"If you have the will and perseverance, you can achieve a lot," says FIT graduate Gabriela Nečasová.

From piano and choir singing to solving differential equations. Gabriela Nečasová's story shows that a successful path to computer science can also lead from the humanities and arts. In an open interview, she looks back on her unconventional start at FIT VUT, her challenging journey through doctoral studies, and the moments of crisis that shaped her perseverance. A common thread running through her story is her determination and ability to never give up—according to Gabriela, these qualities often play a greater role in IT than innate "talent."

Why did you choose information technology when choosing a university? If I'm not mistaken, your start was unusual – when you were in high school, there wasn't much to suggest that you would go down this path...

That's right. I attended a high school with an arts focus and extended music and music theory classes. I sang in a choir for several years, and the school was very humanities-oriented. I played the piano from the fourth grade of elementary school and continued to do so throughout my school years. I was very inspired by a teacher from JAMU who taught at our school. I have to say that I really enjoyed it and thought that I could pursue it professionally and study at JAMU. But that path required a huge amount of time. And I also played competitive tennis in high school. The two activities conflicted with each other; tennis led to stiff wrists, which in turn led to an agreement with my teacher: either play tennis or prioritize the piano. But then my teacher left the school, and I slowly came to the conclusion that playing the instrument did not fulfill me as much as it did at the beginning.

I admire how much you thought about your future path in high school. But even more, it makes me wonder where the step towards information technology came from.

I've always been interested in technology. I wanted to know why computers work the way they do, what's inside them, what's behind them. In high school, I played with my cell phone and various apps, fascinated by why a given program worked. And as my enthusiasm for a career as a pianist waned, I came to the conclusion that I would need something practical in my life. My mom studied mechanical engineering at the Brno University of Technology, and I've lived in Brno my whole life. And I was always convinced that technology would have a future. Yes, it was a pragmatic choice to a certain extent; the piano seemed like an uncertain bet. On the other hand, I didn't study at a technical high school, so I lacked some knowledge, such as derivatives and integrals.

In the end, FIT won you over. Do you remember why you chose our faculty?

I had my eye on several schools; I am a person who likes to play it safe. With a good grade point average, I applied to several faculties at the Brno University of Technology and also to Mendel University. Thanks to my grade point average, I was accepted to some schools without entrance exams, but at FIT I had to take the classic entrance exams. A year before the entrance exams, I took extra lessons because I had some gaps in my math knowledge. In the end, I did well on the exams. The Open House helped me a lot in my choice. I liked the environment and the people; they seemed nice. The final decision was between FEKT and FIT. At FEKT, it was bioinformatics, and I also graduated in biology. I chose FIT because of the environment, the people, and the job prospects. I considered IT to be a very promising field.

Do you think there is such a thing as a talent for computer science, or more generally, a predisposition for studying information technology?

For me, it's determination. Of course, I can only say this from my own experience – it was my determination that got me where I am today. There are prejudices in all fields, often related to the idea that something is exclusively a male or female role, but I think this is improving. However, determination is a universal prerequisite.

Not only did you start studying computer science, but, from a layman's perspective, you also chose the abstract field of parallel solving of differential equations and related basic research.  What led you to this? And when did you decide to take this path? 

I hated math in high school. It was because of the teacher; I was not his favorite student, to put it euphemistically. During my bachelor's studies, I became interested in the subjects of Circuit Theory and Computer Elements, which were taught by my future supervisor, Associate Professor Jiří Kunovský. These were hardware-oriented subjects based on calculations, and circuits are related to the calculation of differential equations. I already did my bachelor's thesis with him, and as part of my diploma thesis, I focused more on differential equations themselves. I know it's not as exciting a topic as graphics or neural networks, but it's important basic research. Mathematics permeates our entire field. At the end of my master's degree, I had five years of hard work behind me, a time-consuming period when I didn't even travel abroad. I dug in my heels; an engineering degree was the minimum I wanted. And it went by quickly.

Was your decision to continue with your doctoral studies a clear choice? Or did you consider a move to industry or business at that point?

Associate Professor Kunovský offered me the opportunity to continue with my doctoral studies. I admit that I didn't know exactly what it would entail, but it seemed interesting to me. The team around Associate Professor Kunovský in the High Performance Computing research group was made up of pleasant people who were highly motivated. I went into it knowing that I had achieved my main goal of completing my master's degree, so I had nothing to lose. It's always true that people regret what they don't try, not what doesn't work out. I would have regretted it. I realize that I had the advantage of being from Brno and being able to live with my parents, otherwise I would have had to work harder to find a job in industry.

