Oleksandr Povidzion: Technologies That Are Transforming Companies and Communities

Person: Oleksandr Povidzion

Position: Department Head

Department: IT Department

Years with the company: 14 years

The trait I value most in people: Honesty

Favorite season: Spring, because everything is in bloom

Superpower: Sociability - the ability to get along with anyone

Biggest myth about the profession: An IT specialist can solve any problem in a second just by pressing a button

Song or movie associated with daily work: Something adventurous, with mysteries

How would you explain to a child what exactly you do? I repair computers

If you could switch roles for a day with anyone at VILIA, who would it be? Probably someone from the lab—I’d be interested in learning about the equipment my colleagues work with

My life philosophy was shaped at work: “Work has taught me responsibility”

1. What does working at VILIA mean to you?

My arrival at VILIA was, you could say, a matter of chance. I was actively looking for a job, sending out my resume, and one day Yevgen Stepanovich called me. He asked if I was interested in a job and scheduled an interview for 6:00 a.m. at a gas station. That’s how I joined the VILIA team.

Now I realize that it wasn’t a coincidence at all. I really like our company because it’s a large agricultural holding that’s constantly growing. One aspect that’s extremely important to me is our social projects. I see how much we help the military and the communities where we operate: we build stadiums and repair roads. It’s very meaningful to realize that our company doesn’t just make money, but also invests in the land and people where it operates. That means a lot to me.

2. What qualities should the “Specialist of the Year” in your field possess?

First, patience—after all, things don’t always work out on the first try. It’s important not to give up and to keep working on the task.

Second, you need the ability to analyze a situation, quickly identify the problem, and effectively resolve it. This is critical for responding promptly to challenges.

And, of course, strong communication skills are essential. The nature of our work involves close collaboration with various departments, so the ability to get along with everyone and find a personalized approach for each person is the foundation of success. You simply can’t do without it.

3. What moment or project in your career has been the most memorable for you?

Personally, what stands out most to me are our Field Days and the openings of the grain elevators in Derno and Zvynyachyi. These events are always interesting, large-scale, and vibrant, which is why they stick in my memory. Also among the memorable moments are our internal celebrations—company parties and other festivities. These events are always marked by a wonderful atmosphere and team bonding.

4. What advice would you give to newcomers who are just joining the company?

My advice for newcomers is simple – listen to your supervisor, complete the assigned tasks, and take responsibility for your work. If all this is done, then in the future, the person will definitely experience both career and personal growth.

5. What key changes have occurred in your work this year, and how have they affected your professional development?

The most important event was the replacement of all server equipment with new equipment, which significantly improved our server infrastructure. It was a big project for us, given its high cost (about 1.5-2 million). The equipment upgrade significantly increased the company's overall performance.

In addition, we conducted an IT infrastructure audit and a pen test (penetration testing) to enhance the level of security. This allowed us to identify and eliminate existing shortcomings in our IT area. All these measures will undoubtedly contribute to improving the productivity and overall security of our systems.

6. What challenges did you face this year, and how did you overcome them? What did you learn from this experience?

There were no challenges as such; this is our routine work. The most significant was the process of transferring a functioning server to new equipment. This task was accompanied by many nuances that required careful refinement.

In general, one of the complexities of our work is that we often work outside of regular working hours. This is due to the need to carry out repair work and reboot systems after the end of the main working day in order not to interrupt the company's work processes. This is the nature of our work.

7. What are you most proud of this year in the context of your professional activities at VILIA? This could be a completed project, a problem solved, a new skill mastered, etc.

This year, I am most proud of my team. Especially the moments when we managed to solve complex problematic issues through coordinated teamwork. I believe that we have demonstrated a good result.

8. Which of VILIA's values (professionalism, integrity, systematic approach, initiative, teamwork, responsibility) was key for you in achieving this year's successes? Give an example of how you demonstrated it in your work.

Teamwork, perhaps we feel and promote this value the most in our work. Because we work a lot with other structural units, with other departments. For example, if we are working on a server and there is a question about 1C, we turn to the programmers. When the automation department installs cameras, we lay the internet. This is all joint work and a joint result, so we have to move in the same direction.

We always try to think about the team: we notify about power outages or repair work, we provide backup internet so that our actions do not put the work of the entire team at risk.

9. What goals do you set for yourself for the coming year?

The main goal is to keep our team. It is very difficult to find a real specialist today, so I want our experienced and valuable staff to stay with us. Along with this, I plan to improve the professional skills of the entire team.

We also have ideas for further automating and optimizing our operations. In particular, there are plans to reduce the number of servers from three or four to two. However, this is not an easy task and requires prompt action, as the work of our colleagues directly depends on the functioning of the IT infrastructure.

10. How do you see the future of your profession or the industry as a whole?

I see the future of IT closely linked with artificial intelligence. We are already actively using it in our work, and I am confident that AI will continue to gain momentum, which will lead to significant automation of many processes. However, I don't believe that artificial intelligence will completely replace people. It can effectively solve certain tasks, but manual work, such as laying a network, will still require human involvement. In the future, it will be difficult to replace people, because many physical and creative tasks will still require a person.