Szeni, Vice President, Head of People, Europe and the Middle East, talks about EPAM-ers and his role at EPAM

Zoltan Szeni has more than 20 years of business experience in consultancy, change management, HR, and organizational development. Now, Zoltan is combining his knowledge in his current role as Vice President and Head of People in Europe and the Middle East. We challenged Zoltan with questions about his broad experience and how this has influenced his role at EPAM. Surprisingly, we learned that EPAM and team sports have a lot in common. Keep listening to learn more!

· (00:00) – Intro, ‘This or that' game

· (02:15) – How EPAM & EPAMers differ from the others

· (04:20) – EPAM’s culture

· (07:00) – The concept of the bench in context of EPAM

· (10:10) – The opportunities 'on the bench'

· (12:00) – What do the coach in sports and Vice President at EPAM have in common?

· (16:00) – Zoltan’s insights on working with the German and Dutch colleagues

· (19:00) – Zoltan’s experience of working and living in Russia

· (22:20) – Diversity & success at EPAM

· (24:30) – Outro

Oleksandr Tsykunov, Senior Software Engineer at EPAM, has been relocated to Prague and has been with EPAM Czech Republic for 2.5 years now. We spoke with Alex to learn the details about family relocation and life in Prague. Keep listening to learn more! 

· (00:00) – Intro, ‘This or that’ game and Alex’s Backstory

· (02:00) – Why the Czech Republic?

· (02:55) – Relocation to the Czech Republic

· (04:05) – First impressions in Prague

· (06:00) – Challenges of relocation: how to adapt fast in Prague?

· (06:50) – Schooling in Prague

· (09:00) – The Czech language

· (10:20) – Leisure time in the Czech Republic, Alex’s favorite places

· (11:45) – Pros of living in Prague

· (13:45) – What it’s like working at EPAM Czech Republic?

· (16:30) – Living and working in Prague during the pandemic

· (18:15) – Activities for kids in Prague

· (19:15) – Alex’s advice and experience in Prague

· (25:30) – Outro

In this episode of the IT Coffee Break Podcast, we celebrate Plastic Free July and discuss Corporate Social Responsibility programs with Shamilka Samarasinha, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at EPAM. We discussed education programs, environment initiatives and Social innovations as EPAM’s response to COVID-19. Tune in and Happy listening with @epam_czechrepublic!

· (00:00) – Intro, ‘This or that’ game

· (02:20) – Overview of the CSR journey at EPAM

· (07:15) – Internal and external CSR programs at EPAM

· (08:25) – eKids program

· (10:37) – Education programs at EPAM

· (14:05) – Environment initiatives at EPAM

· (18:30) – Social innovations as EPAM’s response to COVID-19

· (21:10) – ESG (Environmental, social and governance) framework at EPAM

· (23:10) – Why EPAMers volunteer?

· (25:05) – CSR drivers and volunteers at EPAM

· (28:15) – Outro