Ihor had a very active and beautiful life. He went rafting on rivers, jumped with a parachute, and flew a hang glider over the Dniester. He taught the entire family how to ski (he especially loved skiing on the black trails). At home, they had a tradition of reading for at least one hour every Sunday to instill in their children a love for books. The kids often visited museums and went on excursions to learn something new. 

Ihor always loved to travel, so he and his family visited many beautiful places together. One of their last family trips took them to Kherson, near the sea, where there was an invasion of ladybugs at that time. They also enjoyed visiting Askania-Nova and Kakhov dams before they were occupied by russians troops.

Their family had another long-standing tradition: they took at least three mountain trips every year. During the summer, they would visit their favorite place, a river bridge in Vorohta. 

Ihor was a very caring husband and father, always making sure that his family was happy and secure. Christmas was a much loved holiday in their household; they would spend the whole day visiting their near and dear and singing traditional carols. 

Ihor truly was a family man who loved the outdoors, and he always dreamed of living in a small house somewhere in the forest, away from people and civilization. In his dreams, there was also a shepherd dog running in the yard. His wife and two children are planning to make this dream come true in his memory.

Ihor Khodak joined Softjourn as a Java developer in May 2012 after working as the Head of Support and Software Implementation at a Ukrainian bank. He worked at Softjourn for over ten years, and owing to his talent and strong work ethic, he became a senior Java developer. During his time at Softjourn, Ihor worked on various projects and proved to be a very dedicated, considerate, and capable person who loved tackling complicated tech challenges. During one discussion with Softjourn’s CEO, Emmy Gengler, when asked what "complicated" meant to him, he said, “It’s something you can’t learn in a day.” He loved to truly dive into a topic and take time to get to the bottom of it.

In all he did, he brought so much to the table - his experience, his bright ideas, and first and foremost, his willingness to share, which made him a great mentor for his younger colleagues. 

Here is one of the fond memories of Khrystyna Lukyniuk:

Ihor was a very calm, positive, and knowledgeable person. He was genuinely enthusiastic about technology, and the more difficult a task was, the more eager he was to dive into it. 

I can vividly remember one meeting with our client-side colleagues and their frustration about an issue that had been bothering them for two years. Until they asked Ihor for advice. And as soon as Ihor learned about it, his inner investigator stepped in. It only took him a day or two to get to the bottom of it! Ihor was always on the ball… 

Even after Ihor joined Ukraine’s Armed Forces, he continued to bring his ideas to the table because he wanted to stay in the loop. His last message to me was a week before we lost him. He wrote: "Everything's okay; say hi to everybody in Softjourn." I will always remember Ihor as a man of great bravery and dignity.

His English instructor, Oksana Romanovych, shared: 

Ihor would always put his heart and soul into whatever activity he took up. He had excellent English language skills, and yet he never skipped his English classes. He was all smiles, a good laugh, and a wonderful interlocutor in class. And… he would always wear slippers in the office… He felt at home here… We are missing him tremendously!

Ihor went the extra mile to help out anywhere he could. He was a long-time volunteer at Malteser International Aid and helped prepare presents for children, which he found so fulfilling.

When the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Ihor joined the Territorial Defense Force, a volunteer military unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When asked why he decided to serve in the military without prior experience, Ihor said thathe was not able to find inner peace without attempting to defend his country. 

Khrystyna Lukynyuk, who worked closely with Ihor and had a chance to visit him during his service, shared:

When we went to see him at his military unit dislocation, he always had the biggest smile on his face. So that's the moment I remember: Ihor approaching us in his military uniform, smiling ear-to-ear, telling us how glad he was to see us, and asking about the team”

At the end of June 2022, Ihor laid down his life for Ukraine during a military operation. His sacrifice for his country, family, and friends will never be forgotten.