Atilla Yardimci
Atilla is a Turkish student with a management engineering career and a business oriented background that decided to study abroad and join Barcelona Technology School with one single goal, to move his career forward getting involved in Big data projects. Discover how he is achieving those goals in his own words.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO GO TO STUDY A MASTER ABROAD?
What motivated me most to study abroad is the seek for opportunities in a Big Data career. I searched in Google and also asked some advice from friends, and I narrowed my destinations down to 4 cities: London, Berlin, San Francisco and Barcelona, as these are the most internationally recognized cities when it comes to digital environment.
What´s more, I´ve wanted to catch up with the big data part in the business world. As Barcelona is one of the best cities for startups, I´ve been paying a lot of attention to entrepreneurship and small companies. I myself was an entrepreneur with 3 companies back in Turkey, and I think that´s where the opportunities are lied.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN A CITY AS BARCELONA?
I have been able to meet a lot of people from the beginning, I have participated on Meetups where I began to really know people in the big data field and to build network with them.
I think Barcelona is truly an open city because you can feel that people from all over the world are very welcome here. For example, I´m from Turkey, a country situated at the connecting point of Asia and Europe and is not within the EU, and people are curious about my country and my culture and are very kind to me.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STUDYING EXPERIENCE IN BARCELONA TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL?
I feel myself lucky, to come from to Barcelona was a difficult decision but once at BTS I realized it was better than my expectations.
It´s amazing the in one class we have students from 14 different countries from all over the world, which contributes enormously the cultural diversity of the Master program.
Also, we have a strong diversity of the academic background, for example there are people with strong business profile while others come from a more tech oriented field. So, it´s normal that no everyone has the same level on all the subjects, yet such diversity enable us to complement and help each other when we have to do projects together which requires knowledge and experience on different disciplines. You can get an excellent result of a project thanks to that everyone is offering what they know and what they´ve learned.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE DURING THE INTERNSHIPS? DO YOU THINK THE MASTER HELPED YOU TO APPLY THE LEARNT KNOWLEDGE THERE?
I think it is through the internship that I´ve able to apply what I´ve learn in class to the working field. And I have to say that I´ve been lucky to be able to find an internship just two months after the Master started and I´m really satisfied with it since it is just what and how I expected it would be. Also, I have to say that the internship experience has shown me that the BTS ecosystem is real and it works, it helps you to find real opportunities to start a career in the tech industry in Barcelona. I really appreciated that the administration staff from BTS helped me a lot with the searching for an internship program, but more importantly, I think it depends on the individual whether he can capture the opportunity and to do his best at it.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE NEAR FUTURE? HOW WOULD YOU POSITION YOURSELF IN THE DIGITAL INDUSTRY?
At the beginning of the Master I didn’t know about all those facts happening in the digital and mobile business, but now I´ve become more aware of the importance of such business and trends. I´ve been trying to be an expert in processing and handling data, and I would position myself as a data processing manager in the near future, which combines my business experience with the practical skills I´ve developed. And I think the most important thing is to convert the information that is out there into insights.
DO YOU THINK THE MASTER IN DIGITAL SOLUTIONS DEVELOPMENT HAS HELPED YOU TO ACQUIRE NEW SKILLS?
Sure, it gives you the way to improve yourself.
The Master in Digital Solutions Development serves as a guidance, there are many options and subjects, it gives you the general knowledge so then you can choose the path that interest you the most. For example, Java, which is particularly difficult, might require extra effort but I am aware that I have to understand it as important technology from the backend side, but are the students who should have very clear the path they want to follow.
All the subjects are interrelated, all are relevant and important, you cannot improve yourself without having the whole picture, it’s a circle.
COULD YOU TELL US THREE MAIN REASONS TO RECOMMEND BTS?
- It is located in Barcelona, one of the main tech cities in the world.
- It has a strong ecosystem that helps to get a professional opportunity.
- It´s equipped with professors, professionals from the digital industry with whom you can get insightful education and develop your skills, and you can put it into practice.
DO YOU THINK THIS STUDYING ABROAD EXPERIENCE HAS HAD AN IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE? IF YES, IN WHAT WAY?
Yes definitely. I could say the it has completely changed my life as I now study and work in Barcelona and more importantly, it allowed me make a change in my career as I´ve desired to work in big data, and studying in BTS has given me the chance to do so.
On a more personal basis, I am happy to share this experience with my family as they are moving to Barcelona.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY TO FUTURE STUDENTS OF BTS?
I´d like to say that the Master serves as a tool to help you reach your goals, as touches several technologies and subjects (web and mobile development, cloud computing, big data, user experience, digital business and entrepreneurship) what helps you to discover your own professional path and catch up with the real world and be aware how a real company works.
However, personal effort to improve yourself is also very necessary. It´s also vital to build network with the ecosystem.
One advice: don´t skip any opportunity, have an open mind, and make a good use of the BTS ecosystem!
WHAT´S YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT?
My favorite subjects are Big Data and, also Cloud Computing because the trainer is highly qualified and the classes are dynamic.