„The biggest reward for me is knowing that I've helped change lives!”
– Filip, Java Development mentor –
We talked with Filip Fiat, a mentor at the Informal School of IT, a developer with extensive industry experience who brings his authentic passion for technology into the classroom every day.
It's no coincidence that Filip firmly believes that you can't do IT without passion, that the mentor-mentee relationship is a partnership, and that those who succeed come to the Informal School of IT because they don't know how, but they know where they want to get to. His students' results truly fulfill him.
About professionalism, experience, a sense of values and seriousness, charisma and his own interactive teaching style, we could say a lot, but let's give the floor directly to Filip, in an interview that brings all these qualities of his to light. Let's hear him out!
(Interview written by Simona Gouraud and Paula Mitran.)
„I proudly told my colleagues that he was my student”
Filip Fiat, accredited Java course mentor, Informal School of IT1. You're getting ready to mentor a new generation of students learning Java programming at the Informal School of IT. Tell us about how you first found your passion for this programming language.
I graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and the Faculty of Computer Science. I was in my third year of Computer Science when I got the chance to do an internship at an IT company. That's where I first encountered Java programming. But also real teamwork. And that's when I started to understand that IT projects don't defeat you through their difficulty, but through the lack of cooperation among the people involved.
In college you get “a flavour” of everything, but the current trend in IT is T-shaped programming: being good across several areas, but having expertise, depth of knowledge in one specific area. When you come across something you truly like, it's important to start studying it.
Passion will carry you. Money as a motivator will never be enough, whatever field you choose. In IT, though, you won't be able to hold out without passion. It's a joy to know that you can create something yourself, like you can in IT, but always relying on a team (you help, and you ask for help). Teams form around people who cooperate, and push away those who are individualistic.
2. How would you explain the mentor's role at the Informal School of IT to a beginner?
The Informal School of IT gives you the right setting, as a beginner, to learn a programming language from scratch. Yes, anyone, with enough determination, can learn any discipline online too. But that's where the need for a mentor comes in.
A mentor at the Informal School of IT is a guide, has enough hands-on experience in the field, and also knows technologies beyond the one studied in class.
In other words, a person like that is in touch with a wider world than the bubble you're in at that moment.
- I'll use a metaphor: programming is like a big bowling ball, with no finger holes. The mentor helps you find the holes, meaning helps you start your learning journey.
- With one condition: that you want to learn and put in the extra effort to support what happens in the classroom.
- Passion and its importance: if you don't like the field, don't practice outside of class hours, and aren't engaged, you won't progress.
3. What's the biggest satisfaction you get, as a mentor of the Java programming course for beginners?
The biggest reward for me is this: knowing that I've helped change lives. I ran into Bogdan (Pașca) at the companies' marathon and proudly told my colleagues that he was my student and that he's now a fellow professional.
I'm incredibly happy when my former students get hired in the field. Anyone interested can learn success stories straight from our students:
- Bogdan's story, who was a psychologist until he graduated from the Informal School of IT,
- Dragoș's story, an actor who became a Java Developer,
- or Marius's, who managed to retrain, from farming to IT.
These people knew where they wanted to get to, and they're examples that prove their passion for IT and their desire to learn Java programming.
4. How should a student prepare to get results?
Every student should become a partner to their mentor in their own training. Only when you do your research will you know how to ask your mentor the right questions, the ones that will help you make progress.
I recommend that my students read the materials in advance, prepare for every class, do their homework and set aside the necessary time for it. And yes, be active on the WhatsApp group, where fellow students also provide answers.
At the Informal School of IT, the ultimate goal isn't the diploma, it's the learning experience. “I'm paying, so I expect someone to teach me, without me putting in any effort” doesn't match reality, nor this school's philosophy.
Students need to have a goal in mind, want to become as good as possible in this field that's new to them, and be willing to work hard to fulfill their dream.
5. Why learn JAVA programming?
The market is in high demand for programmers, and not just those who know the Java programming language. In the educational program I mentor, we learn to use Java as a tool, to become programmers.
The concepts are the same, regardless of the programming language. The vocabulary and syntax differ, if I were to draw a parallel with learning several foreign languages.
What we do, in the online Java programming courses for beginners, is teach people that mindset that will help them translate a project/a product into software.
6. Tell us briefly about your future plans, as a mentor.
In the future, I'd like to lay the groundwork for an Enterprise Patterns course. It would basically be a platform where we'd integrate several systems, a product we could pitch to companies, that the school's students could work on alongside professionals with more experience in IT.
And a second project I'd like to get involved in is developing an IT course for high schoolers, a new product from the Informal School of IT in Timișoara.
7. Let's close this interview with a motto — do you have a favorite one?
I have two guiding principles in life:
- (1) Think before you speak.
- (2) Use your mind to ask questions, never take an answer for granted. Search!
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