Success story: Ukrainian in 1990's moved to Brooklyn, took a loan on MBA and got a job at Microsoft

Ukrainian Anya Ruvinskaya moved with her family to the United States as a child. Growing up, she took a loan for training and received a good education. This allowed her to work in major corporations such as Microsoft and Spotify. This publication writes MC Today.

Now Anya is building a career in IT corporations and dreams of a startup, the source said.

“MC Today’s editorial team met with Anya during the IT Arena 2019, where she gave a talk about her work at Spotify and Minecraft,” the report said.

Anna talked about how the workflow is organized in such large companies as Microsoft, as well as about how a startup is better than a corporation, and about the life of emigrants in Brooklyn in the late 1990's.

Moving to the USA and childhood

According to Ani, in 1994, she and her family moved from Kiev to the USA.

“I remember the first time we went to a supermarket upon arrival in New York. Everything around was white, clean; large selection of products. It seemed to me that this was some kind of cosmos, ”Anya shared her memories.

According to her, at that time, only her mother, an English teacher, knew English.

Ani's father is Jewish by birth. The family immigrated under a special government program that assisted ethnic Jews in the event of moving to the United States.

“The first was his sister, and we followed her family. Other relatives of his father also left Ukraine - some to Canada, some to Israel, ”she said.

Ani's family settled in Brooklyn, where he still lives.

“My mother first worked at the reception in the office of an American company, then went to study programming. Dad is a geologist by education. But when we moved, he was busy with everything: he was a driver, a security guard and just a handyman. He didn’t get a job in profile education, because he did not perfectly learn English, because in Brooklyn there are a lot of Russian-speaking people, ”the girl explained.

In Brooklyn, the girl says, despite the fact that many people prejudice him, she always felt safe.

“I went to school by metro myself and was not afraid of anything. We, immigrants, were open to society, were not afraid to take risks, we simply had no other choice, ”the girl said.

At school, according to Ani, she was a very open child.

“We had children of emigrants from Russia, Ukraine, and Israel. I talked not only with them. I was interested with everyone. My best friend was a girl from Uzbekistan, ”Anya recalls.

The girl received her first education in New York.

After university, she worked in volunteer projects in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa. This allowed her to see not only New York, but also "the rest of America."

“After graduating, I entered the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business. It was a very expensive program. I had to take a few loans to pay for it, ”Anna explains.

She noted that it was this program that gave her amazing opportunities in the future, thanks to which she got a job at Microsoft.

Microsoft work

Anya got a job here in the 2012 year and worked here for four years. This was her first job in technology.

“Then I wanted to not only get into a well-known corporation. It was important for me to get a job in a company that benefits society and has the resources to do it for non-profit (charitable) purposes, ”she explained.

Soon, Anya found a position at Microsoft in the education department.

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“I used to be involved in educational projects in companies. This work was not related to product management, but to a greater extent with business development, ”stated Anya.

Its main task was to work with students as part of the educational programs that Microsoft had. At that time, the corporation was very competitive with Google in the field of education and products for students and teachers, for example, in Office or in cloud solutions, the girl noted.

How to get a job at Microsoft

According to Ani, getting into the corporation was not difficult for her. However, she suggests, from Ukraine it is much more difficult to do.

“It was relatively easy for me to get a job at a large corporation because I graduated from a business school. I had good recommendations. Although getting a job at Microsoft is not so easy. It all depends on who you are, where you come from and what experience you have, ”she added.

Anya worked at the main office of Microsoft, which is located in Seattle.

In order to get a job, she went through several interviews with the company's IT staff and seven interviews with the heads of different departments.

“The position that I initially applied for was related to business development, so in an interview I answered a variety of questions about marketing, education. Candidates who are interviewed for technical specialties answer more professional technical questions during the interview. The conversation with them is different, ”she said.

How it works at Microsoft

The Microsoft office, according to Ani, is a whole campus located in the suburbs.

Everyone who works in the main office usually lives either out of town if they are family people or in downtown Seattle. A special bus brings them to work.

“The salaries in the corporation are high, and the prices and taxes are not the same as in the vicinity of Silicon Valley. And not like in New York, where I grew up. From this point of view, Seattle is considered one of the most favorable cities for people involved in innovative business, ”she said.

For comparison: in California, rental housing costs $ 3-4 thousand, in Seattle - half the price.

“The first working day in the corporation is a fact-finding. I did not immediately get involved in working with the team. At the very beginning it was necessary to hand over my documents for employment, ”said Anya.

