I studied the first 8 grades at regular school No. 95, and 9-10 grades in the math class of the same school. Head of the studio "Kvartal-95" Volodymyr Zelenskyi is from this school, and the number "95" in the studio's name is the school's number.

At school, I became interested in programming: we had programming lessons in our math class. Back then, programmers were trained only in applied mathematics. I didn't want to go to Moscow, and in Kyiv, the main universities were KPI and Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University. I chose Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute over the university because I never wanted to be a teacher. Who knew that I would become a teacher :)

I studied at the Faculty of Management Systems, Department of Applied Mathematics.

What subjects do you teach?

"Mathematical Analysis, Theory of Complex Variable Functions, Machine Learning, Project Management.

What were your favorite subjects at school?

I liked different subjects. I took part in math, physics, foreign language, and history competitions. I did not like chemistry and biology very much. I graduated from school with a gold medal.

How did you become a teacher?

When I was a graduate student, I was given some subjects to teach on an hourly basis, and then it became part of my job.

Did you go in for sports?

In my childhood, I played very "close" sports: chess and... weightlifting.

By the way, my first weightlifting coach later trained an Olympic champion and later became the coach of the Italian weightlifting team.

Do you like to travel?

Traveling is mainly related to scientific and production activities. I have visited the USA, Singapore, Germany, the UK, France, and the Czech Republic. I also travel with my family when I have a vacation. I like traveling, but it's better at home.

How do you spend your leisure time?

I spend time with my family if I have free time. I have a small library at home; as soon as I retire, I will read.

If all works of art in the world disappeared, what book, piece of music, and movie would you keep?

Music: Without a doubt, my mother's lullaby (some kind of sad Ukrainian song).

A book: Fazil Iskander (Sandro of Chegem or any volume of his works).

Movie: depends on the mood.

In fact, the question implicitly assumes that some kind of catastrophe has occurred and that you need to escape. In that case, I would take weapons and food rather than books to save my family and friends.

Do you regret expelling students?

It's a purely human regret, of course, because it can have a significant impact on a person's fate. As a rule, I expel students in two cases: when they have made a mistake in their profession and need to be expelled to find themselves in this life, or when they simply do not want to study.

What is your attitude to those who are reinstated several times?

In general, I believe that you can be reinstated many times. Sometimes a young person does not yet understand what they need, and then they go to work and come back. It's not how many times a person falls that matters, but how many times they get up.

What do you think students think of you?

I think they have different opinions. And that's right. If everyone likes a person, it's suspicious. I'm sure that some people don't like me, some people really don't like me, and some people are probably delighted with my teaching style.

A teacher has to fulfill his or her main mission: he or she has to "light up" a person so that he or she enjoys his or her work and learning. When a person's eyes are burning, this is the most important thing.

Recently, I have met students who don't want anything, just don't want anything. This is bad, because a person does not work on himself, and this should be done all his life.

Do you learn anything from students?

Yes, I do. In fact, you learn something new in every class. Very rarely, of course, in professional terms, but it also happens because students ask such questions that I would never have guessed that it could even raise questions. To answer such questions, you need to come up with some interesting examples, or approach the task differently. Those students whom I taught practical classes in mathematical analysis probably remember that we often solve problems not in one way, but in two or three ways... until we reach the optimal one.

On the other hand, from a philosophical point of view, any communication is mutually beneficial. It doesn't matter whether you're talking to an adult or a child.

Do you think that the level of students is falling over the years, and what is the reason for this?

100%. I don't believe it, I see it. I have been teaching mathematical analysis for more than 20 years (year after year). Different students often write the same test papers, and the curve of results is gradually decreasing. This is due to a whole range of problems, but the main one is the lack of student motivation.

How would you like to change the educational process?

I think that we will change the way we work with our applicants, with the help of students as well.

We want people who would like to do what we teach to come to us, not just people who happen to be here. That is, we may have fewer applicants, but they will be more motivated.

We will also develop work with students working in their specialty.

As practice shows, not always excellent students at school are excellent students at the institute. There are young people who did not do well at school, but they know exactly what they want to do. And they graduate from KPI with honors and become good specialists. Therefore, in my opinion, the most important thing here is the motivation of the students who study here.

Do you have any favorites among your students?

No, I don't have any favorites. I always conditionally divide students into stronger, weaker, and average students, but purely for pragmatic reasons. I do this in order to find my own approach to everyone in terms of teaching. Knowledge does not correlate with the notion of a "favorite" at all: they may be a bad person, but a good specialist.

What qualities do you value in people and what do you dislike the most?

If we look at the qualities of the students of our department, the most valuable are motivation or determination, decency, intelligence, and good manners. For example, I can clearly distinguish when my students from our department enter the classroom and when students from other departments enter. "From the very first lesson, my students got used to the fact that they always have to let the girls through first.