Alexander Kochnev is a leading Backend developer. He’s just 20 years old, but his portfolio full of serious projects, whose clients are big cities mayors, security chiefs, representatives of housing and communal services and different ministry. 

Alexander Kochnev was born and grew up in Republic of Tatarstan. He went to a public school and played in football, participated in IT competitions and contests where he gained top places. After school, he enrolled in a prestigious university, but after two years of study took a gap year and went to the USA. 

Now Alexander Kochnev lives in San Diego, California. Alexander has many different projects, plans and clear vision of his goals. 

–  Your career was successful in your homeland, but you chose to live in the USA. Why?

– I always wanted to live in the United States. I did not see my future in Russia because of the specific aspects of lining in the country. In the US, I am discovering new opportunities every day, in terms of both personal growth and career.  

– Why didn’t you choose Europe? I know you’ve traveled a lot, have seen the world. Isn’t there not much of a chance for growth there?

–  In Europe, in terms of career development, there is a certain ceiling. And a certain relaxedness. You know, a kind of culture of unattainable goals (laughs). And I am tireless. Always at my work, looking for new ideas, new ways to get the most out of it. 

It’s important for me to reach my goals so I can think up and set new ones immediately. This is exactly the same culture in the United States. Here I can both develop myself in a great way in terms of my career and be extremely useful to this country.  

– You have many impressive developments and projects in your portfolio, both team and personal. Can you tell us how you started your career? 

– That’s because I started working early (laughs). At the age of 14 I was already a freelancer, and at the same time I was developing several high-end custom websites. When I was 15 and 17 I was called by two big companies that were integrated into Yandex, they provided payment and withdrawal services. There I soon went from being a simple developer to becoming a team leader, heading the group I was working in, and supervising both projects for two years. When I was 19, I was invited to join the team of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s “Our City” project. The portal was created in order to build a productive dialogue between the residents of the Russian capital and the city’s executive authorities as part of the Open Government program. 

– Are you serious?

–  Yes (laughs). We developed both the portal and the mobile app. We picked only high-class professionals for the team. We searched all over the country. I was the main developer in the group of analytics. I analyzed the work of the whole service, developed automated reports, improved the productivity. 

It was a pleasure when this project received two prestigious awards – World Smart City Awards in the category “City as a Service Platform” and Guangzhou in Urban Innovation for “Public Involvement in Key Decisions”. 

– You also developed the platforms for hospitals and power engineers.

– Yes, also large-scale projects. RT MIS – medical information systems and Energosbyt – personal customer account. The first one covers 34 regions, the second covers 16. 

Most hospitals are connected to RT MIS. In our app or on the website, you can make an appointment with a doctor, see the results of tests online, etc.

We have developed new technological solutions for energy companies, such as one-click contracts with utilities. I also worked with customers to determine their demand. The new features are working smoothly and have now been integrated into the life of the company. 

– How many personal developments do you have? 

– Six, including software registered in the US.

– Are they all different?

– The projects are mainly focused on security. There’s also a file-sharing service. 

– Based on your accomplishments, your head is like a spaceship. How do you relax?  

– I play football, swim in the ocean and love cars. I also like to watch something on YouTube sometimes. 

– What are you interested in besides IT?

– I’m very interested in business. And finance. I am very seriously studying these topics and trying my hand at it.

– Do you like to read books? Can you name a favorite one?

– “The Catcher in the Rye” by Jerome Salinger is my favorite. But in general, I read articles about work.

– Imagine that you offered to play in the movie and you can choose any scenario. Which one it will be? 

– I would say my movie would be about the fact that nothing is impossible. Hard work sooner or later leads to success. That’s the rule of life. You have to get out of bed every day and do stuff. In the end you’ll get it. (laughs).