Maker Interview with Nikita: on aviation and his love for building stuff

In this interview we talk with Master Student Nikita about his upcoming aviation workshop, his love for building and teaching, and important projects in his life.

00:00 Introducing Nikita and his motivation to come to the HPI in Potsdam

01:43 Nikita’s childhood in Russia: tinkering and building paper planes in his granddad’s garage.

3:15 Maximum learning goals: Learning to fight with swords, sail boats and ride horses as quickly as possible.

4:50 Nikita’s first great on-hands education experience: learning to build planes, guided by a senior teacher.

7:20 Tinkering for months in a small flat, assembling a small-scale car.

11:23 First time seeing YouTube.

12:36 Nikita’s first 3d printer

13:00 Nikita’s dad introducing him to software programming, building the first app.

14:00 First time working for a company as a high school student: Building an RFID based system together with some friends. Challenges in managing people for the first time.

18:00 Starting to work as a backend-developer in a small company: learning on the job.

18:45 Starting to study systems engineering at the intersection of digital and physical.

19:50 Hesitating to go into hardware: software engineering as a better career choice.

21:30 Physics competitions: A great way to learn how to approach complex problems.

27:00 Physics competitions: Learning to deal with negative feedback.

29:15 Job Interviews and negotiations: Nikita’s thoughts on how to give and receive critic.

30:15 Differences between German and Russian feedback cultures.

34:09 Nikita’s aviation workshop at HPI: his motivation to educate other students on how to build stuff.

38:05 The workshop setup that Nikita plans for.

40:20 Why building planes made out foam core?

43:15 Nikita on the growing interest in aviation works among HPI students.

45:15 The evening meetup before the workshop.

47:50 Business potential for new aviation solutions.

52:50 Nikita’s call to everyone who is interested in aviation.