CASE-IN: how engineering cases develop the career paths of young people

The International Engineering CASE-IN Championship today features hundreds of success stories of young people from all over Russia. Today, they are not only highly qualified specialists in promising sectors of the Russian economy, but also transfer the practical experience and knowledge gained at the competition to a new generation.

For 13 years, 90,000 schoolchildren, students and young specialists from major companies have participated in the presidential platform project "Russia – the Land of Opportunities". For some, the championship provided additional USE points and preferences for admission to master's and postgraduate studies, for others it allowed them to complete paid internships and decide on their future profession, and for others, thanks to the competition, they were able to find a job at their dream company, were promoted and joined the managerial personnel reserve. However, there is something that unites everyone – CASE-IN has become a social elevator for them and has given an impetus to the development of professional and career paths.

At a press conference at the TASS news agency in early March 2026, successful participants of the CASE-IN championship addressed the heads of relevant ministries and departments of the country.  They described how they mastered valuable skills and learned to be masters of their craft when solving cases, and then managed to start a successful professional career.

Master's student at Kazan National Research Technological University Ayrat Kasimov After his success at the engineering championship, he became a full-fledged specialist at one of the largest companies in the petrochemical sector.

"My first experience of participating was in 2021, when I was still a sophomore,– Airat Kasimov recalled to TASS. – To be honest, at that time I had no idea about solving cases. I was invited by the masters of my department, and this chance became decisive. Thanks to perseverance and teamwork, the guys and I, calling ourselves "Initiators," have achieved serious success. In 2023, we became the second in the main season, and in 2024 we won gold in the field of Petrochemistry.

SIBUR drew attention to the young man, inviting him to an internship. Airat Kasimov demonstrated the practical experience gained at the CASE-IN and successfully proved himself, resulting in an invitation to join the company. He is currently in his second year of graduate studies at KNRTU and simultaneously works as an expert on digitalization at Kazanorgsintez PJSC.

After graduation, the triumphant CASE-IN not only continued to participate in the championship, but also assembled a team of young specialists at his company and immediately led it to the finals.

The championship shaped him as a broad-based specialist and taught him to approach each process systematically. "I have mastered problem-solving techniques, learned how to properly organize brainstorming sessions and, critically important in my current work, understand how to assess the depth of project development and find an approach to complex business tasks," said Airat Kasimov.

Currently, the young specialist evaluates the championship as an exam that encourages the search for new technologies and innovations applicable in everyday work. "As a digitalization expert, I face daily challenges that require a quick search for innovative solutions. It was the experience of CASE-IN that taught me structural analysis: in the workplace, I use the same techniques of brainstorming and problem decomposition that we learned when preparing cases," admitted Airat.

The story is also revealing Lyudmila Morshchakova.  Her second participation in the championship in 2023 was crowned with success – she became the winner of the direction "Architecture, design, construction and housing and Communal Services", which is supervised by the Metropolis company. Thanks to the opportunity to prove herself in solving the case, the girl was interviewed, and then received an offer of employment in the St. Petersburg office of Metropolis, bypassing the internship. Of course, Lyudmila took advantage of this opportunity.

"Our team needed to design a hotel complex. We had no experience designing such facilities before, but we had a great desire to apply all available knowledge," Lyudmila Morshchakova revealed the nuances of working on solving the case. – We applied complexity in our work and tried to cover all aspects. I was the chief engineer of the project. That brainstorming session, diving into the documentation – it was almost a real design process, which gave a powerful impetus to my development."

The CASE-IN Ambassador is confident that thanks to the championship, young people are developing skills without which real project activity is impossible: cross-functional interaction, public defense of projects, and working in a limited time environment. It is these qualities that make it possible to effectively solve problems when designing complex and unique objects.

Participation in the championship is one of the key career decisions in the life of a young specialist. "At the moment, not only I work for the company, but also almost the entire composition of our team that won the championship," Lyudmila Morshchakova said. – The most important thing is not to try to guess which project the company wants to see and not look for the only correct answer, since it simply does not exist. It is very important to believe in yourself, your strengths and abilities, to be able to hear each other, to notice valuable thoughts, even if they sound unexpected. Companies that create cases primarily expect fresh ideas, new solutions, and an unconventional approach from participants. But at the same time, it is important that the ideas are based on a good fundamental knowledge base – then they will not just be beautiful, but realistic."

Nikita Kholmov, The champion of 2021, holds the position of Deputy Head of the Department of Digital Transformation and Information Technology — Head of the Digital Transformation Department of PJSC ROSSETI North-West. As part of the CASE-IN ecosystem, he taught classes at the CASE-IN educational circle, an additional program aimed at developing engineering thinking among schoolchildren through case solving, and is now the head of external Relations at the Winners Club.

"In the year of the champion, we coped with the task of technological leadership in the context of a pandemic. Our team proposed to create an intelligent analytical platform capable of redistributing the organization's resources," Nikita Kholmov said. – Participation in the championship convinced me of the correctness of choosing the profession of an energy engineer, allowed me to develop skills in finding non-standard solutions and public speaking, and gave me confidence in my abilities. I was also able to establish myself in the company I worked for – employers encourage active employees and participation in such projects."

Gleb Nesterenko, the champion of the Electric Power Industry in 2017, today works as the chief specialist of the Department of Stability and Emergency automation of the Electrical Modes Service of the branch of JSC "System Operator of the Unified Energy System" — Novosibirsk RDU.

"I was lucky enough to win the championship when I was in my first year of graduate studies. There was a job choice and employment ahead, so such a line in the resume definitely played an important role. I was asked about the championship both at the interview and during my work. In other words, CASE-IN is known not only in universities, but also in the industry, and its participants are appreciated by company executives," the young man is convinced.

An important effect of participating in the championship for Gleb is to broaden his horizons. "In my master's degree and later in my PhD thesis, I dealt with a relatively narrow topic – energy storage. The first 6 years of my career were also devoted to this field," he said. – But all this time I have not parted with the championship, becoming one of the experts. Every year I immersed myself in solving cases on a new topic. Therefore, later, when I decided to go to work as a System Operator, it was much easier for me to prepare for the interview and adapt to new tasks for me."

However, Gleb Nesterenko appreciates CASE-IN most of all for the opportunity to plunge into a community of like-minded people and engineers: "This is what I talk about when students ask me if it is worth participating in the championship. Thanks to the project, I met a lot of interesting people. We became friends with some of them, studied science and wrote articles with the second, interacted with the third at work and continue to do so now. And to become a part of this community, you don't have to win the championship at all, you just have to take part in it, which I wholeheartedly advise everyone to do."

The system operator supports the participation of young specialists in the CASE-IN championship and other prestigious projects, said Gleb Nesterenko: "I have already traveled to Kemerovo, Stavropol, and even Paris for a session of CIGRE, the International Council for Large High–Voltage Electrical Systems. The company has an Association of Young Scientists and a Youth Council that organizes creative, sports and other events. Everyone can undergo periodic training in other branches and in the executive office in Moscow. In general, there are many opportunities in the company, and I try not to miss them."

The XIV season of the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship is in full swing. This means that very soon a new generation of participants will declare themselves, who will be able to strengthen the human resources potential of companies and will work on the development of the Russian industry.