Learner to Leader: Growing Leadership Skills Through Community and Collaboration

Learner to Leader: Growing Leadership Skills Through Community and Collaboration

As technology continues to develop at a fast pace, so does our need for technical excellence and subsequently, strong tech leaders. More than ever before, exceptional engineering is about making smart, durable choices and building systems that are reliable, secure and adaptable. 

For agile organizations like EPAM, our specific leadership needs continue to evolve, too. Leaders must guide teams and colleagues through all kinds of changes in real time, with clarity. Effective tech leadership requires trust, collaboration and a human-centered approach. 

Navigating distinct viewpoints and offering support at critical moments is how organic leadership skills are built. Which is why at EPAM, colleagues partner across different disciplines, levels and skill sets to solve complex problems together. For International Women's Day 2026 we're spotlighting three EPAMers here — Alejandra Alcántara, Justyna Niedbała and Aliaksandra Hryn — to discuss their roles and how they adapt beyond that work to grow from learner to leader. 

Engineering for Everyone 

EPAM Mexico’s Alejandra Alcántara is a Software Engineer in the security space. Her responsibilities involve mitigating vulnerabilities and ensuring digital trust for a major healthcare client, but her impact extends beyond the code. 

For Alejandra, engineering is fundamentally about access. Serving as a core contributor and leader for an EPAM Employee Group (EEG) in Latin America, she knows both her formal and informal roles are about the same thing: enabling people to do their best work. 

"We all benefit from an accessible workplace," Alejandra says. "We all appreciate an adaptable process, whether we are injured, tired or facing participation barriers. Everything is more rewarding when we enable others to be self-sufficient." 

This perspective has also sharpened her technical instincts. By advocating for accessibility, she learned to anticipate uncommon edge cases, design for adaptability and think beyond her immediate users. Volunteering to speak on digital accessibility and lead community initiatives also developed skills that have made Alejandra a better engineer and teammate. 

"This type of professional growth not only helps me develop accessible applications but increases the number of users our software can reach," she shares. The ability to see a need and work to improve it in service of its users is what gives her a professional edge in modern tech. 

The Human Advantage in Testing 

While Alejandra leads through access, Justyna Niedbała focuses on visibility. As a Senior Software Testing Engineer from EPAM Poland, she prioritizes human-centered design and the practical usability of EPAM programs. Unlike many of her colleagues, she didn't come from a traditional Computer Science background — she studied humanities, worked as a journalist and spent time as a graphic designer. That unconventional path is her greatest asset. 

Though she jokes that her job is to “click things until they break," her role is far more strategic; Justyna’s skills allow her to see what others might miss.  

 "I’m not keen on coding, but this is often a strength," she explains. "I also tend to emphasize the human factor.” This flexible, human-centered workstyle allows her to spot issues early because she thinks like a user, not a developer. This unique view provides a critical perspective on developing programs, but it also fosters a culture of empowerment where individuals — including Justyna — are encouraged to lead by example.

Like Alejandra, she participates in an EPAM Employee Group as a global co-lead and shares her fierce passion for visibility in this community. "Many groups are overlooked in professional settings... that’s why it’s so meaningful to have events that highlight our strengths," she says. "It creates a space where we can share not only our joys but also our struggles." 

Justyna explains how her approach begins with recognition. "Real leadership is about genuinely seeing the people you work with; recognizing their strengths, understanding their weaknesses and appreciating them as a person."

Conflict as a Creative Tool 

If Justyna’s strength is seeing what others might miss, Aliaksandra Hryn’s is the ability to embrace conflict. 

As an Associate Manager in Solution Practice Operations at EPAM Poland, she manages resources, creates L&D programs and mentors teams. Aliaksandra is inspired to collaborate beyond her primary role, however, and her philosophy leads her to seek out what some managers might avoid: disagreement. 

"Conflict is usually just a difference in perspective," Aliaksandra says. "When people with different backgrounds and skills gather to solve a complex problem, this is where the magic happens." 

She doesn't build consensus by finding a group of like-minded thinkers. She looks for the "fire in the eyes" of her colleagues: independence, confidence and willingness to challenge assumptions. She builds trust by asking questions and giving the answers her full attention.

Beyond hosting webinars about impostor syndrome, Aliaksandra shares her expertise as a guest lecturer at IT Park University. For her, this is about modeling behavior — a core concept in the development of organic leadership skills. “The best way to encourage people is to lead by example,” she says. Like Alejandra, Aliaksandra uses everyday tasks and opportunities to demonstrate the organic leadership skills she is cultivating at EPAM.

Leadership skills develop naturally over time, especially in a work culture where people are encouraged to locate gaps and work to fill them. Our human-centered approach to the development of future tech leaders is an asset in the fast-paced world of IT innovation. At EPAM, connecting technology to the people we serve is how we engineer the future. 

Are you ready to join a team where your perspective drives impact? Browse Opportunities at EPAM.