Graduate Perspectives

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

A friend from my time at KPI invited me to reflect on the Department of Automation of Thermal Power Processes, where I studied from 1982 to 1988 and then worked for two more years as an engineer. The question was broad and personal: what did my training at KPI and ATEP give me?

Nearly eight years of study and work at the department were a good school of life. My wife and I studied in the same group, and many of my fellow students are still my friends. We stay in touch and help one another when needed. The practical experience of working in a team—as a manager, subordinate or partner—has been useful every day.

Of course, a department’s purpose is to educate specialists: engineers and technical managers. In my view, a student who is interested and willing to work can gain a strong grounding in thermal-power engineering and beyond. Understanding how major and auxiliary heating equipment works makes it easier to orient yourself in many technological processes. If something is not being heated or cooled, it may be rotating, flowing—or doing all three. Knowing what to measure and record is already a large part of the task.

Classical knowledge of automatic process-control theory, measurement and modelling helps explain how equipment behaves, from a bathroom valve to a nuclear power plant unit. Engineers also need electronics, programming and information technology. I know this because I learned these subjects at ATEP. I did not master everything, but the professional foundation I gained helped me build and commission plants and workshops, provide homes with heat, water and electricity, work confidently around thermal and nuclear power equipment, and even repair the float valve in my own water tank without calling a plumber.

Even if you do not become a star in automation, your years at ATEP can still be among the best of your life.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

What advantages does ATEP offer students? In my view, it provides education and experience across many areas of practical engineering—not only automation, but also the engineering sciences that support automation and other technical careers. This can open opportunities in Ukraine and abroad.

The range of courses also helps students discover what interests them most and choose a direction. Engineering, computing and programming are examples of areas with strong prospects.

I also value the instructors and the department’s attitude towards students. Many instructors work or have worked in automation and programming, so they can share practical experience. The department also offers an individual approach and a positive learning environment, which make it easier to stay motivated and engage deeply with an engineering subject.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

About studying

My name is Danilo Grudzynski. I completed a master’s degree at ATEP about ten years before writing this account. Studying was fascinating, but at one point the need to earn money outweighed my desire to attend classes, so I studied part-time during my final two years. At the time, this was unusual and strongly discouraged, and in my fifth year I faced possible dismissal. The issue was resolved in my favour because I submitted my laboratory assignments on time and, more importantly, did them well.

About my career

I was 30 when I wrote this and had worked in IT for more than ten years. The market was growing quickly, with demand consistently exceeding supply, so there were many opportunities. By about 25, I had worked as a programmer, project manager and technical lead. Around five years before writing, I moved into a client-facing role as a technical solutions architect—a position I described as not especially serious.

At the time of this account, I was a Team Lead / Principal Developer. I jokingly called this a symptom of severe title inflation in modern Ukrainian IT, driven by the sector’s service orientation. I worked at ISG, which I did not recommend. Before that, I spent five years as a Software Architect at DataArt, which I did recommend.

Why the foundations matter

Programming is interesting because it is fundamentally about solving problems: recognising abstractions beneath specific business processes and automating solutions in terms of those abstractions. ATEP gave me an invaluable foundation for seeing abstractions in different fields, from theoretical mechanics to modelling dynamic processes with Laplace transforms.

Without that foundation and those skills, I believe the best outcome for a programmer may be to remain a “senior monkey coder”: with few prospects of working on interesting projects or taking responsibility for anything. Skilled salespeople may sell your work at a good margin, but that does not bring you closer to creating something yourself. You remain dependent on the people who can create and control the work. In a round of layoffs—hello, coronavirus!—you are more likely to be cut than they are. And when people complain about “greedy, stupid Ukrainian IT specialists”, you will be the ones they mean.

