“The education of tomorrow is practice-oriented, dynamic and on-demand”

CEO Daria Hvizdalova shares her experiences in bringing the 42 brand to Prague.

What did you do before joining 42 Prague in 2022?

I’ve always been at the intersection of the I.T and business roles. I worked with McKinsey, in Belgium, then in a R&D company focused on AI, then I worked towards implementing AI in manufacturing settings. I co-founded a company, I teach at a private university in Prague, and finally it all came together when I was offered the role of CEO at 42 Prague. It really resonated with me because of the educational component — even though there are no teachers!, and because I know how big of an issue the lack of developers on the markets is, and how important the transformation of this type of career is for the future.

What do you like the most about being 42 Prague CEO?

Being CEO grants me a diversity of tasks and experiences. It’s a lot of roles in one! They include getting in touch with a lot of different people, hearing a lot of different stories and being exposed to lots of different aspects of work. It also gives me a chance to implement my perspective from a technical standpoint. I also lead by example: sometimes, you don’t have to be a hands-on coder to be playing an active role in IT! Thanks to my past experiences, I speak the same language as business leaders and stakeholders.

What do you think education will be in the future?

What we’re now going through is the digitalization of everything. The education of tomorrow will be much more practice-oriented. A lot of jobs for which the traditional academic setup prepares the people will most likely become obsolete in the meantime. There are also plenty of jobs that we don’t even know yet that will exist in five years. Education will be dynamic, on demand, and very personalized and tailored to one’s strengths and weaknesses. It also will be inclusive in the sense that it will enable those who actually want to learn to do so in a convenient way for them.

What do you like the most about 42’s spirit?

Its inclusivity! I really like that 42 gives an opportunity for people who are very talented and gifted, want to do things, and otherwise would just have a harder time getting to it — be it for the rules or any type of limitations. It’s very important for me to make sure that our campus is open and supportive, that it gives equitable chances to people coming from various backgrounds and it doesn’t limit them or filter them out based on some assumptions before those people actually get a chance to try them out.

Is it why you partnered with Pride Business Forum?

It’s a natural extension of the diversity that we promote here on campus. Our membership in this organization is, on the one hand, a way to show our openness. We encourage people from various backgrounds to join, and we want them to know that this is a safe and inclusive space where we do our best to support and be respectful to each other. At the same time, it’s a big opportunity for us as a team to learn how to do diversity right and how to design our spaces and our activities in a way that would be encouraging and comfortable for different people.