Siberian Sun Devil: CIS student finds a career in IS

“Long and winding” doesn’t even begin to describe the road Rozaliya Everstova has traveled to land at the Department of Information Systems — and more specifically, her decision to focus her studies on computer information systems.

“Long and winding” doesn’t even begin to describe the road Rozaliya Everstova has traveled to land at the Department of Information Systems — and more specifically, her decision to focus her studies on computer information systems. A native of Siberia, Rozaliya grew up in a place that very well could be described as the polar opposite of sunny Tempe. Her hometown, Yakutsk, is the capital of the Sakha Republic. It is quite literally one of the coldest populated places on Earth, with an average January temperature of minus 31 and a record low of minus 81. Today, Rozaliya lives in the Arizona desert. She’s vice president for recruitment for the student organization, Department of Information Systems Club, and on track to graduate in May. The future plan: to become a software development manager and ultimately the CEO of an IT company.

A childhood in Siberia

Located about 300 miles from the Arctic Circle, Yakutsk is a mix of people from Russian and Asian backgrounds, living in a climate of extremes. During the very brief summer, temperatures often top 80 degrees, but snow arrives soon after and days in January can be as low as minus 37. Rozaliya’s family are Yakut, the indigenous people of that part of Siberia. The Everstovas are committed to preserving their culture: Yakut beliefs, traditions and language. “I was brought up to have dignity and be proud of my heritage and language,” Rozaliya said. Education and achievement are important in the family. Her grandmother was the general manager of the biggest bank in the city, and her parents are professionals. Her mother is a chemical engineer who tests soil samples from the gold and mineral-rich land surrounding Yakutsk.

Her father is the former head of IT for the treasury. Though her teachers in high school pushed her to study advanced math, Rozaliya’s interests lay elsewhere — in the world of journalism. By the age of 13 she was working at the local newspaper, and before long, she set her sights on a career in television news. She applied to and was accepted at the local university — North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk. She began her broadcast studies, and landed a gig with a Yakutsk-based television station. “I was working for a morning show called "New Day," and I eventually developed my own segment focused specifically on the arts,” she recalls. “Very soon after, I was offered a chance to develop my own show, also based on the arts, on a weekly basis. I remember thinking, ‘This is so great!’ But when the broadcasting company asked me to come up with a business plan for the show, I realized I didn’t know what a business plan was.” It was the first moment that she considered the possibility that she might have to leave her native city to further her career. In the years since, that’s exactly what she’s done. But first came her adventure in America.

From Russia to America

A friend had learned about a program that placed Russian youths in jobs in America, so the two decided to go. At the last minute, however, the friend dropped out, so Rozaliya went on by herself. When she arrived at JFK International Airport, she was told that the promised bus transportation to South Carolina was not available. Company representatives told her she could stay at a hostel in the city and get a bus the next day, but a wary Rozaliya declined. With just $200 to her name, she asked everyone she could find until she located a flight she could afford. Then she settled in to wait all night.

The job turned out to be cashiering and making desserts at a fast food restaurant in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For two months she stayed in a rented room and worked before she decided to return to Russia and continue her studies. She had transferred to a new university in St. Petersburg, where she planned to complete her studies in broadcast journalism and continue building her brand as an arts reporter. “I believed I had the talent and ability to tell great stories about the arts,” she says. She was presented with interesting professional opportunities, but in her new city she encountered prejudice that she never experienced in Yakutsk. She left the program and decided to return to the States. It was a fortuitous decision; soon after settling in North Carolina, she met the man who would become her husband.

Learning the business side

A couple of restful years in North Carolina followed, but after a while, Rozaliya began thinking about her early television experience in Yakutsk — and her station management’s request that she build a business plan for her arts and culture show. She decided that her next best step would be to pursue a degree in business. “When I got my green card and decided that I wanted to continue my studies, I didn’t want to continue in journalism,” she said. “What was in my head was all of the things I couldn’t do. That memory of not knowing how to do a business plan really stuck with me.” So she and her husband decided to move – “further west” she laughs. Her husband had heard that Scottsdale was a great place to live, so they came to Arizona. After some research, she applied to Arizona State University and was accepted to Barrett, the Honors College.

Her initial plan was to focus her studies on entrepreneurship, but it was CIS 105, the class taught by Matt McCarthy and Robert Woods, that convinced her to be a computer information systems major. Rozaliya remembers when Victoria Polchinski (B.S. Computer Information Systems ’14), who was the DISC vice president for recruitment at the time, spoke in one of the CIS 105 classes. Hearing about the career opportunities for CIS majors Rozaliya was convinced. She became intrigued by the world of computer information systems — coding, specifically — and she realized that fluency in the world of computer and data science could be useful in any number of industries. “Coding is very creative — it’s like writing,” she said.

Knowing she had a lot of ground to make up — and knowing that she needed to get the basics down before she could move forward toward a degree in CIS — Everstova took additional classes in her spare time, put in extra hours by herself and leveraged every tutoring resource she could find at W. P. Carey. She found herself thrilled rather than intimidated by the steep learning curve. And by most every measure, she excelled in the classroom, earning Dean’s List honors on several occasions. “I struggled with the material at first because I really didn’t know a lot of things,” she says. “I really had to put in a lot of effort, but I enjoyed that I was being challenged. I enjoyed the idea that you could type in some lines of code and instantly see some results based on that code.

The more I learned, the more I thought CIS would be a good major for me.” So far she’s had two internships. She was a product development intern with Serendipity Solutions LLC, where her manager was Sarah Johnson (B.S. Computer Information Systems ’04). This past summer she held a similar role with SkyTouch Technology, which serves the hotel industry. Her manager there, Marcus Hartley (B.S. Computer Information Systems ’98) is also a W. P. Carey graduate. She will continue to work at the company while she finishes classes. Her internships have shown her the kind of company she wants to work for throughout her career. “I just enjoy the kind of environment you can find at an IT company. I want to work somewhere like this — somewhere where I can be creative and really explore the different dimensions of software development.” For example, one of these days she might just create an app that would help people learn to speak the Yakut language.