In the light of the 15-year existence of ICodeFactory and sharing knowledge with others, we have announced that our internal conference ICodeFerence will be dedicated this year to students, under the new name ICodeFerence Youth 2021.
As we all know, ICodeFactory has always been the team that pays great attention to professional development, learning and sharing knowledge. In alignment with that, this year we decided to help students start their careers the right way and also, we were curious to hear what motivates students, what are their professional ideas or career dilemmas.
To get the answers, we did a quick survey to see what interests students have and what they wanted to learn at ICodeFerence Youth, so we would know what to focus on the most while preparing the conference.
Throughout the three sessions we held on April 8th, we covered the most important topics to help students get a better understanding of real-world projects and work as an employee:
• Student projects vs Real-world projects
• Importance of IT certification; Microsoft Certification Training sponsored by ICodeFactory; programs for students at ICodeFactory
• My career path and how to get a job
During the session Student projects vs Real-world projects, our panelists advised students to use the time at the faculty in a better way, to prepare for teamwork, learn together and to observe the student projects as if they were for a client.
One piece of advice was to do a lot of research and create a wider picture of the project because that is how better solutions come. Our colleague Boško advised the attendees to make a five-year plan and not to allow small distractions to turn them off the road. At the end of the panel discussion, our CEO shared his personal experience and advised students to always try to understand everything they are doing, and why lifelong learning can be an exceptional potential for professional successes and advanced career goals.
Students also had an opportunity to hear all information about Microsoft Certification Training sponsored by ICodeFactory, how to apply to this program and what are the requirements for interviews. Every year the interest in this training is higher, and since the number of participants is limited, attendees had several questions about how to prepare better for selection.
The final session, My career path and how to get a job was a highly requested one. Nowadays, knowing which opportunity to take and how to get ready for the selection process can be a game changer when starting your career. Our attendees received a lot of advice, especially regarding on why professional development is so important, as well as how to write a CV, a cover letter, and how to prepare for an interview.
If we could sum up all the lessons shared that day into one message, it would be that the key to professional development is exploring and finding new ways of gaining and spreading knowledge. Knowledge only grows by usage and by investing in knowledge and education, we invest in our future.
Thanks to everyone who made this happen, especially our panelists and lecturers for their time and for sharing their knowledge. Also, thanks to all of our attendees for their presence and for asking questions. We hope this conference has fulfilled your expectations and that you have learned a lot.
Dear students, choose wisely where and how will you start your career. See you next year or sooner, who knows, maybe some of our attendees become our team members and speakers for the next ICodeFerence Youth.
This year prevented us from socializing with students, but we still wanted to continue to exchange ideas, learn together and get to know each other better. That is how we came up with the idea to connect with students virtually and establish ICodeFerence Youth 2021.
ICodeFerence is an internal conference by ICodeFactory, created with a goal to share knowledge among colleagues, partners, and special guests. In previous years we went through a lot of topics, technical and business, and with international speakers.
Fundamental contents at ICodeFerence Youth are to help students to start their careers the right way.
Starting a career is not easy, there are many differences between the status of a student and an employee, as well as the way of working, organizing, and learning on projects. Our team has made presentations and lectures to prepare you better for professional challenges.
Join us on April 8th, from 11 AM to 2 PM, and get connected with experts from ICodeFactory through interactive presentations.
Our first session is a panel discussion on Students’ projects vs Real-world projects.
We will discuss the differences, share tips with young people on how to adapt more quickly to real-world projects and what they can already apply to student projects. Students will have the opportunity to learn what are the advantages of working in a real environment.
The second session contains several unified topics on personal development through the certification program. Through the lecture of our MCT, students will be able to hear from the front line what are the benefits of IT certification for the individual, team, and company. We will also present in more detail the Microsoft Certification Training program, as well as other programs intended for students at ICodeFactory.
The last session at ICodeFerence Youth will be a lecture by our colleague Dragana Simić, People Operations Representative on the topic “How to map a career path and how to get a job". Students will have the opportunity to learn how to write a CV and cover letter, and what to expect at a job interview. Dragana will show what are good experiences from practice and what makes a good preparation for an interview.
Register for free HERE, and connect with us. This virtual event is exclusively for students to keep up with the future of work and professional development.
In the end, we have left the cherry on top. Play with us, and check your knowledge of OOP along the way. We have prepared valuable prizes for the fastest and best results.
Join us on social media too with hashtag #ICodeFerence.
Implement your vision together with us.
This year, our company is celebrating a small jubilee of our 15-year journey. Deep in our hearts, we believe that the key to our success lies behind the word knowledge. As a part of the 15th anniversary of ICodeFactory, we decided to do a project with an institution that has been selflessly sharing knowledge for 200 years. It is not difficult to guess that we are talking about Matica Srpska - the oldest cultural and scientific institution, which from its founding until today has left a big mark on the culture and education of our community.
The same values towards learning, knowledge, and education have united us and today we are having a conversation with the manager of Matica Srpska, Mrs. Jelena Veselinov about it. Enjoy reading it just as much as we enjoyed making it.
1. Could you briefly tell us the story of Matica Srpska and its centuries-long journey through the culture and education of our community?
Matica Srpska is our oldest cultural and scientific institution, which was founded in 1826 in Pest as an association of young Serbian merchants. Its activities from the beginning were aimed at presenting Serbian culture in Europe, enlightening the Serbian people and strengthening national identity. It was created as support of Letopis Matice srpske (The Chronicle of Matica Srpska), which is, as far as we have known, the oldest living literary magazine in Europe, and probably in the world.
