On the eve of International Women's Day, we decided to ask the girls who have devoted their careers to the IT field about how they chose it, whether it is possible to come to IT from another industry and what is the main challenge they face.
Zhanna Starilova, Chief IT Manager of the Information Platforms and Services Department.
I have a specialized education, I studied at the Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics as a systems engineer. For several years she worked by profession at the Research Institute of Space Instrumentation, it was difficult to match the chosen profession at first, but there was no doubt about the choice. In addition to work, no matter how pretentious it may sound, I study. For example, when she decided to link her activities with the banking sector, she completed additional training at the Russian Economic Academy. G.V. Plekhanov, where we had a wonderful mentor and this became the impetus for my further independent advancement.
Today, in IT, my team is engaged in the automation and optimization of the bank's business processes in the direction of electronic document management on the CompanyMedia EDMS platform, where the processes of electronic interaction and electronic documentation are merged.
In 2019, we became laureates of the "Innovative Solutions in Electronic Document Management" competition. We also successfully started in an experiment, organized by the Ministry of Labor of Russia, to transfer HR workflow to electronic format.
In 2020, our team, together with Intertrust Company JSC, were among the first to successfully update the CompanyMedia EDMS based on the IBM Lotus Domino platform to a new version. The new version of the EDMS CompanyMedia is presented on the basis of the document-oriented platform ActiveFrame5, created by the specialists of JSC “Company” Intertrust ”on the basis of Java, any relational DBMS can serve as a platform for storing data, the user interface is implemented using a web client. A distinctive feature of the new version is the ability to use both proprietary components (DBMS, OS, office suites) and components based on open source software, including those developed by domestic software manufacturers.
It seems to me that the most important thing for a successful career in IT is to develop all the time, to learn something new all the time, to study related fields, to understand incomprehensible things, not to be afraid to ask questions. If you work in a company, then you need to understand its infrastructure, and not only in your project, to look around. Now I have great clients who appreciate what we do and I want this to be preserved in the future, so that the value of my teamwork is tangible to me. And, of course, I want to keep up with the times.
Anastasia Kharitonova, Senior Manager, Transactional Business Development Department
I am the leader in UX / UI design in retail, I am responsible for the consistency of the visual language and user experience in digital channels between different products, so that our customers are as comfortable as possible using our applications, sites and seamlessly switch between them.
I am especially proud of the development of RBS for small businesses, because it was with this that I started my way in the bank. Chaos fell into my hands and together with the team we were able to systematize everything inside and out, creating a full-fledged design system PASCAL, on the basis of which all interfaces are now built, the development process became many times faster, and the result is much better. In addition, even the ratings in mobile stores have grown significantly. Now, with another team, we are putting in order a new mobile application for individuals, we are only taking the first steps, but I am sure that with such charged guys we will definitely succeed.
I have 2 higher educations - jurisprudence (administrative and financial law) and a translator (English), in my specialty I worked for only a few months, realizing that this is absolutely not what I would like to devote my life to. Even during my studies, I was immersed in the study of digital design, took small orders, and my first IT project was a small ambitious startup, where I plunged headlong into designing mobile interfaces. Since then I can’t imagine another field of activity, it’s that feeling when you do what you like and you are paid for it :) I came to the bank from another area, but, nevertheless, my education to some extent it was related to finance.
The stereotype that IT is not a woman's business, I heard, unfortunately, from my own mother, but over the years this stereotype has disappeared from her, she continues to admire what I do. By my example, I would like to show the girls who are looking for themselves, but who are under the opinion of those around them that “this is not a woman’s business,” that everything is possible, the main thing is to hear yourself and not others. I believe that gender stereotypes are the last century, and it is high time to rethink a lot.
It may sound naive, but my dream since childhood is if not to fly into space, then at least to work in the field of rocketry. And if earlier these were really only dreams, now, I think, there is an opportunity and it is worth trying :)
Anna Eganova, Director of the Department of Development and Operational Efficiency of IT
I am the head of the IT development and operational efficiency department. Among my projects, the key one is IT strategy. It has a number of streams that are implemented with my direct participation. For example, the Cost Management stream, within which we think over and implement activities to reduce IT costs with constant development, the Architecture and Technologies stream, within which we launched the reboot of the IT architecture functions in the bank, transform approaches, develop architectural competencies and technology management. In addition, my team actively participates in all other streams of the IT strategy, for example, as part of the Stability stream, we build and develop IT processes, measure the Pain Index (client pain index), incident metrics to improve the quality of IT stability management. systems.We work on aspects important for employees (motivation, career development) within the People + stream and much more. We conduct strategic projects (Happy Developer, Data Masking, Full Remote and many others).