To future students

Good luck and success. I will not say that studying is the only thing you should think about. But when you have access to an education like ATEP’s, it makes little sense not to use it—for a potential career and for a more interesting, full and active life. The knowledge and experience available here—not simply the diploma or completed exam sessions—helped me greatly. I am sure you will not regret the effort.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

I graduated from the department in June 2014. I want to thank the wonderful ATEP teaching staff, led by Yurii Mykhailovych Kovryho, for six exceptionally rich and useful years at the Department of Automation of Thermal Power Processes.

In my view, the curriculum was among the most interesting at the faculty. Alongside theory, I gained practical knowledge and skills that helped me find work and develop professionally. The programme was demanding—especially for someone like me, a girl from a humanities-focused gymnasium—because it combined design, computer technologies, instrumentation and programming. But it was manageable. Its breadth gave graduates a solid foundation that can be applied in different industries. Students also have opportunities to take part in conferences and exhibitions.

During my studies, the department’s facilities and equipment were updated regularly. We worked with older equipment, which remains relevant because not every production site has introduced the latest technology, and we also learned on modern equipment.

At the time of this account, I worked as a design engineer at the Kyiv Research and Design Institute “ENERGOPROEKT”. I had worked with thermal power plants in Russia and Ukraine, and I found that the foundation from the department helped me apply my skills and learn new ones quickly.

The teachers created a friendly atmosphere that left me with very warm memories. That support mattered especially while I was on maternity leave: I was able to give birth to and raise my child without interrupting my studies. I am especially grateful to the department head and my thesis supervisor, Yurii Mykhailovych Kovryho, as well as Oleh Yosyfovych Shtifzon, Valerii Pavlovych Bun and Oleksandr Vasylovych Stepanets. I thank all the instructors for their knowledge, understanding and patience; what I learned continues to help me in my work. I wish applicants good luck and hope they choose ATEP.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

Please take a moment to read answers from a fourth-year student to questions you may have. Have you decided to apply to the Department of Automation of Thermal Power Processes at the Thermal Power Engineering Faculty?

“Is it difficult to study?” That is part of what you come to university for, isn’t it? Laboratories and coursework become difficult if you leave them until the night before the exam, after your classmates have already submitted their work and gone to sleep.

“What will I be able to do after graduating?” You will have a versatile engineering foundation. As a fourth-year student, I can already produce complex drawings, design and configure a complex network for a high-rise building, and automate processes, especially in thermal power.

“I want to become a programmer!” Starting in the first year, students take programming in C, C++ and C#. In the fourth year, we learn to program industrial controllers. One of the best-known manufacturers is Schneider Electric; the controller is right in front of you as you work, and we learn five programming languages for it.

“Are the instructors good?” More than half of the instructors I know work or have worked in the field they teach. Their practical backgrounds speak to their qualifications.

“Where and what will I work on?” Your knowledge will be broad. Drawing followed by design prepares you to design different kinds of systems. Automatic control helps you automate technological processes. You will also study computer networks, programming, electrical engineering, databases and even philosophy. You are not limited to thermal power; how you apply that knowledge depends on your interests.

I think the choice is clear.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

I am a fourth-year student in Group TO. I want to share some thoughts about our department, offer advice to applicants and describe some of the activities it holds.

Over the past few years, our department has added many new training stands, computer classrooms, controllers and other equipment. To me, this showed the department head’s and instructors’ interest in preparing future specialists. Although the department was already 50 years old at the time of this account, it continued to develop alongside automation worldwide.

Applying to university means choosing a path in life, and it can be hard to make that decision at this age. I suggest thinking about whether you would enjoy subjects such as higher mathematics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, programming, automatic control theory—one of the most important subjects—metrology, electrical engineering, technical automation equipment and other engineering disciplines. Modern training stands and computer laboratories also give students practical experience in class.

To be admitted to an exam session, students must complete a set number of laboratory assignments, coursework and calculation papers. In our experience, qualifying to sit the exams was harder than passing them. If you attend classes and complete the planned work during the semester, the session is manageable.

