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Rustam Zokirov, a graduate of Inha University in Tashkent, has secured a position as a Test Engineer on the Android EngProd team at Google in Munich, Germany.
We are incredibly proud that our graduates are achieving remarkable heights and building successful careers upon completing their studies at Inha University in Tashkent. Rustam shared his experiences:
“My career journey began in my third year at IUT when I started working as a Junior Software Engineer at EPAM Systems. Over the next two years, I was promoted to Senior Software Engineer. Later, I joined Exadel, where I worked for the following 1.5 years before moving to Google. During my studies at Inha University, I had interviews at Facebook in my third year, which I didn’t pass, and at Bloomberg in my fourth year, I successfully passed. Here, I want to emphasize that there’s no need to fear rejection. It’s important to keep working hard and moving towards your goals.
About working at Google and my experience
Immediately after graduating from Inha University in 2023, I applied to Google through careers.google.com, without any recommendations. Three days later, a recruiter contacted me, and we began a series of technical and non-technical interviews. In total, I had 8 official interviews. The interview process took 2 months, followed by 6 months for the team matching process and another 3 months for the visa. Overall, the entire process took exactly one year.
Interested people can find more information about my journey in my Telegram blog: //t.me/cracking_maang.
Throughout the entire interview process, I was in Uzbekistan. After receiving a formal offer, Google assisted me with the visa and the relocation process to Munich. I am one of the first people to receive an offer from Google while being in Uzbekistan. Many technical specialists think this is impossible, but as you can see, the possibilities are endless.
Currently, I work in the Google office in Munich, Germany, as a Software Engineer in Test on the Android EngProd team. At Google, Software Engineers in Test are also Software Engineers, but with a focus on development productivity. We strive to make development teams more productive by automating internal processes, creating useful frameworks and tools, designing and automating product tests, and building testing infrastructure. We aim to work quickly, efficiently, and with high quality. Testing is not just about finding bugs; it involves management, DevOps, development, automation, and ensuring the quality of the product and code. It’s a creative profession – you have to think like a user, think of scenarios where the software might break, and consider various edge cases. You interact with customers, act as a business analyst, and participate in the development and review of UI/UX. If you do your job well and without mistakes, you become indispensable and even more valuable.
About the role of IUT
People are undoubtedly the main resource at Inha University. During my studies at Inha, I found an environment that incredibly contributed to my growth. Seeing successful students around me who were studying and working on amazing projects gave me energy and motivated me to continue my path. For me, it became one of the best places where I could build the right connections, make friends with amazing people, and work together to create and build incredible projects.
I want to give some advice to current students of Inha University in Tashkent who want to join a MAANG-level company.
Set clear goals and gain the knowledge to achieve them. Have patience and persistence. You try, you stumble, you learn, and you try again. At the same time, don’t forget to enjoy life and the process, not just the result. Communicate and expand your network, learn to ask good questions, and develop your communication and listening skills. Being happy is much more important than being successful. When you do what you love, you wake up every morning happy, with a burning desire to go to work, and you are likely to succeed. So enjoy the process and the present moment!”