As the war drags on, Ukrainian tech workers keep plugging away
Anna* was looking forward to a trip to the US. But this isn’t what she had in mind.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, over a hundred thousand people, and millions more have fled. Refugees from Ukraine in the US are living in an uneasy middle ground, where the war is both immediate and distant — unable to witness firsthand and impossible to ignore.
In Ukraine, she had worked in the tech industry as a project coordinator and manager; as a certified Scrum master, she taught others how to effectively guide teams and projects through their work. She also published a book of poetry in 2021. “You cannot fully separate yourself from the country which does such things,” Tkachenko says. “Somehow, you feel ashamed of things your country can do, and you cannot understand that yourself.”
By April, things had gotten to the point that Tkachenko realized the situation was untenable. He began to express solidarity with Ukraine in some much-needed personal conversations with his friends. Shortly after, Tkachenko resumed his practice of scheduling frequent one-on-one meetings with every employee, realizing that Qure.Finance’s future depended on it.
Nataliia Zarichna left her grueling part-time gig translating movies, cartoons, and documentaries around 2010 for a job in quality assurance. The tech scene in her hometown of Ternopil was beginning to pick up. The industry culture was supportive and collaborative, Zarichna says, with outsourcing companies hosting free workshops with food and drinks, hoping to entice workers.
San Francisco’s Ukrainian community also mobilized quickly, Zarichna says, and began donating money and buying supplies — food and diapers for civilians, and drones and binoculars for the military. The bigger problem was how to get donations into the country: with airspace closed, the only way in was through ground transportation.
Without the ability to help on the ground, Ukrainian tech workers in the US have found different ways to feel useful. Shortly after beginning her job as an account manager at Expedia last year, Kate Covalenco joined an internal network of volunteer mental health ambassadors. She serves as a resource for colleagues who are struggling with work or personal life — essentially an internal mental health hotline.
As the war has progressed, Covalenco has taught herself how to detach just enough — one foot in, one foot out. She has pulled herself away from refreshing her Instagram feed and Telegram channels nonstop. Learning to live without guilt is something she’s still working on. From 9AM to 7PM, Serhii logs on remotely to work at a healthcare tech company. When the war began, his employer offered time off for affected workers and also provided a bonus, Serhii says. He took one week off — what amounts to a short vacation — before clocking back in.
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