Arkady Dobkin: I never had the feeling that EPAM ceased to be a startup. Arkady Dobkin: I never had the feeling that EPAM ceased to be a startup Other activities, hobbies

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Dolokhov slowly straightened his bent leg and looked straight into the general’s face with his bright and insolent gaze.
- Why the blue overcoat? Down with... Sergeant Major! Changing his clothes... rubbish... - He didn’t have time to finish.
“General, I am obliged to carry out orders, but I am not obliged to endure...” Dolokhov hastily said.
– Don’t talk at the front!... Don’t talk, don’t talk!...
“You don’t have to endure insults,” Dolokhov finished loudly and resoundingly.
The eyes of the general and the soldier met. The general fell silent, angrily pulling down his tight scarf.
“Please change your clothes, please,” he said, walking away.

- He's coming! - the makhalny shouted at this time.
The regimental commander, blushing, ran up to the horse, with trembling hands took the stirrup, threw the body over, straightened himself, took out his sword and with a happy, decisive face, his mouth open to the side, prepared to shout. The regiment perked up like a recovering bird and froze.
- Smir r r r na! - the regimental commander shouted in a soul-shaking voice, joyful for himself, strict in relation to the regiment and friendly in relation to the approaching commander.
Along a wide, tree-lined, highwayless road, a tall blue Viennese carriage rode in a row at a brisk trot, its springs slightly rattling. Behind the carriage galloped a retinue and a convoy of Croats. Next to Kutuzov sat an Austrian general in a strange white uniform among the black Russians. The carriage stopped at the shelf. Kutuzov and the Austrian general were talking quietly about something, and Kutuzov smiled slightly, while, stepping heavily, he lowered his foot from the footrest, as if these 2,000 people were not there, who were looking at him and the regimental commander without breathing .
A shout of command was heard, and again the regiment trembled with a ringing sound, putting itself on guard. In the dead silence the weak voice of the commander-in-chief was heard. The regiment barked: “We wish you good health, yours!” And again everything froze. At first, Kutuzov stood in one place while the regiment moved; then Kutuzov, next to the white general, on foot, accompanied by his retinue, began to walk along the ranks.
By the way the regimental commander saluted the commander-in-chief, glaring at him with his eyes, stretching out and getting closer, how he leaned forward and followed the generals along the ranks, barely maintaining a trembling movement, how he jumped at every word and movement of the commander-in-chief, it was clear that he was fulfilling his duties subordinate with even greater pleasure than the duties of a superior. The regiment, thanks to the rigor and diligence of the regimental commander, was in excellent condition compared to others who came to Braunau at the same time. There were only 217 people who were retarded and sick. And everything was fine, except for the shoes.
Kutuzov walked through the ranks, occasionally stopping and speaking a few kind words to the officers whom he knew from the Turkish war, and sometimes to the soldiers. Looking at the shoes, he sadly shook his head several times and pointed them out to the Austrian general with such an expression that he didn’t seem to blame anyone for it, but he couldn’t help but see how bad it was. Each time the regimental commander ran ahead, afraid to miss the commander-in-chief's word regarding the regiment. Behind Kutuzov, at such a distance that any faintly spoken word could be heard, walked about 20 people in his retinue. The gentlemen of the retinue talked among themselves and sometimes laughed. The handsome adjutant walked closest to the commander-in-chief. It was Prince Bolkonsky. Walking next to him was his comrade Nesvitsky, a tall staff officer, extremely fat, with a kind, and smiling beautiful face and wet eyes; Nesvitsky could hardly restrain himself from laughing, excited by the blackish hussar officer walking next to him. The hussar officer, without smiling, without changing the expression of his fixed eyes, looked with a serious face at the back of the regimental commander and imitated his every movement. Every time the regimental commander flinched and bent forward, in exactly the same way, in exactly the same way, the hussar officer flinched and bent forward. Nesvitsky laughed and pushed others to look at the funny man.

Dobkin Arkady Mikhailovich- President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of EPAM Systems since 1993. US citizen.

Biography, career

Born in Minsk (Belarus). Studied at school No. 50 with a mathematical bias, and also graduated in Minsk art school. Graduated from the Belarusian National Technical University with a degree in electrical engineering. He began his career in Belarus, working in several companies specializing in the development of software.

In 1991, immediately after the completion of Gorbachev’s perestroika, he emigrated to the USA, not knowing in English(according to him, he could read relatively well and write a little, since he had experience working with English-language special documentation, but practically did not understand the language by ear) and without having great Money livelihood (according to him, the money ran out immediately after buying a used car).

