"Reflecting on the friendly interactions I had during my training, I strive to create the same impression on those attending my course." Graduates of the CS center who became instructors recall their years of study and share about the start of their teaching journey.
Open until April 13 to the CS center. On-site training in St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. Distance learning for residents of other cities.
Nikolai Polyarny, class of 2016. Works on the development and implementation of computer vision algorithms in the field of 3D reconstruction — he develops the Metashape program (formerly PhotoScan) at Agisoft. Last fall, he taught at the CS center .
Mikhail Slobodkin, class of 2014. Analyst at Yandex, teaches in the ITMO-JetBrains master's program and at the Computer Science Center. At the center, he conducts .
Kirill Brodt, class of 2018. Develops dialogue systems at Tinkoff Bank. Leads in Novosibirsk.
Leila Khatbullina, class of 2017. Works in the laboratory of big data analysis methods at HSE in the JUNO project, teaches data analysis for economists, and develops the FProg project. At the CS center, she checked .
Alexey Artamonov, class of 2014. Develops drones at Yandex. Since autumn 2014, he has been teaching a year-long .
Let's start from the very beginning. What memories do you have of the admission process to the center?
Kolia Polyarny
I always really enjoyed the interviews: both at different companies and at the CS center. It seems that the interview at the center involved something about mathematics, but the emphasis was on the motivation question. This is almost always the case: at the university, in any research, and in any complex work, results heavily depend on motivation. Without it, no matter how much predisposition and skills one has, at some point it will become boring, and there will be no reason to continue.
I vaguely remember the story of how I was heading to my first lecture right after being admitted. That day, I had just quit my job to focus on my studies, and I was running late for the lecture because the resignation process took longer than expected. As a result, I was experiencing a peculiar sense of a tight transition, where the end of one thing led to a delay in starting another. It's hard to express precisely, but against the backdrop of an overall optimistic expectation of something new, it was amusing.
Kirill Brodt
I applied twice: in 2015 and 2016. The first time, I knew nothing about machine learning and decided to apply just because I could. I needed to leave for an internship in France to finish my studies, so I didn't prepare and failed the second in-person stage, scoring less than half of the passing score needed for the interview. I was surprised that the math problems were of Olympiad level, but I wasn't too upset since I didn't really understand what it was all about, and even if I had gotten in, I wouldn't have been able to study.
At the end of 2015, after finishing my studies, I returned to Novosibirsk because a girl was waiting for me at home. I remember that in early 2016, there was news on the NSU website about an open course in parallel programming from the School of Data Analysis, which I decided to attend. This course took up one entire evening for the lecture and seminar, along with a full day on the weekend for homework.
Then the recruitment began, and I decided to give it another shot, even though I wasn't particularly eager about it. If one course takes so much time, I was afraid to even imagine what it would be like with three. This time, the second stage was remote. After a while, I received a letter saying I scored just below the passing mark. But I was lucky because I had completed the open course in parallel computing — the coordinators considered this and invited me to the third stage. From there, it was clear what happened next 🙂
Leila Khatbullina
I prepared seriously for the admission: I watched lectures on Stepik, attended programming circles with Pavel Mavrin at ITMO and took additional seminars on mathematical analysis with Andrey Kolpakov at LETI, and read Cormen.
Before the interview, I hadn't slept for a whole day, I was anxious and simultaneously practicing writing algorithms on paper, with one thought constantly in my mind: 'The key is to correctly find the midpoint of the array.'
Alexey Artemov
The first time I tried to enroll in the center was back in my second year of university. It was spring 2011. By education, I am an astrophysicist, and in school, I focused more on mathematics and physics and less on computer science. I had some understanding of programming in various languages; we even wrote games, but I lacked an algorithmic foundation. My motivation before the first interview was at the level of: "Well, I have friends who recommended it, they say it's cool there." As you might guess, I didn't get in the first time. I didn't have the basic knowledge necessary.
Starting in 2012, I became motivated to apply, began watching online courses. My math teacher from the school club moved to California and sent me a link to the Machine Learning lectures by Professor Jaser S. Abu-Mostafa. My knowledge of English was barely enough to understand what was being discussed, but the formulas really helped me figure things out. I carefully reviewed each slide and ended up acing the course, even though I expected to get no more than a passing grade. Then, in the summer, there was a Machine Learning course by Andrew Ng on Coursera. My interest in this field greatly helped me gain admission.
