A New Country, New Career, and New Sense of Belonging: Natasha Bagramian’s TripleTen Story

Sometimes when you immigrate, more than just your country changes. And we’re not talking about the food, the language, or the culture. Living in a brand new place leads to transformations that are harder to point to — but that have far deeper personal implications. See, sometimes when you immigrate, your identity changes.

This was what faced Natasha Bagramian when she started a life in the United States. She left behind a clear track and was facing a future she hadn’t planned for. 

The thing that carried her through? Trusting her enthusiasm and curiosity. Here’s how those two qualities brought her to TripleTen and, ultimately, a thriving career in QA.

Discovery in the wake of massive change

Natasha studied to be a teacher in her native Saransk, a city a 7-hour drive west-south-west of Moscow. She specialized in teaching both English and Russian as second languages, and that brought her to Alaska, where she spent eight months teaching Russian. 

She’d originally planned to move back to Russia once that gig was through, but two things happened: she met the man who was soon to become her husband and the pandemic struck. So she stayed, and that began her mind turning.

“I was teaching Russian as a second language, and then I realized that it's not that popular. And  teaching English as a second language — we have native speakers here who can do a better job than I do, so that's what got me into the path of thinking of what to do with my life,” she said. “That was a big crisis for me.”

Before the move, each step had been planned out. But now, she was totally off script. “It's a big shift. Your life just changes completely — you are a different person speaking a different language, and you have to basically start from scratch.”

So where to begin? She wanted some exposure to American work culture, and she liked her bank, so she went for a job there. She appreciated the position, but one thing stood out above the rest, especially as she also reflected on her time teaching.

I realized that the favorite part of my banking job and teaching job was to make sure that everything ran smoothly. My coworkers would ask, ‘Can you read this and proofread it?’ or ‘Can you double check that this is good?’ Natasha Bagramian, TripleTen grad

It was great, but there was an urge pushing her to discover more. “I get bored if I don't have things to learn. I feel like my brain starts to itch,” she said.

So she started exploring coding as a potential path. Her interest in tech and making things work the way they should led her to getting curious about quality assurance, and she started studying the field on her own. It was an ideal match — so much so that she needed help disengaging from learning. “I wouldn't eat, I wouldn't sleep, and I would ask my husband to take away my computer,” she said.

As part of this journey, she followed TripleTen on Instagram. Noticing this, a friend of hers reached out; it turned out they were both interested in the bootcamp. That extra little push was all they needed. They both enrolled — Natasha in the QA program, and her friend in the Software Engineering program.

Building her QA chops

Since she already had some knowledge of the subject, she was more than ready for the bootcamp. Initially, she followed the recommended pace, and she’d study during her lunch break and after work, but she soon realized she could speed up. “I started going faster and faster and faster just because I really liked it,” she said.

But not everything came quickly; the things that really posed a challenge for her were APIs. “That API project was a whole new thing,” she said. “It was way harder than what we had previously.” But she reached out to tutors when she needed help, followed the steps she’d been taught, and soon enough, she’d mastered the tech. 

“When I first opened the chapter, I had no idea what it was. I could not understand what they were teaching, but at the end, I felt so confident. When I submitted my project, I felt like I was an expert,” she said. In fact, she then started helping her fellow students when they got stuck. “In the group chat, somebody would say ‘Hey, I’m having a problem with APIs,’ and I would say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna help you.’”

But the choice that truly shaped her time at TripleTen was when she decided to go for one of our externships — hands-on projects with real-life companies that TripleTen students can apply to join toward the end of their studies. 

For this, a parallel cohort of TripleTen software engineering students helped build a site all about the movies so bad they’re good, and Natasha and her fellow QA-experts-to-be drove the testing of the site. It was a transformative experience for her.

I got so attached to the project. I got so attached to the team. And it felt really great. I was telling everybody about the externship and how great it was, and how it wasn't just a nice addition to my resume, it gave me actual skills, and I gained so much confidence in my automation skills. Natasha Bargamian, TripleTen grad

It was a culmination of all the wisdom she’d gained, all the new skills_{The Top 5 Soft Skills Every QA Engineer Need}s she’d been acquiring. And not only that — it gave her crucial experience that helped her land a job.

The career that’s right for her

She’d put in tons of work. She’d studied before the bootcamp, gained in-demand skills at TripleTen, and then even augmented her know-how once she’d wrapped up her time with her cohort. So after all that, she felt prepared for the job search, especially thanks to the assistance she got from TripleTen’s coaches_{Career Coaching at TripleTen: What It Is and How It Helps You Land a Job}.

I had two amazing career coaches that would review my resume, give feedback, and support me. Natasha Bargamian, TripleTen grad

After dedicating herself to a job search, she found an opportunity that seemed right for her and applied on LinkedIn. From there, it was a whirlwind recruitment process. In fact, the very same day she had a call with a recruiter, she was invited to come back for a technical interview. 

She did a bit of investigating and discovered something crucial: “They used the same tool that we used during our externship, so I felt very confident.” This even sparked a plan. “I might not be the best at answering questions, but I can definitely come prepared and show what I can do,” she said. She got coding.

“I created an automation demo for their company website, so when we started the interview, I said, ‘Well, I came prepared. I wanted to share a sample of my code and see if you like it.’” 

Thanks to the automation best practices she learned in her externship, the project was convincing. “The very next business day, they called me and said they wanted to offer me a job.”

Now, she’s a QA Engineer at QualityLogic, a software testing firm that provides US-based QA services to other companies. It’s a job she shows up to with enthusiasm. “Everybody is super supportive, friendly, and  helpful, and the atmosphere — I feel like I belong there. I really like it there — the project, the tempo, the company culture, the attitude, and everything.”

She’s come a long way from planning to teach English in Saransk, but she’s found the career that fits: “It's exactly what I was looking for, and it's exactly what I feel like I'm qualified to do.”

See if a bootcamp is right for you

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