Context
Industry: Education / Software Engineering
Institution: National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Partner: EPAM Systems
Program: Master’s Degree in Software Engineering
Format: Online, offline, self-study
Focus: DevOps, Cloud, engineering excellence
My involvement: Adjunct Professor
Year: 2020–2021
Introduction
This engagement was part of a joint initiative between EPAM Systems and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy to bring real industry experience into a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering program.
I joined the program as an Adjunct Professor to cover a DevOps part of this program including DevOps theory, Cloud based on Amazon AWS, Infrastructure As a Code based on Terraform, and many other topics.
The Situation
Many graduates enter the industry with strong theoretical foundations but limited understanding of how complex systems are actually built, operated, and evolved in production environments.
The program aimed to address this gap by combining academic structure with real-world engineering practices, case studies, and delivery experience from large-scale industry projects.
The challenge was to present complex topics in a way that remained practical, structured, and directly applicable to professional work.
What Was Done
I developed and delivered course content focused on DevOps and Cloud technologies, embedded within a broader software engineering curriculum.
Teaching combined online lectures, and guided self-study. Real industry cases and practical exercises were used to demonstrate how architectural, delivery, and operational decisions are made in real projects.
The course covered areas such as engineering excellence, solution architecture, delivery management, product management, cloud and DevOps practices, and data-intensive systems. The material was designed to help students understand not just tools, but decision-making processes.
I worked closely with other experts from EPAM Systems to ensure consistency between academic goals and industry expectations.
My Role
As Adjunct Professor, I was responsible for course design, content delivery, and practical alignment with real industry work.
My role was to translate complex engineering experience into structured learning material, and to help students understand how theory connects to real systems, teams, and constraints.
Outcomes
Students gained exposure to real-world software engineering practices and a clearer understanding of what is expected in professional environments.
The program strengthened its industry focus, and the DevOps and Cloud modules provided students with practical context that complemented traditional academic subjects.
Key Takeaways
This experience reinforced how important structured knowledge transfer is for building strong engineering teams over time.
It also showed that many challenges seen in large organizations — architecture trade-offs, delivery pressure, operational risk — can be taught effectively when grounded in real cases rather than abstract theory.
How This Experience Helps in Similar Situations
Teaching at master’s level sharpened my ability to explain complex topics clearly and to structure knowledge in a way that others can reuse.
This directly supports my work in consulting and product development, where clarity, structure, and practical relevance are critical for helping teams and leaders make better technical decisions.
Related Products & Materials
The topics taught in this program are reflected in my document packs and educational materials related to cloud architecture, DevOps practices, and engineering governance.
Closing
If you are building engineering capability inside an organization or designing learning paths for technical teams, this engagement reflects the approach I take to sharing experience in a structured and practical way.