The department also holds events alongside classes: New Year celebrations for top-performing students, conferences and Olympiads. They offer a change of pace or a chance to demonstrate what you know in other disciplines.

The modern world needs highly qualified automation specialists who are willing and able to keep learning and work with modern equipment. The department prepares such specialists, and senior students help their younger peers with their studies.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

I graduated from the Department of Automation of Thermal Power Processes at KPI’s Thermal Power Engineering Faculty in 1978. After graduation, I was assigned to the Kyiv Institute of Automation, where I worked in the department responsible for process-control systems for rolling-mill reheating furnaces.

I completed postgraduate studies at the Kyiv Institute of Automation in 1983 and defended my Candidate of Technical Sciences dissertation in 1986. I later headed a laboratory and worked on process-control systems for reheating-furnace sections at metallurgical plants across the country.

At the time of this account, I was director of a small research enterprise developing microprocessor-based automation equipment.

ATEP provided a broad engineering education. It gave me a strong foundation in thermal processes and in methods and equipment for controlling technological processes, along with basic knowledge of electrical engineering, electronics and programming. That combination enables graduates to work effectively across many areas of science and technology.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

I graduated from ATEP in 1978, in group ATEP-195. After university I worked at the Kyiv Institute of Automation and later at private companies, including Logicon in Ukraine and ControlTech in the Czech Republic. At the time I wrote this account, I was Technical Director at Klinkmann-Ukraine, supporting the distribution of global brands: Unitronics programmable logic controllers from Israel and Wonderware industrial SCADA software from the United States.

I have also taught at ATEP and established the Software and Hardware Automation Laboratory, focused on programmable logic controllers. At the time of this account, I taught part-time at the department, covering Engineering Calculations in Automation, Programming for Process-Control Systems (Automated Technological Complex Simulation), and Automation of Technological Processes and Production. My father, who taught in the department throughout his professional life, brought me to ATEP. I love my profession and have never regretted choosing it.

What matters to me about our field is its pragmatism: a continuing, balanced combination of fundamentals and modern practice, reflected in the bachelor’s programme title, “Automation and Computer-Integrated Technologies”.

Automating technological facilities is a classical engineering discipline. Our specialisation is grounded in automating thermal-power processes; heat and mass transfer underlie industrial processes and production. Automation is essential to the efficient and safe operation of thermal-power equipment.

A process-control system is a software-and-hardware complex that gives process operators tools to manage the facility. It can turn that facility into an automated technological complex (ATC), supervised by people or capable of operating without continuous human intervention. A modern ATC is a computer-integrated, cyber-physical system using programming, the internet and databases. That is the modern side of our field.

In my view, cyber-physical ATCs lie at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution unfolding in post-industrial economies. The goal is a fully automated, even robotic, “smart” enterprise. Its tools include computerisation, programming and connecting management systems through the internet. I also linked this direction with Germany’s and the European Union’s Industry 4.0 priorities and the United States’ Computer Science for All initiative, which I described as treating programming as a fourth basic communication skill alongside listening, speaking and reading.

ATEP instructors, researchers and senior students were actively supporting these ideas in theory and practice and introducing them into the curriculum through lectures, laboratory work and computer workshops.

Our field is neither young nor old, but mature: it brings classical automation together with modern control technology. Automation will remain necessary wherever technological facilities operate. In the progression I describe, regulators and relays were earlier tools; computers, controllers, programming and networks were the modern ones, while expert systems, robots and machine vision might come next. The tools change, but automation continues.

I see three practical reasons to choose this specialisation: graduates can find work at enterprises with thermal-power processes; the work stays interesting because its tools keep evolving; and the combination of theory and modern computing can be applied in other advanced industries.

I sincerely invite ambitious, adaptable young people—and their supportive parents—to consider the bachelor’s programme in Automation and Computer-Integrated Technologies at ATEP, KPI’s Thermal Power Engineering Faculty. Let us advance the ideas of Industry 4.0 and Computer Science for All in Ukraine together!

