Let's get to know the Force Academy training program - an interview with Sara Jurczyk-Zielinska

What prompted you to participate in the Force Academy program?

The training program seemed to me to be a good idea for getting started in IT. I felt it gave me a smoother and more confident start, as it allowed me to be introduced to a new position and gain the necessary knowledge. It also allowed me to acclimate to the workplace. Now after time, I can say that it happened exactly as I expected. The training is very intensive, but gives comprehensive and extensive knowledge. Thanks to him, I feel better prepared to perform my duties.

Did you already have knowledge of the IT industry before participating in the program? If so, where did you get your work experience?

This is my first job in an IT-related company. My professional path to entering this world was not at all one-track. It took me a couple of years to get to where I am now and to discover what I really enjoy doing the most. The adventure with computer science, paradoxically, has its origins in my high school problems with mathematics. It was during tutoring in this subject that my interest in science majors was born, and eventually, despite the fact that I was in the humanities profile, I took the extended baccalaureate precisely in mathematics. Another breakthrough for me came during my studies, when during a class on the basics of programming I discovered that I had finally found what I had been looking for all my life. Following my passion, I started a second major - Computer Science - and my fierceness for programming only increased. In my senior year, I was offered a job at the university where I studied, and I am currently pursuing my career also as an academic teacher at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin in Lublin, majoring in Computer Science. 

At the very beginning, I didn't think I would work for a company dealing strictly with IT, but after four years of teaching computer science and programming, I found that I wanted and needed to develop myself further and wanted to combine my career with the IT industry. Until now, I had gained second-hand knowledge of the industry, and now it was time to see what it looks like in practice. It was worth the courage once again to follow what you like - I'm immensely satisfied with how my professional life looks now.

What did you learn from the program?

I learned a lot in the program. That's what's great about training at Britenet, that you also learn good programming practices and teamwork, since the training is organized in pairs. Working with Salesforce technology requires both backend and frontend knowledge. We work in English, which is very important in this profession - most of the programs are written in English, so it is important to operate it well. In addition, the training helped me, among other things, to better organize my work time and gave me preparation for working on a large project.  

What did the different stages of the program look like?

During the training, we learn about Salesforce technology and all related frameworks to be prepared to work on any project. So the program can be divided into different stages related to the next framework. On each of them we work on a test application on which we learn it. 

Why did you decide to tie your career to Salesforce technology?

At the beginning of my IT job search, I was looking for something related to Java technology - the programming language I like best. I had already learned about Salesforce while recruiting for Britenet, while browsing a job listing. The reason I was interested was that Salesforce doesn't close only to the Backend. In this position, we write in APEX language, which is based on Java. On the other hand, it's more of being a full-stack, and I was very interested in not being locked into one thing, but to have as much room to maneuver as possible, gain as much knowledge as possible, and grow as much as possible. I decided to tie my career to Salesforce technology primarily through the opportunity to develop on many levels and work with the English language. I was also encouraged by the training program that allowed me to put myself to work.

To whom would you recommend Force Academy?

I would recommend the Force Academy training program to any ambitious person who wants to gain a lot of knowledge in the IT field, as well as to people who would like to grow in many areas of programming. It is a good start to launch your career, as it prepares you and gives you a foretaste of what will await you in your future job.

My advice to prospective candidates is to bet on courage, which is sometimes needed to start a new chapter in life. I, too, had to be brave enough to take a second job, because it's not easy to combine two demanding positions either. And the second thing diligence - to get to something, we have to put some effort into it. Nothing just happens on its own. Training is very demanding, we gain a lot of knowledge there. I, on my example, can say that nowhere have I learned so much as over the past year, and this pays off later for the future - it is a lot of effort, but we also gain a lot from it. If we want to get to something, we have to work at it and expect it to take a certain period of time... but it's worth it!

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