Teaching Java and Defying Turbulency - Exclusive Interview with CodeGym’s Co-Founder Alex Yelenevych

CodeGym is a company with Ukrainian roots, now working in European, American, and Asian markets. Nearly ten years ago, it created a self-paced course for learning Java, a popular programming language, and has been improving it ever since. Over 2 million students from 40+ countries have already taken this course to acquire or improve their coding skills. Things were looking pretty good for the company, with excellent outcomes and new ambitious goals – until on February 24, 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. But if you think the war could stop CodeGym, you’re entirely wrong. Not only the company sustained and learned to work under any circumstances, but it also created new products and entered new markets. CodeGym Java University, a 12-month program with mentors’ help and a job offer guarantee, is now conquering the Indian market. And CodeGym’s EDU product is gaining popularity among U.S. high schools and colleges.

Alex Yelenevych, Co-founder, Chief Marketing/Product Officer at CodeGym

We decided to ask Alex Yelenevych, a co-founder of CodeGym, about managing the company during the most turbulent times we can imagine, and the tips for keeping the team together and maintaining its creative spirit.

Let’s start from the very beginning. Why did your company decide to teach people Java? What’s so special about this programming language?

We chose Java for several reasons. First, we believe this language has enormous potential. Just look at any rating of the most popular programming languages, and you’ll find Java among the leaders. There are over 250 programming languages worldwide, but Java has held the first positions for years, if not decades. The demand for Java developers doesn’t drop, it increases. So, a Java developer is a promising profession.

Second, we are a company created by programmers for programmers. And there’s an interesting story behind CodeGym’s start. My co-founder Dmytro Vezhnin was a programmer who once helped his younger sister make a career switch and become a Java developer with a much bigger salary. Then, he taught several friends Java in mini-groups. And soon, he decided to quit his job and create a Java course for anyone who wanted to become a developer, no matter their background.

Our initial hypothesis turned out to be correct: anyone can become a Java developer even if they haven’t worked in the IT industry before. If you put enough effort into it, you’ll be there. Thousands of our graduates prove this point: they work for Google, Microsoft, Tata, Ubisoft, Oracle, Citrix, Infopulse, Epam, and other companies.

When the full-scale war started, what helped you keep the business afloat?

Under extreme circumstances, we experienced the most profound truth of the statement, “The company is its people.” One of the first crucial decisions me and my co-founder made was to keep the whole team. We assisted people in leaving Kyiv for safer regions and stayed in touch with everyone to ensure they and their families were okay. And the team appreciated our efforts: later, when we resumed the work, they put all their effort into it. It’s part of the answer to “how did we manage to keep the business alive?”.

Also, we had to become very creative and bold. In one day, we lost a significant share of our income, so we had to take brave steps not to let our ship sink. We started meeting online and brainstorming. We remembered the ideas we’d been postponing. And quite soon, we devised a plan. It consisted of some short-term steps (like a promo campaign with a 50% discount on our course) and the bigger goals (e.g., expanding to other markets). The first part helped us stop cash-bleeding and continue paying salaries, and the second helped us grow.

What surprised you the most in your team over the last year?

How brave and committed they are. One of our employees was living in a small village for a few months, and the internet connection was very weak there. She had to look for a place to work, but she still delivered the results. When the drones' attacks on our civil infrastructure started, people had to deal with blackouts and work from bomb shelters. But they continued doing their job. Except for the first two weeks of the war, CodeGym hasn't stopped.

It sounds like you have to manage a highly distributed team. How do you do that? Some managers still believe that working with a remote team is impossible or that its productivity decreases drastically.

Indeed, our team is now spread across the globe, but it still works as a whole. Communication is the key here; we are trying to keep everyone on the same page. Is it possible when people don't come to the office often (or at all)? From our experience, yes.

When drones' attacks began, some employees couldn't attend online meetings. So, we started taking detailed notes and sharing them with our colleagues.

Moreover, we became experts in asynchronous communication. When drones' attacks began, some employees couldn't attend online meetings. So, we started taking detailed notes and sharing them with our colleagues. Also, we record all the meetings.

As for written communication, we talk via chats in M.S. Teams daily. We're lucky to have a highly motivated team, so our recipe "online meetings + notes + chats" works perfectly.

What did you learn from working under such extreme conditions?

Last year changed all of us and made us grow as a company and as individuals. As a manager, I learned how to combine long-term thinking and short-term plans that may change every second. Uncertainty doesn't scare us anymore; we are used to it. We started experimenting a lot. When we come up with an idea, we test it, analyze the results, and make conclusions. Then, we proceed to the next experiment.

Also, we did many things for the first time. For example, we built a sales team in India, a country with a totally different culture than European. We learned when and whom to hire and discovered multiple nuances of the local customers' behavior. It's a precious experience!

At the same time, all our core values and beliefs remained the same. We still believe that you don't have to be a genius to become a programmer, that you can switch a career if you're not satisfied with the current one, and that we'll eventually help 1 million people become Java developers. It's our mission, and it hasn't changed.

What would you suggest to those who want to become programmers but are afraid they may give up when topics get difficult?

Motivation may be an issue, it's true. That's why our self-paced course reminds a game; it has a storyline with heroes and even jokes. Plus, there's a community, so you don't feel lonely on your study path.

But for some students, self-motivation isn't enough. Actually, when we discovered that, the idea of CodeGym Java University was born. Live lessons and communication with mentors make learning more engaging.

So, if you're struggling with self-studying, finding a mentor may be the right solution. But remember: the best mentors are practicing professional developers.

And the last question, what are Codegym's plans for the future?

We're pretty ambitious. We continue working on existing products (self-paced course, Java University, CodeGym for EDU), polishing and improving them. Also, we research new countries which seem promising. In the next 5-10 years, I hope we'll be a major EdTech player in many parts of the world.

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Alex Yelenevych. Co-founder, Chief Marketing/Product Officer at CodeGym. He leads product development and is responsible for marketing strategy and growth. Alex graduated from the National Technical University of Ukraine with a specialist degree in Computer System Networking and Telecommunications in 2014. After graduation, Alex has been working for three years in companies like Starwind Software, BlackBerry Ukraine, etc, in both technical and marketing positions. Also, Alex is an active member of the Product Management & Startup Community in Ukraine, often speaks at Marketing and Product conferences, and is a regular writer for Java-related magazines and blogs.