We have posted a new interview in the Research City section. We talked with Antonina Fyodorova, Associate Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Programming, the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technologies, and Head of the Programmers Olympiad Training Centre.

Every year in September, the Centre invites students of all faculties and institutes, as well as schoolchildren to its classes and events. In the interview, Antonina Fyodorova spoke about specific skills acquired during the olympiads and competitions, as well as in training for them. Readers will learn about the value of such training for future programmers and what the olympiad tasks have in common with the issues that the students will face in the future at studies and work.

She explained why knowledge in information technologies was especially valuable today. She believes that knowledge of the basics of computer science and programming today is regarded as knowledge of a foreign language, which will help to improve the qualifications of an employee in any field: in science, production, education, and management.

It should be noted that next year the Programmers Olympiad Training Centre will be 20 years old. The order on its establishment was signed by Rector Dmitrii Trubetskov on the day of the death of the mastermind of school and student programming olympiads – Natalia Andreyeva – so the Centre was named after her.

‘Programming in the new century as a field of training has acquired special importance and relevance due to the rapid growth in the use of computer technology in all areas, and especially in recent years in connection with digitalisation. But the training of specialists in information technologies, as well as the training of programmers, at our university began in the middle of the last century, when the Computing Centre was established at SSU in 1957,’ Antonina Fyodorova said.

You can read the interview in the Research City section.