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European Vocational Skills Week
News announcement9 October 2019Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

I was taught at a VET school in Cyprus

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I graduated from the B Technical School of Limassol in 1998. I was there for 3 years to complete my Upper Secondary studies in Computer Science.

After completing compulsory army service in 2000, I moved to Moscow to study Computer Science and Informatics. I graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute-Technical University with a distinction in 2004. During a third-year digital design class, a professor at the university asked where I had attained all my knowledge on his subject, as it was something entirely new to the other students. When I told him that I was taught it at my school in Cyprus, he was amazed. He asked me, ‘If you have such (VET) schools in Cyprus, why would students go anywhere else?’

Following the completion of my studies in Russia, I moved to Bristol, in the UK, to study for my master’s in advanced computing at the University of Bristol. I graduated in 2005 with Merit and got my PhD in Computer Science in 2008. During and after my PhD, I worked as a research associate at a number of different universities, including Georgia Tech in Atlanta (USA), Cambridge, Warwick, the University of Bristol, the University of Newcastle and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. In 2011, I was hired by Intel to work at their site in Barcelona on a new product, Xeon Phy, as a validation Engineer.

In 2014, Intel decided to shut down the BCN office entirely, and so I moved to their competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD Inc.). I was re-located to their office in Munich, until I was issued a Visa to allow me to work in the USA. I was awarded an O-1 Visa, which is a non-resident US visa for people who demonstrate extraordinary ability in their field, whether that be the arts, sport, business, education, or the sciences. Since 2015, I’ve been working at the AMD office in Silicon Valley, now located in Santa Clara. Due to my responsibilities, I have to share my time between China (Shanghai) and Silicon Valley (California).

I’ve been the VET ambassador for Cyprus for the last three years.

Costas Argyrides, Senior Member of Technical Staff, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Inc., Cyprus

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