The B!G Idea and EPAM: Inspiring Young Minds for a Brighter Tomorrow

The B!G Idea is an Irish initiative designed to enhance creative thinking among students and teachers by tackling significant societal challenges. With resources that promote innovation in areas such as 'AI for Humanity,' 'Mental Health' and 'Cost of Living,' the program fosters invention, risk-taking and fun. It aims to be inclusive, empowering students from diverse backgrounds to broaden their skills, increase knowledge and boost confidence.

EPAM began supporting The B!G Idea in 2022 and kick-started its formal engagement in 2023. Sharing their mission to empower young people across Ireland to 'Think B!G,' EPAM has driven their creativity to tackle global challenges. In 2024, The B!G Idea saw an impressive involvement of 11 mentors from EPAM, providing essential support and insights to the young enthusiasts through their journey. Among these mentors, EPAM’s Kate Killeen was honored with the prestigious B!G Mentor 2024 Award for her exceptional guidance and dedication.

We asked our EPAM Ireland mentors to share the standout moments and highlights from their participation in this initiative.

Empowering the Creators of Tomorrow

Marcus Swan, Associate Director of Experience Design, and Nastassia Burakova, Associate Manager and People Partner, have been at the forefront of empowering the creators of tomorrow with their active involvement in The B!G Idea initiative. 

"I've been a long-time supporter of The B!G Idea,” shares Marcus. “Engaging with younger students at their level of education and focusing not only on design but creativity is a cause I feel strongly about.” Marcus notes that one of the advantages of EPAM is the exploration of creativity through different avenues. “Engaging the minds of young students with creativity is essential, especially considering the lack of creative opportunities in the Irish education system I experienced." 

Nastassia had experiences like Marcus's as a young person in school and commented on how valuable this program is to today’s students.

"The standout moment for me was definitely the showcase and winners' announcement,” notes Nastassia. “Everything was so well-organized, and the atmosphere was amazing. The vibe from this younger generation was truly inspiring. I felt nostalgia thinking about my younger self, as these kinds of opportunities weren't available to me during my school years. I'm very impressed with how Ireland is initiating such opportunities to help young people start thinking big at an early age." 

Cultivating an Approach to Innovation

Marcus Swan, Oleksandra Poshtarenko, Project Manager, and James McCann, Senior Business Development Manager at EPAM, are shaping a robust culture of innovation. As mentors, they’re helping students tackle real-world challenges.

Marcus guided a group whose goal was to address the "Cost of Living" challenge.

"The participants’ idea was to develop an app to compare prices of basic commodities across various stores,” he said. “Guiding them to structure their ideation process and transform this idea into an executable plan — that was a truly rewarding experience." 

Oleksandra’s enthusiasm for The B!G Idea is apparent when she talks about the group of students she mentored who were dedicated to the 'AI for Humanity' project.

“The eagerness of the group was infectious,” Oleksandra shares. “Their commitment to developing a user-friendly AI-based tool for aiding the elderly in daily tasks inspired me. One key takeaway I want to highlight is the process of learning from mistakes, which is very different from what I experienced in my own culture growing up. Here, the approach is completely different: it's an environment where you're encouraged to fail. When you make mistakes, instead of reprimanding you, they ask, ‘What can you learn from your mistakes? How can you improve your idea and make it better?’”

Senior Business Development Manager James McCann emphasized the significance of project management skills among students. He focused on teaching them how to organize and adhere to timelines, noting, "They are very creative and have really good ideas, but it's about helping them understand how to organize themselves and work towards timelines. It was intriguing to see how students interact with each other and how they manage to get stuff done. A vital aspect I wanted them to understand is that when you start a project, things change, and that's OK. Helping students realize that it is fine if the finished product or idea deviates from where it started is a valuable skill." 

Beyond Guidance: Two-Way-Street Learning 

Ievgeniia Pedko, Martin Byrne and Kate Killeen from EPAM share transformative experiences from participating in The B!G Idea initiative.

There are mutual benefits of engaging with the younger generation. For example, Ievgeniia, a Senior Business Analyst, found joy in sharing knowledge with participants. They were impressed by their bold and fearless brainstorming, saying "All participants have a natural tendency to brainstorm, which is incredibly refreshing to witness. Given their age, they are a bit shy, but their ideas are bold and fearless. This interaction with the younger generation inspired me and reminded me that it's important to be bold in our work as well."

Martin Byrne, VP of Account Management, discusses the common nature of mentoring, where both parties gain significant insights. He notes, "It's very interesting to hear the kinds of ideas these young people come up with, what they care about and what their focus is. Having said that, those of us from a different generation can provide a perspective that they might not consider, which is beneficial.” Martin sees tremendous value in contributing to the community and helping young individuals break through, emphasizing the broader positive impact on society.

Kate Killeen, People Lead in Ireland, praises The B!G Idea as one of her favorite initiatives, celebrating the involvement of EPAM’s volunteers. “It makes me really proud of our EPAM team to see how involved our volunteers have been over the last two years. This was my second year as a mentor, and each time the students produce really great ideas. They learn lots along the way while also having fun — overall it’s a really nice thing to be involved with.”

These stories from our EPAM mentors reveal the profound personal and professional fulfillment that comes from guiding these bright young thinkers.

If you're inspired by the possibilities of mentoring or want to learn more about career opportunities at EPAM, visit us at: www.epam.com/careers. Join us in shaping a brighter future — one big idea at a time.