Răzvan Voica, CEO of Informal School of IT: "We Change Lives, We Don't Just Offer Simple Programming Courses"

"I can't believe more than 9 years have already gone by. There's clearly a lot of emotion in that," says Răzvan, smiling. "We offer much more than simple programming courses." That's how the interview begins with the founder of a school that's different, one that launched an alternative education model in Romania's software industry. On this anniversary, we count more than 7,500 graduates who believed in the power of a new beginning. "The intensity we feel from the feedback, when a student says «You helped me change my life!», is on a whole other level." Răzvan gives us the full behind-the-scenes story!

Why an "informal" School of IT?

"It's an 'informal' School, precisely to create that closer connection with people. We try to remove the bureaucratic and formal barriers we're all used to. We wanted to break away from the practices of the traditional education system and bring in  this non-formal approach, paired with the everyday experience of our mentors – experience they've earned working on real projects, at the companies where they're employed. 

We don't have teachers, in the true sense of the word. Our mentors are industry professionals who, after finishing their day job – in the afternoon or evening – come in and teach. That's what brings the pragmatism. While in traditional school we all learn certain things we never actually get to apply, at Informal School of IT I wanted a curriculum connected to reality. And we've managed that.

The newest courses at Informal School of IT:

Agentic AI with .NET Artificial Intelligence Course

Power BI for Analysts Course: Modeling, DAX & Dashboards

The most sought-after course at Informal School of IT is…

The Intro to IT course.  A lot of people want to understand what IT actually is, especially when we're talking about a career change. We want people to go through this career-change process once and then stay in IT. Intro to IT came about after we realized it makes no sense to keep people in a course for 4-5 months only for them to realize it's not for them. The course is an all-arounder, broadly exploring every discipline within IT. That way, students will know how to orient themselves. And which specialization would suit them.

If you like several branches of IT, you have an advantage on the job market

There's also the option where you might like several specializations, which isn't a bad thing, because right now the Full Stack Developer position is becoming increasingly sought-after on the market. 
That means there are people who know a set of technologies well enough to navigate a product, whether in back-end or front-end, to understand the whole architecture and be able to step in. Full Stack Developers are very valuable people, and right now they're in high demand on the IT market.

The biggest fear you can have before you start programming courses

That you won't understand and that you won't succeed. That's everyone's fear. 

I think it's a fairly typical source of anxiety for this kind of challenge.

In IT there's a lot of responsibility, the industry has a particular dynamic, and not everyone can perform well within that dynamic. The secret is to be patient and to give yourself a chance. Don't run from the unknown, because the unknown isn't as dark as it might seem at first – when you don't actually know what it's about yet. 

I've noticed there's a tendency in the Eastern European region to somehow place ourselves beneath the employer, for that dose of humility to be the standard. Fortunately, though, IT stays fairly far away from this tendency. In every company I know, I've never seen any kind of discrimination. There are pretty good odds in the IT industry, and more people should understand that. 

The most important lesson learned from those who've completed programming courses

I think one of the best lessons came from someone who had a fairly well-established career in another field, a management position: in their thirties, two kids. At some point, they simply told themselves: «We have one life, after which the light goes out and we don't know what happens next, if anything happens at all. I want to do something that intrigues me, something that stimulates me, something I love and where I can fully express myself.»

In his case, it wasn't 2 steps back, but more like 10. There was no way he could land an IT position that quickly and still get the same salary level he already had. He did something that shocked me: before he even finished the course, he quit his job to motivate himself, knowing he had no other alternative. He made it, but there's a life lesson in there. He made some tough decisions, in a context that was anything but easy. But he got where he wanted to be.

What Răzvan has in common with the people he works with

That "teacher" spirit, where you try to help people through knowledge. A person's quality of life can change very easily once that person starts investing in education in a structured way. I think that here, at Informal School of IT, the intensity we feel from the feedback, when a student says «You helped me change my life!», is on a whole other level and doesn't compare to anything I've experienced before.

Everyone on my team wants to actively take part in a mechanism that creates social impact. At the end of the day, that's exactly what we do: we take people from around us, from society, and try to help them on their way to a better life.

Why new programming courses keep appearing at Informal School of IT

Whenever a new, powerful technology appears on the market, requests come in both from people who want to take programming courses and from our employer partners. Example: the Python course. Its popularity has grown quite a lot over the last 2 years, and we've already had calls from partner companies: «We'd like to hire people specialized in Python.» On top of that, our mentors also watch the market and come to us with their own recommendations.

One very concrete piece of advice

Never chase a dream that's too small. If it's too small, it isn't really a dream. 

You have to take on a bold mission, even if it seems crazy at the time. A lot of people told me that alternative education in the IT field wouldn't work in a country like Romania. And yet, here's Informal School of IT. It's just one example that, if you want it enough, it's possible.

Is your dream to work in IT? Follow it! We believe that YOU CAN do what you set out to do. Redefine your future through programming courses!

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