Vladimir Tarasenko: "SPbGASU teaches creative engineering thinking"

Vladimir Tarasenko is the commercial director at Consist Business Group. In 1999 he graduated with honours from the SPbGASU Faculty of Automobile and Road Building. We asked Vladimir to share his impressions of studying at our university and tell about the teachers who influenced him most.

– Why did you choose to study at Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering?

– I scored enough points to enter several other universities, but preferred to study at SPbGASU, because my father also graduated from the Faculty of Automobile and Road Building and even defended his PhD thesis there. I decided to follow in his footsteps.

– Which teachers influenced you the most throughout the university years?

– I cannot single out any specific person, as all our teachers were quite qualified. I have very good memories of Nikolai Verevkin, who was the faculty dean at that time.

– What were your impressions of student life?

– I combined my studies at the Faculty of Automobile and Road Building with sports and work. Being a student at this faculty, and this university on the whole, required great effort and complete dedication. Therefore, I practically had no time for social activities. What can I say about SPbGASU? The university gives a correct workload in terms of project implementation, and prepares students for entering a serious professional life. At the moment of graduation, you are mentally prepared for difficult engineering work.

– How has your career developed after graduation?

– I worked in my speciality for a year and a half, and then returned to the industry to which I gravitated. In parallel with my studies, I was engaged in programming, and what started as a hobby eventually became my main occupation. Now I work in the field of information technology. SPbGASU gave me a lot in approaching such things as project management.

At the university, I learned the engineer’s discipline and patience. If the project you are doing is complicated, you need to immerse deeply into it. The education received at SPbGASU helped me to develop these skills and the right approach to work. I had friends from other faculties, and all of them were taught a systematic approach to project management at the university. Our teachers did not set any restrictions in the choice of topics for our diploma projects.

My final qualifying paper was not a standard one, it was devoted to fixing damaged bus bodies. It was a rather difficult topic, and it was my personal choice approved of by the teachers who worked with me. Engineering creativity has always been encouraged at SPbGASU.

– What company are you currently working for?

– I work as the commercial director at Consist Business Group, which is part of the LANIT holding, one of the largest IT corporations in Russia.

– What does your company do? 

– The scope of our activities covers software development, project management, IT services. Anything related to IT and software products.

– What could you say to current and prospective students of SPbGASU?

– In my understanding, our university is an excellent choice. I praise this university not only because it gave me a start in life, or because my father studied here. SPbGASU students are loaded with knowledge in a proper way. But gaining technical knowledge is one thing, while building skills in structuring information, its selection and correct analysis is another. It will come in handy in any profession, no matter whether you work according to your specialization or choose another field of activity.

Text: Elena Shulgina
Photo courtesy of Vladimir Tarasenko

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