The large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine destroyed Kateryna Shaman’s plans. In the first days of the war, she, together with her daughter, went to Denmark, where she is now organizing a new life. At the TechBBQ innovation conference in Copenhagen, we talked about it with Kateryna.
Kateryna, you work in a Danish company and you were speaking as a panelist at the TechBBQ conference. Share your story of how you became part of the Danish world of innovation.
I was always fond of innovation, the digital world, sales and marketing and I was previously working in Ukraine (in an IT company as a Global Account Director working with big international companies). I arrived in Denmark because of the war on the 26 of February and I decided to start looking for a job in a Danish IT company to integrate into the Danish working culture and society in general. And I actually succeeded in doing it quite fast. During my first month in Denmark, I started to look for a job, and already at the end of March I got an offer from Queue-it.
As for my participation in TechBBQ, since my arrival I was also actively making all kinds of networking and connections with Ukrainians living in Denmark. I met Anna Coen who is the head of of #DKTech4Ukraine and she invited me to the panel discussion about Ukraine as a Ukrainian who came to Denmark due to the war and found a job in a Danish startup.
(DKTech4Ukraine is a community initiative by Danish startups to help Ukrainian tech talent affected by the war in Ukraine, connect with Danish tech startups to help integrate into the Danish workforce and society).
What inspires you in this environment? Why is the IT industry in Denmark developing so intensively?
In the Danish Start up environment, I found inspiration in People, their special multinational culture and common drive for moving the World of Tech and Innovation. In my case, this is Queue-It. The company has a real International atmosphere with more than 50 nationalities all over the company and also offices in the United States and Australia. And yes, I’m not feeling like I’m the only one foreigner being employed here. It was also really helpful for me to adapt in the new team that we already had two other Ukrainians working in the company.
I think the IT industry is developing so intensively not only in Denmark but all over the world. But in Denmark there are so many possibilities and companies are developing so fast. If we take Queue-it as an example of a fast growing and developing company, which was a small startup with a few people and now it’s more than 200 people employed in three offices. And also I can say that we are improving our technology, creating new features and new products that could be attractive for our customers. We are also very agile and very customer-centric.
What skills and knowledge of Ukrainians would be important here, in Denmark? What can be an asset to find a job in an IT company?
Among the important skills for the Ukrainians who would like to get a job in the IT industry in Denmark, I would say that their previous experience within the IT industry can be a big plus. Also the knowledge of foreign languages. Having a flexible mindset, being open-minded and also having good soft skills, this could be really helpful to find a job in an Danish IT company, especially in Sales. But of course, if we speak about technical team positions it’s of course their experience, good portfolio of their works or project experience in different technological stacks will be important for the company.
What are the 3 facts about Ukraine and Ukrainians that should be known in the business environment of Denmark?
As for Ukraine, I would like to share that Ukraine is a really, really well developed country in the IT industry. Some countries are taking our example for creating a similar product in their environment. For example, Estonia now is testing Ukrainian application Diya to implement this application in their governmental website. So this is really a good sign that we have succeeded to have a lot of progress in different kinds of digitalized services which are not yet available in Europe, like having all kinds of digital services in banks, on different kinds of governmental structures, without having long waiting time spent on physical queues or calls. I would also proudly mention that Ukrainians, our people are real fighters for their freedom, for their good life, for their families. So, when they are working in a company, they’re really hard working people, intelligent, very concentrated on the results, great team-players. So I would like to say that Danish companies which employ Ukrainian specialists wouldn’t regret it. Even if it can not be generalized, I really believe that most of Ukrainians are like I described. Glory to Ukraine, Glory to Denmark.
Alla Shorina spoke with Kateryna.
We wrote about how Ukrainian startups presented their work at TechBBQ here.
Read about how the Association of Ukrainians in Denmark and Bevar Ukraine prepared for the war and what it did in the first weeks after February 24 in the interview of the Head of the Association Andrii Kuzmun.
A photo report by Alla Shorin from the Ukrainian towns of Bucha and Irpin in September can be viewed here.
