Svitla Systems Personality: Olena Shpilevska, Senior Markup & UX Developer

Svitla has always been a family of diverse and bright personalities. We have long wanted to bring their stories to the fore, hoping that through them others will find new inspiration in profession and life.

The first one comes from Olena Shpilevska, a Senior Markup & UX Developer. Olena is a wonderful mix of many talents - a natural-born teacher, regular conference speaker, passionate designer, mother, and unbelievably kind and cheerful human being, full of light energy. Originally from Kharkiv, she decided to settle in Lviv. In Svitla Systems she continues mastering her craft and sharing her ideas not only inside her project but with larger audiences.

Olena Shpilevska

After graduating from university, I was determined to work as a teacher of the Ukrainian language and literature. Yet Ukrainian educational system has quickly cooled down my ambitions. From my perspective, standard teaching methods are too conservative, blocking any fresh approaches and methods. So, I went into IT, which completely matched my desire to become a teacher. I ran courses in Kharkiv, and then User Experience Design at UCU, a university that allowed me to do whatever I wanted, enjoy a flexible schedule, and combine theory with practical material, as students were far more interested to learn what recent code ventures. They also have the nicest library I often use as a workplace, as I have a pass everywhere as a teacher.

I moved to Lviv to work for a project that let me combine coding and design. This approach helps to create fully working prototypes, which show how people interact with them, what buttons they click if all objects are in place. I came to this method after 2 years in UX. I understood that markup development and UX is something I really enjoy, and wanted to promote it amongst markupers. I presented this topic at both LvivCSS and KharkivCSS and recently did a meetup for Svitla Smart Talk. The next step will be a course for UCU to teach UX-ers HTML/CSS and Jquery basics.

Lviv is the most wonderful place to live and work. My Lviv team is terrific! I have never met a community I loved so much. Everyone is always glad to see one another. Maybe the reason why is that we come to the office because we want to, not from obligation. I miss them greatly currently.

Recently I have realized that what I have – work, teaching, family, traveling – is still not enough. I need smth else. Additional 24 hours or a charge for extra energy! That would be awesome if someone created such a battery, instead of energy drinks and snacks. I would be totally happy then.

Maybe the one thing I miss out on is personal time. Not to mention the end of quarantine. I dream to go out and see people without masks around. Children are especially vulnerable to lockdown. Recently my son said, “you know mom, quarantine is over” – and ran hugging other children. I hope our freedom will come back soon. It doesn’t really matter what you do with it, but it’s always nice to have a choice.