Most of all in my work I like the dynamics and limitlessness in development, which are characteristic of the IT sphere. Things change very quickly in IT. Every year new knowledge is required, new solutions appear. This dynamic does not give any chance of getting bored working in IT. My scope of tasks in Rosbank's IT is very extensive and varied. These are IT strategy and projects, IT architecture and processes, IT finance, IT risks, IT communications. This makes it possible to dive into completely different facets of the IT world and constantly enrich your knowledge.
In 2011-2012, I was actively involved in the automation of retail lending processes at another bank, being the director of the retail underwriting department. Before that, my experience was both in business and in the operational divisions of the bank, and a good understanding of the work of banking processes was formed. Together with the team, I myself was involved in the development of processes, requirements, architecture, testing. We developed processes and immediately implemented their automation. The team managed to automate almost all stages of the retail lending process, which could have been automated at that time (except for a visual review of customer documents). This made it possible to reduce human participation in the process by 3 times, expanded the funnel of the incoming flow, and minimized human error. The bank was able to significantly increase the volumes and channels of attraction,without increasing the number of employees in operating units.
Successful experience of interaction with IT led to a proposal from the shareholders of the bank in which I worked for the transition to IT and building the function of interaction between IT and business. It all started with this and was accompanied by rejection and grins, because the IT team did not believe that a person from another sphere would be able to change and organize something. But in spite of everything, faith in oneself and in the team, perseverance and immersion in new knowledge helped to overcome all difficulties and become our own in IT. Every year the tasks changed and became wider and wider. In 2016-2017, I already plunged into the world of IT "at full height", was engaged in all areas, except for IT infrastructure.
Having come to Rosbank, I once again changed my profile and expanded the scope of my tasks, already within IT. This is yet another challenge that required colossal mobilization and expansion of my knowledge in the first year of my work. But I do not regret anything, I am very interested. And I am sure that development and growth occurs precisely through leaving the comfort zone.
Yulia Streltsova, Senior IT Manager of the Center for Competence for the Development of Decision Making Systems of the IT Department of Financial Monitoring and Risks
I am also an IT lead and a system analyst on a project to control credit limits (corporate clients), automate collateral processes, and systematize and record collateral for the corporate block).
Of the projects I have completed, I am especially proud of the fact that I was able to single-handedly understand the principles of an IT system (by scraps of documentation), fully developed by a third-party IT service provider. Now, together with the developer, they are able to make almost any changes to this IT system at the request of users, which made it possible to completely abandon the vendor's expensive services. In 2018-2021, the bank has already saved about 17.5 million rubles. Improvements on the part of IT and correct methods of working with software have made it possible to achieve an extremely high degree of system stability, allowing it to work without technical failures and errors.
IT is a rather interesting occupation, which includes many professions and, therefore, opportunities for implementation, alas, for most people are extremely incomprehensible. At school, I won Olympiads in biology and computer science, and after one passing ball was not enough when entering the biological faculty of Moscow State University, I went to study as a programmer, which I do not regret at all. This is the fourth bank for me (three foreign banks plus one Russian from the backbone).
I have not come across explicit stereotypes regarding a “non-female profession”, except for the case when an old woman who lived three floors below expressed her opinion with the phrase “Oh, what a male university, what a male profession”. But in the modern world, it is the IT sphere that allows people of different genders, ages, nationalities and physical characteristics to realize themselves equally.
Further, I plan to develop as an IT lead in combination with an IT analyst. It would be extremely interesting to implement a project using, for example, neural networks and other elements of artificial intelligence as applied to data analysis.
Elena Borovaya, project manager in the IT development and operational efficiency department
Two of my key projects are the implementation of the new IT strategy and the coordination of QBRs (Quarterly Planning Cycles).
In terms of IT strategy, we work within the framework of monthly sprints, work in a team of CIOs and leaders of large projects. Everything according to the canons of Agile - with regular demos and retro. And my role can be simply described as a scrum master at the level of an IT strategy.
And QBR practices cover virtually all change initiatives in a bank, whether in the form of agile teams, projects, or CRs. This is a quarterly "reconciliation of hours" - teams with each other, with their own plans and with the expectations of the bank's board. Our approach to QBR is actively developing together with the bank. The first QBRs took place when Agile teams were just emerging, but now there are more than 75% of them. This requires constant revision of the QBR practices themselves.
There are also very cool and complex IT projects that my team implements - Happy Developer, Data Masking, Elbrus (data center migration), guild development, building an onboarding process for new employees, developing an IT employer brand.
The most important and valuable thing in our work is a team in which you trust, you can count on support, but which also keeps you healthy and sets a healthy level of audacity and ambition in tasks and plans. And here I am talking about the team at the CIO level, and about our cross-domain QBR team, and about my own team of the IT strategic development office.
I have been working at Rosbank since 2016. My first projects were the implementation of Lean culture and the Agile transformation program. At the end of 2019, I worked closely with the IT team on the formation of a new IT strategy, and in 2020 I completely switched to IT - to implement the very new IT strategy that we created.
Happy March 8!