Peter Zyuzikov, 21 (1986)

Russia, Moscow

I discovered touch-typing in late 2002. In December I came across "Solo on the Keyboard" typing tutor which played a crucial role in forming my life hobby. I managed to do all the tasks for the Russian keyboard in 19 days (usually 6-8 hours a day which hardly left any time away from the computer). My typing speed was at first quite low, about 20-30 words per minute. However, it was only the beginning. Then followed practice, practice and practice once more.

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Coming to the very origin of my biography, I was born in a Russian city of Yaroslavl. I spent there the first years of my life. My reminiscences of this city are scarce but I love it tenderly. I go there regularly for a week or two just to remind myself of my background. At the age of six our family moved to Troitsk, a town in the Moscow region. I went to school there and my favorite subjects were mathematics and physical training. In both fields I won various competitions and medals.

Logically enough, after school I entered Moscow State University, mechanical and mathematical department. I can't say that all fields of mathematics in higher education are up to me. If you look at my academic progress, you can sometimes doubt whether I do study as a matter of fact. It actually means that I have taken my niche in mathematics. By today I have published a few articles and have participated in a number of conferences including the foreign ones.

Among my other hobbies I would single out poker. I hope to become a world class player one day. For the time being it's just a dream which is gradually becoming more and more realistic. I am still keen on sports: handball and ping-pong. I also like football and lawn-tennis.

I am a computer person. I can hardly imagine my life without the Internet or mobile phones. I do programming. I have been teaching mathematics and programming to schoolchildren. One year I was even teaching information science in final grades at school. It's been a marvelous experience, to teach kids a few years younger than you are and at the same time to be a full-scale teacher with all the rights and responsibilities. It's unforgettable.

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Coming back to touch-typing, I should say that my skills developed more by fits and starts than slowly and gradually. I made pauses during which I didn't practise at all. They were compensated with periods when I spent several hours practising. At the moment I type at a speed of more than 80 words per minute in Russian and English. I don’t think it's my limit.

In Intersteno online typing contest of 2007 I took 10th place in my age category in multi-language typing (in 16 different languages). I showed about 100 words per minute in Russian and about more than that in English. I consider practising for Intersteno competitions in 2009 in China. I have both a desire and time for preparation, so nothing should prevent me from going there.

I would recommend typing tutors Stamina and VerseQ to novices in typing. The main thing is to ignore the speed but focus on the correct hand positioning and accuracy. The fewer errors, the better. The fewer errors you make the sooner your typing speed will increase. Practice goes without saying.

And I have a few tips for professionals or those whose challenge in touch-typing is more than to reach just the speed of 40 words per minute. I use Kinesis Advantage USB Pro keyboard. It is a truly ergonomic keyboard unlike those which can be found in any shop. The difference is like the one between a touch typist and the person who hunts and pecks. The same can be said about the Dvorak keyboard layout. If you have to type a lot in English, you'd better learn Dvorak. I can do one-hand touch-typing on the regular keyboards in English, but it's more of a trick than a skill.

Finally, I wish all people who are connected with the computer to learn touch-typing and achieve the speed of at least 40 words per minute. And I wish all the professionals to make new achievements until no one can speak and think faster than they type.