The second time I came with slightly more knowledge and a clear plan of what I wanted to study at the center. I was lucky to be invited for an interview; after the exam, I had a borderline score. I can't say that I particularly prepared for algorithm questions, so I tried to steer the interview towards machine learning and named gradient descent as my favorite algorithm 🙂.
Which course has had the most impact on what you are doing now?
Kolia Polyarny
Anton Kovalev's course on computational geometry at ITMO. The lectures were interactive; we had to come up with constructions ourselves, rather than just listening. A fantastic flight of thought! In the end, I went to Tranzas to work with Anton on what I am currently doing—reconstructing three-dimensional surfaces from photographs. This field relies heavily on computational geometry.
From the CS center, I particularly remember the course on functional programming in Haskell. Firstly, because the lectures cater to both those who tend to fall asleep if things are explained too slowly and in too much detail, and those who struggle to keep up due to a fast pace or lack of thorough explanation. Secondly, it’s an example of a field that is unlikely to be directly useful at work but steers the mind in the right direction.
Misha Slabodkin
It's hard to pick just one thing; I'll mention several areas of my studies and professional activity after completing the CS center:
— All the courses in theoretical computer science significantly influenced my choice of further education, research supervisor, and the topics of my two theses (in master's and specialist programs). In particular, the wonderful instructors of these subjects have always inspired and amazed me.
— I began seriously studying algorithms specifically at the CS center and have been teaching them with great pleasure and benefit to myself for the past three years in the joint master's program of ITMO and JetBrains, and previously at the Academic University.
— In my analytical work at Yandex, I use knowledge of Python, statistics, and algorithms.
Alexey Artemov
It was 2012, and I was in my first year at the center. My classmate, Vadim Lebedev, who enrolled a year before me, showed me interesting tasks from the image analysis course and talked about the tools used to solve them. I started watching the recorded course and then, the following year, took it myself. The course transitioned from a semester format to a yearly one, and I became even more immersed in computer vision. For several years now, I have been teaching this subject at the CS center, and at work, I analyze data obtained from drone cameras.
Do students at the CS center have free time? How much did you have? What challenges did you face during your studies?
Kolia Polyarny
It's hard to say in terms of hours. During my second and third years at the CS center, I was in my third and fourth years at ITMO, working 35-40 hours (sometimes less, sometimes more), taking on tasks at a math club for kids on Saturdays, participating in hackathons, and at one point, I even got my driver’s license. I feel that time is relatively elastic and usually depends on how eager one is to accomplish something and what resources are available.
Misha Slabodkin
My training at the CS center coincided with two math courses and one master's course at the Academic University. After classes at the university in Peterhof, it was quite challenging to manage several sessions at the center. However, I managed to pull off a clever combination and count some courses multiple times — in two, and one even in three institutions: initially simultaneously at the CS center and the math department, and later transferred to the AU. Among the other difficulties: it was impossible to study technical subjects without my portable laptop. I didn't always do well with theoretical coursework.
Kirill Brodt
In addition to my courses at the center, I worked 24 hours a week and tried to study in graduate school, from which I was later expelled 🙂 After that, I had time to play the piano, swim, and stare at the ceiling. Overall, I had plenty of time. A major difficulty was that many courses in Novosibirsk at that time were distance learning. You couldn’t ask a question in person if you couldn’t articulate it properly, as you didn’t even understand exactly what you wanted to ask. In our year, there were few classmates or no one at all for common courses, and it’s much easier for me to learn new things when discussing problems with someone else — it ends up being more productive.
Leila Khatbullina
I don’t remember this anymore, but I recall that there was never enough time, and I was taking courses unevenly, so I spent all my evenings, weekends, and holidays on homework.
Alexey Artemov
There was some time left, not to say that there was a lot. But I don’t remember having to sacrifice anything significant to keep up with everything. I went to the gym, watched series, and met with friends. When I only had to write my thesis at the university, I even managed to work part-time.
