Igor decided to change his profession at the age of 26.

Although he graduated from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering in Belgrade, he was not interested in a career in this field. Thus, he applied for the 2018 IT retraining program conducted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Office for IT and eGovernment and United Nations Development Programme in Serbia. He completed his training for the Java programming language at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Belgrade, as one of the most successful participants.

Since he was not employed during the IT retraining, he had enough time to fully prepare for lectures and do homework on his own. The fast pace of the training, which was conducted three times a week, was well-suited for Igor. He managed to attend all the lectures, from the introductory to the increasingly complex ones, with full attention. Igor says that his group was dynamic and that it gathered people of all ages. He also points out that the atmosphere in the group was very encouraging, and that all participants helped each other to achieve a common goal.

When asked what he saw as the biggest challenge during the training, he answered:

“My biggest challenge was the fact that I didn't have a realistic perspective of how a job in the IT profession looks like. Moreover, I wasn't always sure enough how much I should study this subject. Also, I had no insight into whether I would be able to apply the acquired knowledge when the time comes.”

However, after the training’s completion, he immediately found an internship with the help of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Belgrade. Shortly after starting his internship, he received a job offer at the same company. He has been working there for two years now, enjoys doing a job that really motivates him and sees an opportunity for career advancement every day.

The advice he would give to future program participants is: “Apply if you're really interested in programming, because this will be crucial throughout the program, and it will make the whole experience easier and more entertaining.”