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

After graduating from ATEP, I worked at Geräte und Regler Werke near Berlin, developing a new generation of microprocessor-based process-control systems. At the same time, we implemented such systems at power stations in the GDR, Russia, Bulgaria and Greece.

From 1990, I worked in the energy division of Siemens AG as a sales director for process-control systems, responsible for the CIS region. Together with colleagues from Russia and Ukraine, we implemented Siemens SPPA-T3000 systems at major power stations, including Berezovskaya GRES, Permskaya GRES and Severo-Zapadnaya CHPP, and at all then-modern combined-cycle gas-turbine units in Ukraine, China, Iran, Iraq and elsewhere.

I had recently retired by the time of this account. My education at the Thermal Power Engineering Faculty of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute—and especially at ATEP—formed the basis of my professional life. I used what I learned in every role, both in research and in sales discussions with customers’ specialists.

I especially value the depth of the thermal power plant knowledge I received. I still remember lectures on steam and gas turbines, steam generators, thermodynamics and automatic control theory.

To today’s applicants and future ATEP graduates, I wish success, as much learning as possible and a good start to professional life. I also hope you will experience student life as a gift.

Testimonial published in 2020. Roles and career details reflect the account at the time it was written.

I graduated from ATEP in February 1978 and began work as a duty engineer at Boxberg Power Plant. Its lignite-fired units then had a combined installed capacity of 2,520 MW: twelve units of 210 MW each. The main equipment included Taganrog boilers, LMZ turbine generators and MZTA instrumentation and control equipment. New 500 MW units were also planned; the first was in test operation and the second was still being built.

I had to focus on the new 500 MW section’s equipment. I worked as part of the operating staff, not as an automation engineer. The main equipment included East German boilers—two per turbine—an LMZ turbine generator and GDR instrumentation and control equipment from GRW.

From August 1978 to September 1980, I worked in Ukraine. On the GDR section of the international Orenburg–Uzhhorod gas-pipeline project, I commissioned gas-compressor stations at Talne, Bar, Haisyn and Oleksandrivka. I later worked on telemechanics for the Oleksandrivka line section and helped launch the pipeline’s second control centre in Cherkasy. I also worked as a translator. Commissioning work with specialists from the USSR, GDR, West Germany, the United States, Austria and the United Kingdom was constructive and collegial.

After returning home, I completed the qualification for shift supervisor of a 500 MW unit. Once the 500 MW line was in full operation, Boxberg’s installed capacity reached 3,520 MW. At the time, Boxberg was considered Europe’s largest lignite-fired power plant.

In 1985 I moved to another important role at the plant. After further training, I became head of the Safety, Fire Safety and Occupational Health Department in 1987, a position I held until retiring at the end of 2012.

Operating conditions and the legal framework for thermal power plants changed significantly in the early 1990s. With my colleagues, I oversaw the modernisation and reconstruction of the 500 MW equipment, including completion of flue-gas desulphurisation equipment and the phased decommissioning of all 210 MW units. The workforce fell from about 4,000 to about 700, and substantial effort went into improving working conditions. Units of 906 MW and 675 MW were built during 1994–2000 and 2006–2012, respectively.

The thermal-engineering foundation I gained at the Thermal Power Engineering Faculty, together with ATEP’s specialisation in automating thermal-power processes, became the basis of my working life. The experience I received can be summed up this way: An automation engineer must understand the process! Investigate, analyse, clarify, look for a solution, focus on what matters and act decisively.

My advice to applicants is to focus on theoretical foundations so you can understand systems regardless of the equipment manufacturer—MZTA, GRW, GE, Serck Controls, Siemens and others. Learn a foreign language and develop social skills. Stay open to progress and ready to reach an honest compromise.

My wish for the ATEP curriculum is to develop students’ social competence for working in international teams with people from different cultures.