There were difficulties with logistics. I spent more than three hours a day on the road every day; I probably rested my mind during that time. When classes at the center were added, the time increased to four hours. Moreover, having a car wouldn’t have solved my problems back then. The main issue was that I couldn't eat properly, which one should strive to avoid in life.
Were there any memorable incidents during your studies at the CS center?
Kolia Polyarny
I vividly remember the moment from the defense of the semester practices. I struck up a conversation with a girl who was also defending at that time, and it turned out she was already a senior Java developer, but she disliked the banking sector in which she was working so much that she had no motivation to continue with it. So, she went to the CS center to possibly shift her focus to education. Her semester practice was related to a task for the Stepik platform. For me, this is the perfect illustration of the situation: 'a person feels disheartened → wants to change fields → goes to the CS center.'
Misha Slabodkin
Solving theoretical problems, discussing them with classmates, and presenting them to teachers and other students was a great pleasure in all subjects. I especially enjoyed the practices in a 'club' format with oral presentations of assignments — I always considered this the most effective method of learning.
Many end-of-semester celebrations stood out vividly in my memory, especially go-karting and paintball, for which I helped organize a bit. Participating in such activities alongside the instructors was extremely beneficial for 'humanizing' the CS center in the eyes of the students.
Kirill Brodt
During the first semester, I lived algorithms; I woke up, ate, and fell asleep with them. There were times when I woke up at three in the morning because I came up with a solution. Or at least I had the illusion that I had. I got up, turned on my laptop, coded, uploaded to the test system, and everything crashed on the conditional 20th test. I struggled until 5 AM without solving the problem and fell asleep. But later I did manage to finish it 🙂
Leila Khatbullina
In the CS center, I found many new friends. I remember how we discussed homework in nighttime chats, waited until late at night for our turn for exams while explaining tickets to each other, celebrated birthdays in the kitchen at the Times business center, and played games during end-of-semester and start-of-semester parties. It was fun! 🙂
Why did you start teaching? Were you invited, or did you decide to start yourself?
Kolia Polyarny
At some point, I got into the field of 3D reconstruction, meaning image processing. Along with that, I delved into GPU computing, since processing such large amounts of data on a CPU in a reasonable time is impossible. There was a steady feeling of sadness that no one had told me about these fields, despite their interesting nature. Additionally, I have always enjoyed teaching, and I knew where I could offer a course, so I decided to rectify the situation and create my own — starting with GPUs.
Misha Slabodkin
In 2016, Sasha Knop led the discrete mathematics practice. Before the semester began, he decided that checking 70 homework assignments a week was beyond his moral strength and asked me to help. A year later, we switched roles: I now conduct the classes, and Sasha helps with the grading.
Kirill Brodt
During my studies, rumors circulated that there was an opportunity to teach. I thought that would be great. I enjoy helping others with what I can. I don’t like to impose and was waiting to be invited 🙂
Leila Khatbullina
I have always liked teaching: in school, I voluntarily explained fractions using mandarins after class, and at university, I tutored a girl in German, who ended up passing the A1 exam in six months. I was invited to the CS center because there was a vacancy, and I had casually mentioned that I would gladly take it 🙂
Alexey Artemov
I became interested in image analysis during my studies at the center. Circumstances worked out such that Natalia, who was teaching my course, moved to the USA. Then, the curators offered me and Grisha Rozhkov to take over the course. Grisha was a student at the CS center at that time — he graduated in the spring of 2015.
What fears did I have before starting work as a teacher?
Kolia Polyarny
I had seen many good lecturers and had always been quite critical of poorly organized lectures; now I found myself on the other side of the barricades. "I am from the past" was my harshest critic during the preparation and delivery of the course. The fears were natural: poor presentation, overly boring material, excessive detail at a slow pace, too complex or uninteresting details at a fast pace, wasted time for the listeners, and so on.
Misha Slabodkin
I'll specifically address teaching at the CS center, as there have been countless teaching concerns with various courses over the years 🙂
— Conducting practical sessions for an audience of 50 people is quite challenging. Essentially, it's a lecture about exercises rather than personal interaction with each student, as I sometimes do in other subjects.
— The level of preparation and prior knowledge of the subject among the students varies significantly, so it's essential to choose various tasks and discuss them in a way that engages everyone.
