Merit Valdsalu: how do philologists end up in IT and what do they do there?

On 12 November, English studies alumna Merit Valdsalu gave a talk to the students of the University of Tartu College of Foreign Languages and Cultures. She spoke of her study experience, about her career in IT and what kind of skills was she able to enhance during her studies at the university that she now uses on a daily basis.

• Merit graduated from the English Studies MA programme in 2012.
• She has worked in different technology companies such as Pipedrive and Raintree Estonia.
• In 2019, Merit united her two passions – environmental protection and technology – and created her own start-up company Single.Earth.

The talk was moderated by Kätlin Lehiste (communications specialist at the college and former coursemate).

The recording of the talk has now been officially published as the first episode of the college's podcast "Karjääriradar" (Career radar). The first talk was in English as a part of our target audience were the students enrolled in our international European Languages and Cultures Master's programme. The language of the following talks will be decided depending on the primary target audience. 

The aim of the podcast is to inpire our students, to get them thinking about possible future career paths and to guide them in the choices they make during their studies. Because of that we also welcome any comments or questions which may arise while listening to the talk. The feedback form has just one question, which allows you to write in free form. Of course, everyone else listening to the podcast is welcome to give feedback as well.