How to retain young engineers and is it worth changing the case format? We read Artyom Korolev's social media together

Artem Korolev's new digest on social media covers key topics of specialized education and career development in 2026. Why is 42.5% of low–cost university places for engineers not a victory yet? Do CASE-IN participants now not have to solve cases from scratch? What really keeps young engineers in the profession? He answers these and many other relevant questions in his publications.

One of the posts was dedicated to the admission campaign of universities. Artem Korolev informed that in 2026, 42.5% of the total number of budget places in Russian universities were allocated for the training of engineers, which is the largest share among the training areas.

"Increasing the availability of engineering education is a necessary solution. But the number of budget places alone does not show how many young people will eventually become qualified specialists and stay in the profession," he added.

There are several separate stages between admission and consolidation in the industry, which are described in detail He told me founder of the CASE-IN.

What if in the new season of CASE-IN, participants don't have to solve the case from scratch? This question was asked by Artyom, who recently studied a study on the development of critical thinking among engineering and IT students.

"Participants are offered ready-made program code with intentionally embedded syntactic, logical and system errors., – he noted. – But the task is not just to find these errors, but to identify where the error was made, explain why the solution does not work and assess the possible consequences. The unusual format simultaneously tests the understanding of the task, the ability to analyze someone else's decision, argue their position and find a more effective alternative."

The author notes the prospects of such a format against the background of the development of generative artificial intelligence and asks a question to your subscribers: should it be implemented at the CASE-IN competitions?

Young professionals stop being loyal without clear conditions, sure Artem Korolev.

The turnover of young employees is often explained by the peculiarities of the generation: they allegedly get bored quickly, they do not want to work in the same company for a long time and are constantly looking for something new. But the research data cited by the director of the Reliable Shift Foundation suggests the opposite: 40% of respondents are ready to work in one company for three to five years, and another 48% intend to devote more than three hours a week to additional training.

"It seems that the problem is not that young professionals do not want to stay or study. The wording is not enough for them: "Work for a few years, and then we'll see", – Artyom develops his idea. – Today, loyalty is formed from very specific conditions: clear tasks and areas of responsibility; regular professional feedback; the ability to influence the result; a visible development trajectory and the link between training and career growth."

The internship and internship should be a selection stage, not a field trip. – such a system is already working for CASE‑IN partner companies. Artem Korolev He gave vivid examples:

- the winners of the "Oil and Gas Business" field undergo an internship at YATEK and personally get acquainted with the work of an operating gas field in Yakutia: in 2025, the Energy ELITE team received such experience, and this season the GasFlow team from Tomsk Polytechnic University;

- in the School League of the Titan Group of Companies, all finalists can complete an internship at the company under an accelerated program after admission to specialized universities.;

- a successful result at the Metropolis championship provides a springboard to employment: more than half of the members of the winning BROIZ team currently work in the Moscow and St. Petersburg offices of the company.

In the following publication, the founder of the CASE-IN focused attention on partial randomization in the allocation of research grants and the inadmissibility of such a format for an engineering competition.

According to an authoritative study, in some foundations, an expert selection is carried out first. However, if several applications are found to be of comparable quality, the final decision can be made by drawing lots.

Artyom believes that the decision should always be evaluated by a competent expert who justifies his choice and is responsible for it: "Participants do not choose their arguments randomly. They analyze the data, perform calculations, propose a solution, and defend each conclusion. If we demand accuracy and professional argumentation from them, then we must make the same demands on experts. If the level of participants turned out to be higher than the capabilities of the current assessment system, it is necessary to improve the quality of expertise. It is impossible to compensate for the shortcomings of the system by random selection."

Artem Korolev counts What Teachers, along with students, should disclose the use of AI., check the facts and be responsible for the result provided by the neural network.

"If the neural network was used in the preparation of the task, it is necessary to check: whether the initial data is sufficient; whether it is realistic to meet the deadline; whether there are any factual and logical errors; whether it is possible to objectively evaluate the result", – he noted.

This position is shared by Roman Belyaevsky, a leading analyst of the foundation, Deputy Vice–rector for Research and International Cooperation, head of the Scientific and innovation Department of KuzSTU, quoted in the publication.

To the championship team CASE-IN A leading event management specialist is required, which will become a key link in the implementation of federal and international projects, cooperation with leading companies, universities and government agencies. Artem explained what is unique about this job and what is required of the applicant. 

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