On the same day, all the newcomers (about a hundred people) were gathered at the visitor center and made several presentations about the work of the company as a whole, about the departments and how they interact.

“Such familiarization events for new employees in the corporation are held every Monday, because thousands of people work there, they are constantly looking for someone, they are hiring,” said Anya.

And she added that mostly Americans are hired, but there are expats. For example, Microsoft has many Indians.

Transition to Minecraft

After Microsoft bought the game-making Mojang studio in Sweden in 2014, Anya decided to switch to Minecraft.

“I’ve never worked with video games before and knew nothing about it. To be honest, I myself first played Minecraft before being interviewed for a new position, ”she admitted.

With the transition, Anya changed her position.

“From business development, I moved to product management. At that moment, I wanted to try myself in a team that directly creates a product and influences it, ”she explained.

Once in a large corporation, the girl recalls, she “felt a bit powerless, deprived of the opportunity to influence the work process, make decisions on her own.”

“Therefore, I had a need to move to the product development department, where I would feel that my contribution to the workflow is more tangible. This is one of the reasons why I switched to the Minecraft project, ”she said.

How was the work in the Minecraft team arranged

Microsoft bought not only the game itself, but also the developers of the company, Anya said.

“It was a relatively small team, so we somehow felt like a startup, even though we were in the Microsoft structure,” she added.

Since Microsoft already had the experience of “not very effective influence on the product after the purchase of Nokia or Skype”, the team was faced with the task of “protecting the Minecraft brand, preserving its feature”.

This time, the Microsoft team tried to minimize the impact on the product. Development and strategy was mainly done by Mojang. This created the feeling that the team was really building a startup, the girl shared.

“I led the department that developed the computer version of the game for Windows 10, the mobile version for Android and iOS. We launched the game in the AppStore and Google Play Market. I was also involved in the development of the Minecraft marketplace, ”Anya told about her responsibilities.

There were up to 13 people in her team. She worked there for two years.

Anya notes that the huge corporation had a positive impact on Minecraft, despite the fact that Microsoft did not always succeed in not interfering in the processes that built Minecraft. But the project has grown rapidly.

“Microsoft gave the Minecraft team the opportunities and resources for growth that the company couldn’t get on its own so quickly,” she added.

According to her, if not for the resources of Microsoft, Minecraft would have taken twice as much time to launch the marketplace.

In addition, she noted, Microsoft already had certain developments. According to her, they could simply be implemented. For this, the corporation could easily hire the necessary number of developers, because it has a lot more money for this.

“Even during the development and integration of new features in the game, we did not have any major failures, because Microsoft is very scrupulous in testing a product with more than 100 million users,” she said.

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Anya remembered one curious incident.

“When we launched the game on the Google Play Market, you had to have a Google account to register. In those days, all Minecraft accounts were tied to the personal accounts of Microsoft employees, and Microsoft did not have a single account to access Google services. So one of the first service integration of the two corporations happened, ”she said.

Spotify Jobs and Future Plans

As noted by Anna, she loved her team in Minecraft, and it was hard for her to leave.

“But I am a person who loves to try something new. It seems to me that it’s hard for product managers to stay in the same projects for many years, ”she explained.

She added that in this profession it is necessary to create ideas all the time, and for this it is necessary to learn new things, develop, and in one place it is difficult to do.

Thus, the Ukrainian hit Spotify. In this company, Anya worked as a product manager, trying to apply the experience “in a real startup”.

The company has been developing tools and software for the music industry. And Ani's team, in particular, worked with independent performers.

Spotify's main office was in Stockholm, while the American office was in New York.

According to Ani, working at Spotify is very different in that the corporation manages to strike a balance between work and personal life.

“They respect the culture of all their people, there is an informal atmosphere. They comply with the principles of equality, men and women in the company the same amount, including among the leadership. The team itself is very young, ”said the girl.

She also noted that, working in this company, she felt herself in a truly multicultural society.

However, Anya also left Spotify after working for two years.

Ukrainka noted that in both projects she gained enormous experience, "because the products developed rapidly, the companies grew."

Now the girl took a timeout to decide where to move on. She still has an unrealized desire - to work in a small team of a real startup.

“Perhaps it will even be my own project,” she added.

At the moment, Anya is traveling, but she came to the “IT Arena” in Lviv by accident.

“My former Microsoft colleague, Matt Wollert, was the speaker at this conference last year. He left Microsoft earlier than me, ”said Anya.

Since she had not been to Ukraine for a long time, and never before in the western part, she decided that speaking at the Ukrainian IT conference was a cool opportunity.