Why One Graduate Spends His Vacations Helping New Students

Somewhere on a highway in California, Azamat Sadiev's phone rang. He was on vacation. His friends were in the car. The windows were down. They were driving somewhere sunny and doing nothing important, which is the whole point of a vacation.

He picked up anyway.

On the other end was one of his students -- someone going through interview prep, nervous, needing help with specific questions that a recruiter had just sent over. Azamat pulled up what he knew and started answering. One question. Then another. Then another.

"I was just driving, like, in 30-40 minutes all my friends in the car they got silent and I was answering all the questions. It was funny, but this is how we all are doing. We are mentors. We are here for the students."

His friends sat quiet for half an hour. Nobody complained. When the call ended, the vacation resumed. This, for Azamat, is just what Tuesdays look like. Or Saturdays. Or holidays. It does not matter what day it is.

Three Years Later, Still Picking Up the Phone

Azamat graduated from CYDEO three years ago. He works at one of the largest healthcare companies in the United States. His career is stable. His salary is good. He has no obligation to help anyone at his old program.

He does it anyway.

He is a mentor in CYDEO's alumni mentoring program, where graduates are matched with current students. His job is to guide a group through the entire course -- reviewing topics, running practice sessions, answering questions at all hours, and sharing what the real work actually looks like once you land a job.

But Azamat does more than the job description. Every student he has ever mentored -- current batch or past batches -- has his phone number. His email. His direct line.

"All my students, even from previous batches or existing batches, they have my phone number, email address. So they can contact me every time they need any help. They have any questions, problems. And at the daily basis, as friends, we are contacting each other."

That is not a policy. That is a choice.

He Remembers What It Was Like Without Help

The reason Azamat mentors is not complicated. He remembers being a student. And when he was going through the program, there were no mentors at all.

No one to call when the material got confusing. No one to ask about what a real interview looks like. No alumni to explain the gap between what you learn in class and what you actually do on the job. He had to figure all of that out alone.

"At the time I was a student, there were no mentors at all. And that was hard. So now I have an ability to help the students. I can help them to skip those problems that I had."

That sentence explains everything. He does not mentor because it looks good on a resume. He mentors because he went through the hard version, and he does not want anyone else to have to.

What Mentors Actually Do

When Azamat describes his mentoring work, it is practical, not abstract. He is not giving motivational speeches. He is sitting with students and grinding through the material.

He reviews the topics they covered in class. He runs question-and-answer sessions. He builds practice problems. He explains the workflow at his own job so students can picture what their days will look like in six months.

But if you ask him what the single most important thing a mentor gives a student is, he does not say "knowledge" or "test prep" or "resume help."

He says confidence.

"I think that the most important value for the student is to perform and give the students the specific feeling of confidence."

He has seen what happens when a student who knows the material walks into an interview unsure of themselves. They freeze. They second-guess. They give weak answers to questions they actually know. What a mentor does is sit with them enough times that they start to believe they belong in the room. That they are ready. That they can do this.

That is not something a textbook can give you. It comes from a real person who made the same career change telling you: I was where you are, and I made it through.

He Refers Students From His Own Company

Azamat does not just help students prepare for interviews in general. When his own company has an open position, he refers CYDEO students directly.

"Whenever in my company we have an open position, I'm trying to refer some of my students."

Think about what that means. He is putting his own professional reputation on the line for people he mentored. He is telling his employer: I know this person, I trained with them, they are good enough to work here. That is not something you do casually. That is the kind of trust that only comes from watching someone put in the work over months.

The Family That Does Not Let Go

There is a phrase Azamat keeps coming back to: "CYDEO family." It would be easy to dismiss that as corporate talk, the way every company says they are a family. But when Azamat says it, he is describing something specific.

He is describing a place where students work in groups, become friends during the program, and then help each other through the interview process after it ends. Where mentors stay involved for years, not weeks. Where someone will pick up the phone during a road trip through California because a student needs help.

"I grew up here. I changed my life here. And I really love the idea of family. And I will say that I will be here until this idea will get tired of me."

That last line is worth reading again. He did not say "until I get tired of it." He said "until it gets tired of me." He is not leaving. He is waiting to be told to stop. And based on the way things are going, nobody is telling him to stop anytime soon.

What It Means for Someone Starting Out

If you are thinking about changing careers, the technical training matters. Obviously. You need to learn the skills, pass the interviews, land the job.

But what Azamat's story shows is something that does not show up on a curriculum page: what happens after class ends. Who picks up the phone at 9 p.m. when you are stuck. Who vouches for you at their own company. Who keeps showing up, year after year, not because they have to, but because they remember what it felt like to be alone in it.

The students Azamat mentors are not just learning tools and frameworks. They are being pulled into a network of people who want them to succeed. And that network does not expire when the program is over.

What You Can Take From Azamat's Story

• Find people who are a few steps ahead of you. The fastest way to learn is from someone who just went through what you are about to go through. They remember the hard parts. They know the shortcuts.

• Confidence is a skill, not a personality trait. You build it by practicing with people who believe in you. If you feel unsure of yourself, that does not mean you are not ready. It means you need more reps with someone in your corner.

• The best communities are built by people who give back. Azamat did not wait to be asked. He volunteered. If you ever find a group that helped you, stay in it. Help the next person. That is how the group stays strong.

• Your network matters as much as your skills. Azamat refers students from his own company. That kind of connection -- someone willing to put their name behind yours -- can open doors that a resume alone cannot.

• Do not disappear after you succeed. The easiest time to forget where you came from is right after you make it. Azamat made it three years ago. He is still here.