From IT to war. Photo stories of Ukrainian IT specialists who defend the country from invaders
Many IT specialists have mobilized to the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of a full-scale invasion and have been defending the country from invaders for more than three months. We have already published a number of materials with the stories of our heroes, and this time we asked them to send photos from their service.
Share your own text and photo stories in the comments, as well as stories about the service of your loved ones or colleagues.
Oleg Berestovoy, business development managerBefore the full-scale invasion, he worked at tech/uklon. In the first days of the war, he mobilized in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. My specialization is air defense, but I was assigned to an infantry company.
In the photo, I'm on a mission. In March, he proposed to his girlfriend. Then nothing worked, I picked up all the contacts to find the wedding ring. They found me in a day, my friends brought me both an engagement ring and my wife, and before leaving in March for a mission in Kiev, I proposed.
I'm a lieutenant, a group commander in a reconnaissance battalion. I served in the intelligence service in 2014-2016, 2018-2019, and I have been serving now since the invasion. Pictured is the DJI Mavic 3, one of the best quadrocopters in its segment in terms of performance and availability. It is well suited for exploration and adjustment at a distance of up to 5-10 km. If the weather and situation allow, then we fly them further.
My friends and I are engaged in practical shooting with a gun at targets. We have extreme hobbies, we like to go hiking. But not on a picnic to sit or go skiing, but something like that with a risk. For example, they went to Chernobyl illegally as stalkers and hid from the police. I know a little about the military topic. Plus, we have our own equipment. Therefore, when the war started, we realized that with our hobbies, physical training, and knowledge, our conscience simply would not allow us to go anywhere, hide.
In the first days of the war, together with two friends, they signed up first for the TRO, and then transferred to the teroborona detachment, which was re-formed into a special unit under the armed forces of Ukraine. Bogdan spoke openly about his experience on the front line, reflections on the war and why not everyone needs to go to war, in an interview for DOU.
In the war from the very beginning, I went on February 24 to teroborony of the Dnipro District of Kiev, where I live. Together with the guys, they built a fortified area near the Chernihiv metro station, trained and trained new fighters (pictured). Now I have joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the 5th Assault Regiment, preparing a squad of grenade throwers (automatic type AGS-17).
In the IT sphere, not so long ago, I was interested in the direction of Data Science, and decided to delve further. Now I work (while on pause) in the German company Soley, I am engaged in data analytics. Before that, he had a lot of experience in managing organizations, received an MBA degree.
My first commercial project was in 2000, after which I first went to graduate school, then as an engineer at Cypress Semiconductor for five years and almost 10 years at SoftServe, where I grew up to Solutions Architect. With SoftServe, I ran twice to startups, EduNav and Hivecell, after the latter and mobilized.
I went to register at the military enlistment office, and there was an "action" — they sent everyone to the National Guard. I didn't serve before. Now we are in the rear, near the border with Moldova — we are guarding objects and studying. I learned how to conduct reconnaissance from a drone here.
I only had a week in it before the invasion started. Before that, I have six years of the armed forces of Ukraine+NSU, six rotations in the ATO/OOS, I have several state and departmental awards. Military rank-captain, last position — battery commander. I am an anti-aircraft gunner (air defense) by profession. The guys I Command already have confirmed downed air targets.
With two best friends (one of them-Bogdan Markovsky, who is mentioned above), they joined the District self-defense unit, since there were simply no places in the TRO anymore. But over time, we realized that we could be much more useful to the country, because in self-defense, our potential and experience (all three of us are engaged in practical shooting) were not fully used. You can read more about the history of Nicholas in this article.
In the photo — with the Twin Cities after a massive shelling during the battle for Moschun near Kiev on March 15. Two days of real hell with almost no sleep or food.
He first served in 2014 in the border troops in the Luhansk region, then received several awards, in particular the order "for courage". As soon as a new invasion began, he returned to the service. You can read more about Ivan here.
A few months before the invasion, I returned from Poland to Ukraine to join EPAM. My wife and I decided that this is our home and that we want to live in our native land. On the first day of a full-scale invasion, I already knew my plan clearly. First-to take the family to a safe place, and secondly — to go to the military enlistment office.
Having health restrictions, I didn't go through military service, but now all this has faded into the background. We must do everything possible so that our children do not have to fight the Russians again.
Now I'm a senior soldier in a security company. I perform combat missions in the direction of raisins. The motivation and fighting spirit of our Twin Cities shows that victory will be ours!
I worked as a PM in the Directorate of electronic services development of the Ministry of digital transformation of Ukraine.
I mobilized in May 2022, because I felt the duty to protect the state. I was born in Donetsk and raised in Berdyansk. Both of my hometowns are occupied, and orcs have entered my house. I had no moral right not to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Since in 2018 I graduated from the Military Institute of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, I mobilized in my specialty and hold the position of Deputy company commander for moral and psychological support. Rank-junior lieutenant. Photo - from the exercises.
