Justyna’s journey from rural Poland to first-class honours
A University of Bradford student who arrived in the UK without speaking English after growing up on a rural Polish army base has graduated with a first-class degree in artificial intelligence.
Justyna Dobersztajn moved to the UK aged 11, with her mother, followed by her older sister a year later. Fast forward more than 15 years later and, after learning coding from scratch during her BSc (Hons) Applied Artificial Intelligence programme, she has secured a project management graduate development place.
Justyna, who graduated on 15 July, said: “I can’t believe I got a first. I’m still in shock. I’m so proud of myself.
“It was difficult, and I doubted myself a lot, but I kept going, and that’s what got me here.”
Justyna Dobersztajn, aged five, when she lived in rural Poland before moving to the UK six years later. Images credit: Kiran Mehta@KM Images/University of Bradford and Justyna Dobersztajn
From Poland to England
Growing up in a forested army base in Potok, a western Poland village near the German border, where her mother worked managing military equipment, Justyna lived in a community of around 300 people, with no shops and limited contact with the outside world. She was bused in and out to school every day alongside other children who lived in the army base.
Justyna, 26, said: “We lived literally in the middle of the woods; there was nothing there.
“It wasn’t years of planning. Within a week, we packed our bags and left.
“I didn’t speak any English at all, the first word I learned was ‘hello’. When people said, ‘good morning’, I didn’t even know what it meant.”
“At first, I hated it [school]. It was terrifying. I just used hand gestures to try to explain things. Within two years, I was having conversations.”
Justyna Dobersztajn says she is proud to have graduated from the University of Bradford. Images credit: Kiran Mehta@KM Images/University of Bradford and Justyna Dobersztajn
Working life
After studying travel and tourism, then aviation at college, Justyna encountered AI for the first time working as a marketing and e-commerce administrator at a furniture company.
She said: “I started experimenting with AI to write product descriptions and adverts for websites like Amazon and eBay. During a three-month trial, we saved about six months of work.
“We even had to contact the company directly for a business account because it wasn’t widely available yet. That’s when I realised I wanted to understand it properly.”
University life
Determined to deepen her AI knowledge, Justyna enrolled at the University of Bradford in 2023, despite having no prior coding experience.
She said: “My first year at university was difficult. I had to learn coding. I didn’t even know what Python [coding language] was, I thought it was just a snake. I was so motivated. I knew that was what I wanted to do.
“I had two part-time jobs at university, and then all the extra studying because I had to catch up. It was a lot of sleepless nights, but I was determined.
“A lot of students were younger and came straight from college. I had life experience, and people started looking up to me.”
She took on leadership roles as a student ambassador, course representative and peer mentor during her time at Bradford.
Justyna Dobersztajn has graduated with first-class honours from her BSc (Hons) Applied Artificial Intelligence programme at the University of Bradford. Images credit: Kiran Mehta@KM Images/University of Bradford and Justyna Dobersztajn
What’s next for Justyna?
Starting this September, Justyna has secured an initial two-year graduate programme role with Yorkshire Water which then offers a permanent position with the company, working in project management.
She added: “You’re trained for two years, and then you step straight into the role. It gives you that security while you’re learning.
“Ultimately, I’d love to have my own company helping businesses use AI. But for now, I’m just excited to start my career.”