💚🌿This interview has been waiting for its moment for more than six months—and now feels like exactly the right time to share it: with those who are about to graduate, those who are just beginning their studies, and those who are still considering joining our community. 💚🌿

💚🌿This conversation exists thanks to the kindness and generosity of 𝗥𝗮𝗳𝗮ł Č𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗮𝘃𝘀𝗸𝗶. We are especially grateful for Rafał’s invaluable contribution to the development of our new study programme, 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀. 
Daugiakalbystė ir skaitmeninės technologijos - Vilniaus Universitetas
His professionalism, expertise, and thoughtful insights have been immensely valuable, and we sincerely appreciate his support, and we look forward to our further professional cooperation. 💚🌿

🌿💚As a lovely reminder of where every journey begins, Rafał’s BA thesis was on The Change in the Connotation of Plastic. Today, he works as a 𝗦𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗼 𝗔𝗕 in Stockholm, Sweden, continuing to build an inspiring professional career that demonstrates just how transferable and valuable the skills gained through English Philology can be. 🌿💚

🌿💚We hope his story will inspire those who are about to graduate, those who are just beginning to think about their future, and those who are considering becoming part of our community.
💚🌿 Welcome—and enjoy the interview! 🌿💚

I graduated in English Philology with a minor in Swedish. After graduation, I wanted to pursue a Master’s that combined my interest in linguistics with my desire to properly learn Swedish. Computational Linguistics at Uppsala University was the perfect bridge. During my studies there, I worked as a computational linguist focusing on testing and quality assurance for text-to-speech solutions. This led to a Machine Learning internship at a startup where I stayed for three years. Today, I work as a Software Engineer, ensuring that machine learning models run smoothly in production.🌿💚

🌿💚While my Master’s marked a shift toward tech, I had to put in quite a bit of self-study in Python, Mathematics, and Machine Learning before I was able to land a job. However, I still view English Philology as my essential foundation. I can think of three "invisible" competencies from that degree that I use daily:

𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Because I work with language-based ML models (speech synthesis and text classification), my philology background allows me to see the linguistic patterns beyond just sequences of words.

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: I still apply the "6x6 rule" for slides and "gold paragraph structure" for documentation and emails. Being able to communicate complex technical ideas clearly is a rare skill in engineering.

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁: Studying literature taught me to analyze the author's intent. When I inherit legacy code, I don't just look at the syntax; I study the context in which it was written and the original developer's goals. This makes me a much more pragmatic engineer.

💚 Thank you, ❤️𝗥𝗮𝗳𝗮ł❤️🌿🤍