“For example, for the first four months I washed dishes in a restaurant. But at the same time, he sent out about 400 resumes in search of work, one of which ended up in right place. I probably nodded successfully in the right places during the interview - and I was offered a job in my specialty, although I still did not speak English.”

In 1992-1993 he worked as a programmer at Prudential.

Founded in 1993 outsourcing company Epam Systems is headquartered in New Jersey.

“I made a list of my Minsk friends and started sending them faxes with a proposal to organize a company that would do programming for orders from American clients. Fifth or sixth on the list was my classmate, who began to respond to my messages regularly. We started with him.”

Arkady Dobkin decided to build an offshore programming business because, having arrived in the USA, he saw the demand for such a model and because he really wanted to work with his friends again

"I dreamed of similar business, but considered this idea somewhat naive and difficult to implement. In the early 1990s, groups of Indian programmers began to fulfill orders from American software companies. This gave me confidence to try a similar business in Belarus. Of course, in those years it was much more difficult to do remote work than it is today: the Internet practically did not exist, telephone communications was very expensive. And the relationship between the USA and the republics former USSR were not as favorable as business ties between America and India. But the desire to try was great, and the forecasts of Western analysts, who even then spoke about serious prospects for the offshore programming market, were encouraging."

From April 1993 to November 1996, he worked as a consultant and leading technical specialist at Colgate Palmolive (in 1995, with a group of Minsk programmers who formed the basis of Epam Systems, he began working on creating a sales support system for Colgate, an analogue of SAP). During this period, Arkady Dobkin met Hasso Plattner, the founder of SAP AG, who entrusted his team with the development of the first prototype SAP product for a sales support system, which was to be presented at the annual SAP conference in 1996.

In July 1999, he became senior vice president of development at Firepond (a leading developer in the field of Sales Force Automation), remaining in this position until March 2001.

Arkady Dobkin was a member of the board of directors of the Russoft association, which unites the most influential software development companies in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

In 2004, he was featured in a special issue of “The Top 25 Executives” of the weekly CRN as one of the three most influential executives of IT companies in the “Foreign Relations” category.

In 2006, Consulting Magazine recognized Arkady Dobkin as one of the 25 most influential consultants of the year.

In 2012, Arkady Dobkin planned to earn $8.78 million - $9.88 million from Epam Systems' IPO, reducing his stake from 14.1% to 12.1%. Based on the results of the placement, we can only say that the package Dobkin had before the IPO was worth $65 million at the time of placement.

Quotes, interviews

How to work with analysts

“I read the Gartner report, but I can’t find us. I am writing directly to the author, sending information about the company. You need to establish a personal relationship with them. After all, in the same Gartner, only 4 people are involved in all global outsourcing. And therefore, whether Ian Merriott himself knows about your company will determine whether you get into the next study or not.”

About your role in business

In managing Epam Systems, Arkady describes his role as the “last resort” in internal conflicts, since he is not involved in production and sales, but manages the company’s strategy. Believes that anyone can accidentally find good client, do it by accident good project, so repeatable results are the key to business success. When a company employs hundreds of people, this is no longer a merit of its leader, but of the entire team.

Programmed result - interview with Business Review magazine
IT business legend from Belarus - interview with Computer News magazine

Other activities, hobbies

Hobbies - skiing and playing tennis, in the summer - football (mainly at corporate events held in Minsk).

Family

Arkady Dobkin has two daughters.

Notes

Because of Facebook, EPAM's IPO valuation fell by $240 million.
How to be friends with authorities

Over the weekend, an internal conference for EPAM developers took place in Minsk, which was attended by the company’s founder, Arkady Dobkin. The businessman’s schedule included a window for a short interview with Onliner.by journalists, which he kindly provided during a break between meetings with business partners. About Minsk, which is not a shame to show, progressive youth and benefits for HTP residents in a direct speech from a businessman.

Changes in Belarusian IT as one example

When our first client came to Minsk 20 years ago, we were afraid to bring him to our office and rented a room, the only one in Minsk where it was possible to hold a more or less adequate meeting. Today we are holding an internal conference in the capital for more than a thousand people, which is attended by representatives of foreign embassies, where clients fly from America and Asia. This is how our capital has changed over the past 15 years.

About timely decision

I said ten and five years ago and I will repeat today that the conditions that have been created for IT business in Belarus are very great and certainly timely. This allowed companies to forget about many problems and created more or less equal competitive environment for companies operating in Belarus and on the global market. Because in many other regions, in India for example, there were significant benefits that did not allow us to break into the market and prove that we could do a much better job.

