Our paper is dedicated to an Estonian scientist in Computer Science and Engineering, Enn Tyugu (1935–2020). The narration combines two approaches: social (national) and professional. The social context of Tyugu's biography included the World War II, deportation, Cold War, loss and restoration independence of Estonia. Adaptation to these events formed the so-called “soviet subjectivity” as the external loyalty of the Soviet citizen to the politics and ideology of the state, a cover for their “personal core” and private life. External loyalty, ability and perseverance allowed E. Tyugu to acquire a very high level of professional competence. He participated in programmer projects in the interests of the national economy; his contacts with colleagues from the leading scientific centers of the USSR helped to maintain the theoretical level of research in several areas of programming theory, to enter the academic community as one of the pioneers of informatics in Estonia.