Peter. Summer 2017. As always, I worked in the office. A letter with the intriguing title "Day of IT Knowledge" came to the corporate mail. The letter announced an event for schoolchildren. The goal is to educate children about professions in IT. All employees of our company could participate in the event, but there was one caveat: the lesson should be held at school (offline meetings, remember, there were such?), Which was completed by the employee himself. I come from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, which is located on Sakhalin Island. This is a place of extraordinary beauty in the Far East.



All you need to do is to hold an event for high school students on a previously known topic and plan. Tell about what IT is, what it is eaten with and how to get there.



I'm in!





Photo source .

Agreement

Without thinking twice, I sent an application for participation. To be honest, I was thinking more not about sharing knowledge with schoolchildren, but about visiting my hometown. I haven't been there for probably five years already.



In addition to submitting an application, it was necessary to agree on a business trip with your manager and contact the school to discuss all the details of the performance.



On the Internet, I found the contacts of my school and wrote there a letter with a story about what a wonderful event is planned, and that I would really like to hold it within the walls of my native lyceum.



Imagine my surprise when my class teacher answered the letter. She still works at the school and even remembers me. Moreover, he even remembers the name of my older brother. Wow!



All letters have been sent, applications have been completed. Waiting for an answer.

IT evangelist

Then there was a series of informational meetings and rehearsals. I was proudly named IT Evangelist. Frankly, I did not even think that it is possible to use this word in conjunction with IT.



The theme of the Day of IT Knowledge was designated as “professions of the future”. It was necessary to talk about what professions will be relevant in the future, and how to master them.



I started preparing my speech. I must tell you that it is not such an easy task to talk about IT without spicing up the narrative with various Englishisms like "approve," task, "rally" and others.

Format

My application was confirmed. The format of the event is as follows: during the day, evangelicals from different parts of the world (some employees are from abroad) give lectures in schools and broadcast the event on social networks. There is a studio with a central broadcast with invited experts. Periodically, this broadcast includes streams from schools. It turns out such a complex network of a bunch of broadcasts intersecting in one studio.



The main thing is that the school has Wi-Fi, which you can connect to for broadcasting.

Streamer setup

This was my first broadcasting experience. I really wanted to make a high-quality picture and sound. The beginner streamer setup looked like this:

• camera,
• laptop,
• tripod,
• buttonhole,
• heap of different wires.

I planned to broadcast via OBS, capturing the sound from the lapel, and the image from the external camera.

The airport

The road to Sakhalin takes about 11 hours. Initially, a one and a half hour flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow, transfer, and about 8 hours to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.



On day X, feeling wildly jittery, I packed my suitcase and went to the airport. I decided to take the tripod in my carry-on luggage, since it did not fit into my small luggage.



I'm in the airport. Passed all the checks and went to land. But then the first trouble awaited me. They refused to put me on the plane: the tripod did not fit. Although at the previous stages of the check, no one cared about the size of my carry-on luggage. I had to quickly return the luggage and tape the tripod directly to the side of the suitcase. Having covered all this with film, I checked in my luggage for the second time and ran to boarding.

Arrival

I love to eat on the plane. And sleep. The flight went unnoticed. And here I am in my hometown, happy, picking up the luggage from the tape. That was in my plans ... But my luggage was lost. More precisely, they did not have time to transfer him to a transit flight and he remained in Moscow.



The suitcase contained all the equipment needed for the broadcast, and just the clothes in which I planned to perform. Speech the day after tomorrow. It's good that I arrived early, at least there will be time to find the necessary props. I wrote the statements for the loss, and, having met with my old friend, I went to the pre-rented apartment.

Roaming

We got to the apartment. My friend went to work, and I began to think about a further plan: what if the luggage is not found before the day of my speech? Where can I get all the necessary equipment?



The mood was completely ruined. I turned on the music on my phone and decided to clean up my thoughts a bit.



The music stopped. Hmm, strange. On the phone sms "your debt is X rubles." I completely forgot about the existence of roaming! The expensive internet used up my entire balance. And here I am sitting with absolutely no things, with a non-working phone, and I don't know what to do next.



I got to the nearest communication salon to get a local SIM card. I think I'll get myself a tariff with unlimited internet. "What? Unlimited Internet? Ha-ha, ”a store employee answered me. There were no such tariffs in 2017 on Sakhalin. I just put some money on my number and went home to rehearse the show.

The day before the performance

The next day after arrival, I received a call from the airport and said that my luggage had arrived in the city. I took my suitcase and went to school to check my equipment.



At school, nostalgia washed over me. Despite the fact that everything has changed very much, only one thing has not changed: almost all teachers have remained the same. Someone remembered me, some did not, but there was a very pleasant and warm feeling from the sight of the native walls.



I checked the internet and the presentation. It turned out that for some reason my laptop did not want to connect to the school projector, but, thank God, there was a stationary computer from which you can start the presentation.

Performance

At the appointed time, I arrived at the school. The performance was held in the assembly hall, which was attended by high school students.



School bell. It is very unusual to be on the other side of the school desk. I opened the presentation, put on a buttonhole, turned on the camera, and started the broadcast. "Access to the resource is limited." It turned out that all social networks were banned on the school network, and I just could not broadcast. Not at a loss, I turned on the recording and began my lecture.



It is very difficult to keep the attention of children. I tried to keep the thread of the story, and the class teacher, who was in the room, helped with the observance of silence. This is a special skill of teachers - at one glance, make students sit quietly and listen carefully.



I told what IT is, what specialties are, how and where to learn them. Interestingly, many children had a strict sequence in their heads: you need to learn math → study well → enroll in applied mathematics → become a programmer. If at least one of the points of this chain is violated, then that's it, you won't get into IT and there will be no career. Many did not know that apart from programmers there are many other professions, and that all of them are also engaged in information technology.



There were a lot of completely different questions. From “how to make a computer game” to “which university to enter”. And questions are still flying in. The guys took my contacts on social networks and sometimes ask something.

Conclusion

Despite the many challenges on my little journey, I really enjoyed it. I visited my home school and told the guys about IT. During the lecture, I caught myself on a curious thought: they are sitting at the same desks at which I was sitting, studying in the same school, and even most of the teachers have remained the same. And I felt like I was on a time travel, I tell myself about the past, I give some advice. This is a very cool feeling.



I packed my things and went home in a great mood. An interesting thing: the plane to Moscow flies 8 hours and the time difference is 8 hours. Departing at 10:00 am from Sakhalin, you arrive in Moscow at 10:00 (local time). Where did the 8 hours of the road go?



This year, for the fourth time, I will participate in the Day of IT Knowledge... It will be held online. I believe that you also have something to share with the guys from your school, take part in this wonderful action!

PS

Of course, I managed to see my friends, walk around the island and enjoy local food. If you have never been to Sakhalin, I highly recommend visiting.

What can I say about Sakhalin?

The weather is normal on the island.

The surf salted my vest

And I live at the very sunrise.



^{Music: Jan Frenkel. Lyrics: Mikhail Tanich}

Yura, but not Dud.