This is how Joey Bradley, a UK alumnus with a major in Russian, tells about the impact of Russian Studies at UK on his life.

In the words of the late Steve Jobs, "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards." In retrospect, it may seem odd that a Russian degree received from UK in 2001 led me to software development. However, the instruction at UK prepared me to think different. In my opinion, writing computer code required the same thought process as communicating in Russian.

Currently I work as a software developer in Washington DC for the Department of Labor. I previously worked with the Office of Personnel Management, the National Park Service, Defense Information Systems Agency and Telecommunications Industry Association. In 2006 I co-founded a software company called Odology, which built easy to use applications for Apple users. Today I am still developing applications for Apple users, in the form of iPhone and iPad applications.

The dots were connected while working in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2002, where I created the initial website for the Kharkiv district office, working closely in a multinational team. The Russian program enabled me to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical people. This skill has become highly-valued when conversing with project managers and software developers, who often seem to be speaking in different languages.