The conditions created in Belarus contributed to the emergence of companies such as EPAM and many others. An ecosystem emerged from which many startups began to be created. People now have an engineering understanding of how products, solutions, and services are created at the global level. Only because the conditions for ten years have made it possible to conduct business transparently with benefits. People realized that they did not need to fly out of the country somewhere.

The impact of the IT sector on the economy of Belarus

I'm not an economist and I don't work in government. And I don’t want to look like an amateur, speaking on topics that I don’t understand well. Primitively, I can explain it this way. Let's see how many people work at the HTP. EPAM alone employs 7,000 people; the entire Park employs perhaps 25,000 people. average salary in the republic - just below $400. The average salary of programmers is one and a half thousand. These people create a service around themselves, because they have wives, children, parents. Medical service, educational, entertainment. Which then grows. 25,000 people and their families. This is already 50,000-75,000 people - almost 4% of the population of Minsk.

People's view of things changes: they speak foreign languages, can go abroad. Foreigners who come here see a beautiful modern city, nightlife and a crowd of young people who speak English to them. They will come here to do business.

At the business forum, I specifically asked to print out the top largest shareholders of EPAM. These are global funds that have invested tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in the company. But this is a company that is hugely dependent on Belarus.

Lack of staff

Offices appear in HTP foreign companies, which see successful IT businesses from Belarus. This doesn't make EPAM's life any easier. On the contrary, it creates competition. It's more difficult for us to find employees. But this is 100% beneficial for the country.

The lack of employees is not only a Belarusian, but also a global problem. The same in Palo Alto, the same in London, everywhere. This is a market challenge that forces us and our competitors to invest more in education. This is something that has changed over the last 10-15 years. If 15 years ago someone had said that one company in Belarus would employ 7,000 people, I would have twirled my finger at my temple: “What are you doing? EPAM will never employ 1,000 people.”

Yes, the conditions at the HTP were left more money companies, but now companies are using that money for education. That's why EPAM has 35 laboratories inside universities where we invest our resources. These conditions did not just reduce the tax burden. For an industry like ours, this is an opportunity to direct money for growth where we see fit.

Residents receive income from foreign markets. Even if some of the company’s revenues were not subject to direct taxes, when its employee bought an apartment, a car, went to the movies, and ate, he in any case left them in the economy.

Speech by the founder of EPAM at the Software Engineering Conference in Minsk

Arkady Dobkin - co-founder, president and chairman of the board of directors of EPAM Systems, largest developer custom software in Central and Eastern Europe.

After graduating from the Belarusian National Technical University with a degree in electrical engineering, Arkady Dobkin began his career in Belarus. Until 1991, he worked for several local software companies, after which he immigrated to the United States.

In 1993, Arkady Dobkin became one of the founders of EPAM Systems. Under his leadership, the company became one of the leading software developers specializing in creating software products for market leaders and emerging software companies, as well as critical implementation important decisions for global corporations.
Today, EPAM development centers in Central and Eastern Europe employ more than 7,000 software engineers, and the company has thousands of completed projects in North America and Europe. EPAM's expertise in software engineering has been recognized by: major clients, like Oracle, SAP, Google, IBM, UBS, Barclays Capital, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Expedia, Thomson Reuters, Viacom and many others.

In February 2012, along with other company executives, Arkady Dobkin rang the symbolic bell during the traditional opening ceremony of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. This event marked the initial public offering of EPAM Systems on the NYSE: EPAM became the first publicly traded software company in Central and Eastern Europe to enter the largest stock exchange peace.

Winner of numerous awards, in June 2008 at solemn ceremony in New Jersey, Arkady Dobkin was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the “IT Consulting” category according to experts from the auditing company Ernst & Young. In 2006, Consulting Magazine included Arkady Dobkin in the list of the 25 most influential consultants of the year. In 2004, together with the CEOs of Wipro Technologies and CGI Group, Arkady Dobkin was noted in a special issue of CRN - Top 25 Executives - as one of the most influential leaders of IT companies in the Foreign Relations category.

By developing EPAM's expertise, Arkady Dobkin opened a team of talented specialists from the countries of the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe to the global business community. He continues to actively share development experience accumulated in this region, regularly giving expert presentations at important events for the IT industry international conferences, such as Gartner Outsourcing Summit, Forrester’s GigaWorld IT Forum Europe, Russian Outsourcing&Software Summit, SAP TechEd and others.