But later you did join the industry. It's been about five years since you became an employee of Red Hat as a technical writer. How did you manage to combine that with a demanding doctorate?

I didn't finish my doctoral studies in four years; I switched to a combined form and it took me a total of nine years. And it was a thorny path... At first, I devoted a lot of time to teaching, and preparing for it is time-consuming. For example, I participated in the then-new Excel@FIT event, which involved a lot of organizational work. In my second year, I passed the state exam, which I saw as a point of no return. I have to finish this, I told myself. Then I went to Switzerland for a year. Studying abroad is a fundamental experience that no one can take away from you, and I highly recommend it. In Lugano, I was at the Faculty of Informatics. I learned about new methods for solving differential equations and even considered changing the topic of my dissertation. However, at the end of my stay, I learned of the death of Associate Professor Kunovský. I returned to Brno in a situation where we had lost a great person and, moreover, I had lost my supervisor. Other complications arose, and I went through a major crisis in my sixth year of doctoral studies. I got to the point where I had trouble opening the folder with my dissertation. I broke through it with my stubbornness; I was unable to give up on my own. With the help of Jirka Jaroš and Marta Jaroš, I gained access to computing resources on supercomputers at IT4Innovations in Ostrava, which gave me the opportunity to test my implementation and obtain important results. That was a turning point: I made progress on a mathematical problem that had been troubling me for months. Completing my dissertation took me about six months of intensive writing.

And you were already working... It seems that you added more work to your already heavy workload.

In the second part of my doctorate, I felt the urge to gain experience in industry; I didn't want to remain limited to academia. I thought it might be a disadvantage for my future career. At Red Hat, I first worked as an intern. Then I quickly got into a great team and a part-time position. The challenge was not so much the content of the position as learning the processes of a large company, which is also useful knowledge for life.

Technical writer is not a programming-focused position, and I had enough of that at university, so I wanted to try something different. When I first looked at the job descriptions, there were a lot of things I didn't meet. How often do people read a job description and automatically reject it because they don't meet the requirements? But no candidate is likely to meet them to the letter. Companies expect to have to train you, and they are often more interested in your attitude and personality. I don't use the results of my research in practice. However, a doctorate implicitly gives you a rich set of soft skills, which are valued outside the academic sphere. A person with a Ph.D. is goal-oriented, organized, knows how to work with information, can express it in a structured way, and has communication and presentation skills—and that is your advantage in the job market, even if you don't use the hard skills of your doctoral studies.

When you look back on your years at the Faculty of Information Technology, what benefits do you see the faculty providing you? And what challenges and obstacles did you encounter during your studies?

The education itself is a key benefit. You gain knowledge from various fields, and the breadth is a big plus. The bachelor's program is designed so that you get an insight into many topics and choose your field in the master's program. It's easier to choose what you will enjoy. It's a journey of self-discovery. And obstacles? In my case, it was time, and at the beginning, it was also stress. I keep coming back to the fact that I lacked a foundation in mathematics and also didn't know how to program at all. Because I always try to prepare for everything somehow, I asked a friend who was already at FIT what I should try to learn. He said it was fine, that I would learn everything in my freshman year. And after my insistence, he added that I could use Pavel Herout's book "Učebnice jazyka C" (C Language Textbook). So I got hold of it and read Herout on the beach in Croatia. I didn't understand a lot of things. I thought I would cram it like history or literature. In my first year, I quickly realized that it wouldn't work that way, that you have to sit through the classes and try it out. I had a tendency to always write perfect code and was afraid to press the compile button. I took it as a test... If you have even a little logical thinking, you will come to the conclusion that the most effective method is to decompose the problem, break down a large problem into smaller parts, and solve it in these parts. I had no problem finding and naming the parts, but I struggled with how to write them in the programming language. With the help of my friends, a lot of things clicked into place before my second year. And I repeated the Fundamentals of Programming course. Today, I actually see it as a benefit. If you have the will and perseverance, you can accomplish a lot. I am proof of that.

Ing. Gabriela Nečasová, Ph.D., academic, lecturer, member of the Institute of Intelligent Systems at FIT VUT. She also works in the private sector as a senior technical writer at Red Hat. Her professional focus is on numerical mathematics, Taylor series, and their practical applications. She defended her dissertation in 2024.