Leila Khatbullina
I had doubts about my knowledge and was afraid that students would disagree with my grading when I checked their homework. But all fears were unfounded 🙂
Do you remember how you conducted your first class?
Kolia Polyarny
In the very first lecture, there were many listeners, and there weren't enough chairs in the room. I presented the material faster than I expected, and as a result, I continued without slides. However, I had anticipated that this could happen, so I was prepared, and everything went well.
Misha Slabodkin
I was glad that there were familiar faces in the audience, and I had someone to laugh about my failures with!
Kirill Brodt
I had a feeling that I had a speech impediment and no one understood what I was saying.
Alexey Artemov
I was sitting in front of the audience mumbling to myself. Overall, it was a bit rough, but then it got better 🙂
What do you enjoy most about the teaching process?
Misha Slabodkin
Oh, I can answer this confidently and immediately: I absolutely love reading the feedback! When the curators send them to me, I open the file with the feeling of unwrapping gifts under the Christmas tree and read everything twice.
I also enjoy discussing interesting tasks with students, watching how they rejoice at beautiful ideas, new unexpected facts, and connections with various fields of mathematics. Seeing genuine curiosity and a desire for knowledge. Sharing problems from which I recently derived great pleasure and observing the same impression in the listeners. Discussing additional assignments with students after classes until the guards come at 11:00 PM to ask if I'm in my right mind (this has happened three times!).
Kirill Brodt
I enjoy coming up with different explanations for the same material, and as a result, I gain a deeper understanding myself.
Leila Khatbullina
As the joke goes: "While I was explaining, I already understood it myself."
Alexey Artemov
I love it when students in the audience correctly answer my questions.
How has studying at the CS center influenced your teaching?
Kolia Polyarny
I understand that course participants have varying amounts of time they can dedicate to the course. Therefore, on one hand, I discuss complex algorithms from the real world during lectures (alongside simple synthetic tasks like sorting), and on the other hand, I assign only simple tasks for homework, as they help reinforce key concepts without taking up excessive effort and time. Additionally, I know that some participants already have basic knowledge of the course, so they find certain parts of the lectures uninteresting and are more likely to skim through the slides. Thus, I try to make the slides self-sufficient with links to original articles for those who want to dive deeper.
Misha Slabodkin
In the CS center, instructors are open to communication and eager to help students. Remembering how kindly they interacted with me during my studies, I strive to create the same impression for those attending my course.
You teach in other places as well. Could you share where? What are the unique aspects of teaching at the CS center?
Kolia Polyarny
I taught in a school math club, and I'm currently teaching programming at a school. Someday, I want to deliver a course on computer vision focusing on three-dimensional reconstruction, but there is so much material to cover that it's unclear when I'll be ready.
The CS center provides all the necessary conditions: minimal bureaucracy, convenient features like video recordings that are arranged so the lecturer doesn't waste time and energy on them. There are even supportive tools like feedback surveys for students. And, of course, the lack of course mandatory: if a student is not interested, they won't attend the course. As a result, all participants are highly motivated.
Misha Slabodkin
Besides the CS center, I have taught various mathematics subjects at the math department, in the 239 Lyceum club, at the Academic University, and in the master's program at ITMO-JetBrains. Occasionally, I give 'entertaining' mini-lectures to colleagues or friends when I discover something interesting related to mathematics. If there are no sudden relocations, I plan to continue.
The CS center has wonderful curators who turn all formalities into simple and pleasant tasks, allowing instructors to focus solely on preparing their lessons. Organizing holidays, board games, and souvenir t-shirts is also very important — it helps students get to know each other and their teachers, making lessons more enjoyable.
The main feature of teaching here is that infrequently conducted exams mean that accountability depends only on seminars, making lectures seem less important to students. As a result, some material is quickly forgotten, which sometimes hinders practical lessons.
And finally, some advice for those who want to teach.
Kirill Brodt
Don't forget to explain things that are obvious to you, but may not be so to your students. You might realize afterward that you don't fully understand it yourself, and you'll need to dig deeper.
Leila Khatbullina
Set aside any doubts 🙂 If you want to share knowledge and find joy in it, go for it, even if the course is 'How to Make Friendship Bracelets.' There's always an audience for you, and they'll definitely say 'thank you.'
Source: habr.com