Its 200-year duration in continuity is impressive, considering the discontinuity in our everyday lives, precisely because of the universal goal toward the common good of the Serbian people in an educational, scientific, and cultural sense. The story of Matica is really rich and long, so we will only dwell on the important points for "our story".
After the founding, numerous editions with an educational character were created. Libraries with a literary fund from various scientific fields were formed, which led us to today's complex system of Matica Srpska. Today's system implies a modern scientific institution divided into 7 scientific departments with 3000 associates and a rich publishing activity with over 100 scientific projects.
Considering the great development, a completely different organization within the system of Matica Srpska was required, therefore the Library, Gallery of Matica Srpska, and the Publishing Center have stood out.
Matica Srpska has become one big system, with a mission that has now gone significantly beyond what it was in the beginning, but has basically still remained the same and with the same values.
2. Can you bring us closer to the importance of Matica Srpska in education?
When we talk about education, Matica follows the written development from the beginning - the first letters at elementary school, to people who are on Ph.D. studies. Every pupil at school needs Pravopis srpskog jezika (The Spelling book). Matica Srpska publishes Pravopis srpskog jezika, which is done by a team of the best linguists in our country. There is also the standardization of the Serbian language through normative grammar and encyclopedic and lexicographic publications. We publish various publications at the highest scientific level. With our scientific journals, we provide the opportunity for young people to be heard, and also for them to learn from more experienced researchers.
Matica also participates by awarding the best pupils, students, and researchers in different fields.
Besides publications, we organize lectures and music evenings (concerts) on our premises. All of our programs are free and open to all those interested in learning and enhancing their knowledge from the most eminent experts.
3. What values have followed Matica Srpska through the centuries, which proudly stands out even today?
As we said, the values of Matica Srpska were born on the idea of enlightening the Serbian people, strengthening national identity, and presenting our culture in Europe, and thanks to enthusiasts, who want to contribute to culture, education and science, Matica has survived. The story of Matica is a humane story about people who have a vision of the future, think ahead and invest in true values. Your company has recognized our goal to invest in science and culture. That is what remains and passes on from generation to generation.
4. In which direction do you think that Matica Srpska will step in the future? How will it continue to nurture the same values towards learning, knowledge, and education?
Matica Srpska can only go forward. We can see that from the increase in the number of projects, publishing and other activities. We participate in international projects and wherever the goals of Matica Srpska can be achieved. Our work with some countries on bilingual editions of poems, translations of publications, and books make them available abroad. Showing our work to Europe and the world is a very important segment of our goal.
Therefore, the core goals and values of Matica Srpska don’t change, they are an integral part of what Matica is and stands for. But, the way in which we will continue further is changeable, it's coherent with time, while those fundamental values that have been there from the beginning, always remain.
5. What challenges does Matica Srpska have in its work and how does it face it?
Throughout history, Matica Srpska has had many challenges, from being banned to moments when it could not survive financially. In those financial segments, there would always be a benefactor. When people with a vision (once traders, and today companies that also have a vision) of science and culture are connected, there is no problem that cannot be solved.
We are very grateful to ICodeFactory for recognizing our values and donating 4 computers worth 500,000 RSD. We arranged them in 4 critical places where we desperately needed them. Two places are related to the publishing business, which requires a computer with strong performance, and the other two computers went to our Manuscript Department where we are in the process of digitization. Digitization of archival material helps to keep it from being damaged (this is documentation that must be kept according to certain archival standards) and also facilitates the way of working with users, for various research or insights.
With every challenge that Matica has to face, there must be long-term planning. The fact that we don’t have funds or solutions for something immediately, does not mean that we should not plan well for the future.
6. Libraries have moved to the Internet today; museums are making virtual tours. How do digitalization and new technologies affect Matica Srpska?
Our digitalization story is goal-oriented, e.g., for all concerts and lectures there is a live stream on our channel, and we have everything on the YouTube channel.
In cooperation with the Library of Matica Srpska, we are digitizing journals, so that the journals could be downloaded. We have Letopis in digital form, and we have mentioned the digitization of manuscripts. Our plan is to publish some parts of our works on the Internet soon.
We should not forget that Matica Srpska is like an old lady and that everything is going slowly, at first glance. However, Matica would not have lasted 200 years if we had followed every trend that appeared. Maybe someone would say "you could have done more" but I think this is the right measure. We try to keep up with new technologies, but carefully and with high quality.
7. Finally, we were introduced to another knowledge-driven story, as well as an example of how knowledge, education and investment in the same survive through the centuries. How important is investing in knowledge? Is it the most valuable investment?
I am very happy that ICodeFactory agrees with our belief that knowledge is something that survives. Although it sometimes seems to us as like we have taken 2 steps back, knowledge offers the possibility to go 3 steps forward, because knowledge is something that has lasting value. Knowledge cannot disappear as material values, but only grow and multiple, so it is the only safe investment.
Thank you Mrs. Veselinov, for such a great conclusion and for all that you are doing for our community.
Once again, we are witnessing that knowledge, education, and investment in the common goal have no expiration day and lasts forever. By supporting institutions that nurture and share knowledge, we improve the present and build a better future. Sharing knowledge is a power, not keeping it selfishly for ourselves. Join us in implementing a vision that lasts for centuries.
