A bridge to new achievements

The third National Championship of Professional Skills was held in Kazan last May. The competition were based on the WorldSkills standards. Like last year, Tatarstan team ranked the first.
As much as 519 contestants from 46 Russian regions and 5 other countries - Morocco, Israel, Finland, Belarus and Kazakhstan - took part in the final stage. They competed in 57 skills, 42 of them were main and 15 were for presentation. The championship took place at the Kazan exhibition hall. The mission of WorldSkills is to raise the profile and recognition of skilled people, and show how important skills are in achieving economic growth and personal success.
To develop and never stop
The victory comes to those who seek, learn, study their occupation and develop themselves, a student at the technical college of Naberezhnye Chelny, Ravil Zagrtdinov, believes. He won the national championship on the Repairs and Maintenance of a Car skill.
Before the final stage, the contestants had to go through qualifying regional contests. Ravil fell behind the leader at the national semi-final by 0.5 point, but managed to be the first in the final.
He said that he had had a choice whether to study programming or auto repairs. He chose the latter. “I understood I would go further in this sphere,” he explains the decision.
Perhaps, the victory at WorldSkills Russia is the first significant professional victory of Ravil. “Such competitions give confidence; during a preparation process, a person studies a lot, i.e. develops, and we get many professional workers,” he asserts.
The winner admitted he was not going to stop - he plans to develop further, excel in his occupation and become better and better.
From victory to a job offer
Linar Minnakhmetov from Bugulma was not a first-timer at the latest competition - he contended at WorldSkills Russia previous year. According to him, it was easier for him this year since he knew the standards and the competition rules. “I worked on the mistakes I made last year,” Linar responded.
This time, the young specialist took the lead at the regional stage and, then, won the national championship on the CAD skill.
The final stage is not easy. One of the main challenges, in Linar’s opinion, was the lack of time to accomplish a task. There were four modules in this competence. Every day, competitiors were assigned six hours to finish the tasks, although Linar says more time was necessary to make up a design. In order to be in time, one had to hurry, which means flaws could be overlooked.
The young professional notes that he focuses on himself, listens to music in order to concentrate.

The specialty he studies is advanced mechanical engineering. “By studying mechanical engineering, one can learn how to make up parts, automate processes to reduce labor and time costs,” he notes.
Big step in future
Aisylu Sungatullina from Naberezhnye Chelny will have to defend a research project and graduate very soon. The fourth year student at the pedagogy college proved to the regional commission that to win at WorldSkills Russia was her goal. And she made it, becoming the best in the Pre-School Upbringing skill. Now, she has another goal - to enter Kazan Federal University.

“Competitions give huge experience, it is a big step forward, a chance for future,” Aisylu believes.
Even before the final stage of the national championship, Aisylu was assigned a job at a kindergarten - only ten out of 40 alumni enjoyed such an opportunity. However, she decided to obtain higher education in order to excel in her profession.