Report: Software development as a business - past, present, future

In his speech, Arkady will talk about a process that is unlikely to be repeated, but which was very “flexible” (“agile”). It's about transforming the startup he co-founded 20 years ago into the global public software company it is today. The process will be illustrated through a series of chronological stories, anecdotes, and serendipitous (and sometimes not so serendipitous) accidents, with an emphasis on the ever-changing technology landscape and trends that allowed this experience to occur, as well as the exciting new opportunities that EPAM plans to capitalize on in the future.

EPAM Systems, software development services, over 35 offices in more than 10 countries (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Poland, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, USA, Canada), more than 20 development centers in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Poland.

Persons

Elena Dobkina (head of Dobkin Grantor Trust, wife), Leonid Lozner (classmate, co-founder and shareholder of EPAM Systems), Hasso Plattner (founder of SAP AG), Karl Robb and Balazs Fejes ( former owners Fathom Technology, shareholders and members of the board of directors of EPAM Systems), Drew. J. Gaff and Donald P. Spencer (owners management company Siguler Guff & Co, through the Russia Partners II fund are the largest shareholders of EPAM Systems), Edward Johnson III (manager of the investment fund Fidelity Management & Research, shareholder of EPAM Systems), Valery Tsepkalo (head of the Park administration high technology), Anatoly Gaverdovsky (co-founder of VDI, former vice president of EPAM, founder of yaM Labs), Sergey Divin ( CEO EPAM Systems in Belarus), Ilya Kantor (CFO of EPAM Systems), Anatoly Karachinsky (owner of IBS Group and Luxoft), Benny Shtaimetz and Oleg Zhelezko (founders of the investment fund Da Vinci Capital), Kevin Labik (owner of EmpathyLab), Kirk Robinson and David Berkowitz (owners of the Canadian company Thoughtcorp).

Data

Personal:

Arkady Dobkin transferred part of the shares that he had left after the IPO (1.2% worth $10.2 million) to his daughters. For this purpose, the Arkadiy Dobkin GST Exempt Grantor Trust was established, headed by his wife. At the same time, he retained the right to vote with this package and sell it. In total, his stake, the third largest in EPAM Systems, amounted to 10.6% of shares at the beginning of 2013. The investment fund Siguler Guff & Co remains the largest owner of the company. In second place was the Fidelity Management & Research fund, which acquired shares of EPAM Systems after the company entered the New York Stock Exchange (in September 2012).

Business:

Since the beginning of 2012, the businessman continued to reap the benefits of a historic event for Belarusian business - the first entry of a company with Belarusian roots to the New York Stock Exchange. Due to the global crisis, the IPO organizers were unable to fully implement their plans - due to low demand from investors, EPAM Systems was forced to revise the placement parameters at the last moment. But during 2012-2013, the company's value increased. In February 2012, after the IPO, its capitalization fluctuated around $600 million; in March 2013, the value of EPAM Systems exceeded $1 billion. As shares rose, the main shareholder of Russia Partners sold 8.5% of the company's shares in August 2013, earning $120 million for them.

"We can do better and accomplish more complex tasks than most competitors. We will use both internal and external opportunities to expand the range of our services, technical competence and enter new markets,” Arkady Dobkin outlined in a media interview the opportunities that EPAM Systems received after the IPO.

Arkady Dobkin invested part of the funds received from the placement of shares in the acquisition of new companies. In 2012, EPAM Systems included two North American IT businesses - the American EmpathyLab and the Canadian Thoughtcorp. In 2013, EPAM Systems entered the top 500 fastest growing companies in North America based on the results of 2007-2011 (Deloitte 2012 Technology Fast 500 ranking), took 6th place in the top 20 most technological companies in America (America` 25 Fastest-Growing Tech Companies) and 29th in the latest version of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals ranking (The 2013 Global Outsourcing 100 List).

At the end of 2013, EPAM Systems ranked first in terms of production volume, exports and number of employees among the residents of the Hi-Tech Park. From mid-2012 to August 2013, the company was the largest employer in the IT sector in Ukraine (in August it was ahead of Luxoft). In 2012-2013, EPAM Systems began investing in real estate for Belarusian programmers. It is planned to spend about 20 million dollars for these purposes. In March 2013, the board of directors of EPAM Systems approved an incentive program for employees in Belarus. According to the document, programmers who have worked in the company for at least 3 years can count on preferential loans for the purchase of apartments in Minsk. Dobkin and his partners are ready to spend at least $10 million for these purposes. To attract personnel, the company continued to finance training programs in Belarusian universities. In 2013, another IT laboratory was opened at the Minsk State Linguistic University.