The CASE-IN championship helped a young Siberian woman become a sought-after specialist

Yulia Pitko works in the Siberian energy system. The International Engineering CASE-IN Championship, which takes place under the national project, helped her to become a sought-after specialist. "Education": the girl participated in competitions five times, learned how to solve large-scale tasks and defend her opinion.

Energy is big

Even at school, Yulia Drinkko decided to become an engineer — she really liked physics lessons. It remained to determine the profile. While studying in high school, the girl visited the interregional summer educational forum "Energy of Youth", where participants solved engineering cases in the electric power industry. "We were given a theme, we joined teams, made projects, and then the winners went to a summer camp," the girl recalls.

The shift participants were told about new technologies in the industry, and were taken to science museums. In one of them, at the Zhiguli hydroelectric power station on the Volga, children were shown dynamos and an exercise bike that "turns on" light bulbs. After such an acquaintance with the profession, Julia firmly decided to enter the energy industry.

"In my profession, I am attracted by the scale and interconnectedness of simple things with global processes: you walk down the street, see a light bulb and realize that it belongs to such and such a substation, which, in turn, is powered by that station. You're spinning a ball, and it's mesmerizing.", — she explains.

According to the young specialist, more and more girls are coming to the energy industry now — if Julia was one of five girls in her first year at Siberian Federal University, then when she graduated from the university, there were already more than half of the fair sex in junior courses.

To solve global problems

While studying at the university, Julia participated in many Olympiads. Often in such competitions it was necessary to show an individual result. Against this background, the CASE-IN Championship was distinguished not only by its scale, but also by the largest engineering tournament for young people in the CIS countries working in the fuel and energy and mineral resource complexes. More importantly, the team participated in it.

The tasks performed by the contestants are as close as possible to real cases and are devoted to topical issues of industry development. At the same time, several people develop solutions, which means that it was important for students not only to formulate their point of view, but also to competently prove it to other team members.

"You get the first qualifying case and in ten days you need to find a solution for it. Then the next stage and so on. All the stages can be combined by one topic, and with each subsequent task you dive deeper into it. It's very interesting.", — Julia shares.

She had been participating in the tournament for five years, and every year his assignments covered broader and broader issues. Participating in the junior year championship reminded the girl of writing term papers — she had to solve specific, mundane tasks. But in her senior year, she already had to deal with bigger problems. For example, one of the cases of the championship was devoted to the possibility of developing a power grid in The Arctic, and Yulia's team had to figure out how this could be done, how much it would cost, and who could invest in the Arctic.

The girl especially remembered the "CASE-IN", which was held online in 2020, the pandemic year. The team members traveled all over the country — some were in Tomsk, others in Seversk, Kazan, and Altai. I had to work remotely, and the protection of projects took place via video communication. "We had to make a video for the finale, and we made it look like we were all together, even though we were actually in different cities.", — Julia remembers.

"Employers are moving forward"

One of the features of the CASE-IN championship is active interaction with potential employers. Representatives of large companies are not only present at student defenses, but also hold so-called career days, during which you can present your resume to them or arrange an interview.

Moreover, not only students, but also schoolchildren, as well as young professionals participate in the championship. The winners receive benefits upon admission to Russian universities, can complete internships or get jobs in leading industry companies, as well as participate in industry summer educational forums.

So, Yulia received several lucrative job offers after the championship, and now she works in the dispatch department, which is responsible for the energy systems of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Tuva.

"Participation in the CASE-IN championship helps to find further employment, and the skills acquired during the competition will be useful for both the future specialist and the company where he will work", — the girl is sure.

A source