1oT Internship Program - Class'22

This February, 1oT welcomed another round of Software Engineering interns to its team. It was the fourth round of interns for us, and definitely the most successful - 2 of 3 interns decided to continue working at 1oT!

We have always been strong supporters of personal and professional development, so creating an internship program seemed like a logical step forward. Software Engineering interns will be invited to join our team twice a year - once in the Fall semester and once in the Spring semester. We don’t expect years of experience, just eagerness to challenge themselves, and openness to learn new things.

The interns will immediately be treated as a part of 1oTeam and can enjoy all the additional benefits that go with it. They will be assigned tasks with purpose and will get a sense of responsibility for their work. No one will be brewing coffee for hours on end (other than themselves, of course). Also, our interns are paid for their work.

But now, without further ado, let’s meet our 1oT Software Engineering interns of Class’22! We asked all interns some questions about their experience being a part of 1oTeam for three months.

Introducing interns

Mir

Mir is a software engineering MA student at the University of Tartu. He found Estonia when researching different European countries while thinking about what would be the best fit for him in the future. Learning that Estonia is a very technologically advanced and innovative country, he was immediately interested. He found it amazing how everything can be done online - even starting your own company!

His journey to software engineering started at the early age of 4 when he was first introduced to computers. He was immediately hooked on the complexities and inner workings of the machine and knew that his future would be bound to it.

1. How did you find your way to the 1oT Software Engineering Internship Program? What stood out to you about it?

When looking for internship opportunities, the company’s name immediately stood out to me. Having had some previous experience (and interest) in the IoT world, I made the association between the two - 1oT must be somehow related to IoT, right?!

Also, the advertisement said that they were looking for somebody with a knowledge of Java, which I had used in multiple projects before.

2. What would you describe as the biggest challenge during the internship period, and what was the biggest success you had?

As in 1oT all software developers do a little bit of everything, then it was the Front-End Development that was the most challenging for me, as I had very little to no previous experience in that. But the team was always there to help whenever I had a question and I think I ended up doing quite a good job on it in the end.

As for the biggest accomplishment, I would consider finishing a big task in a framework I hadn’t used before. It needed asking questions and looking things up myself but I am proud of myself that I managed to complete it without major setbacks.

3. Which of the 1oT’s values applies to you the most?

Definitely “Raise the bar”. I consider myself quite a T-shaped person - knowledgeable of many things, but an expert in one field. I like learning new things and think that it’s crucial to constantly improve myself.

4. How would you describe 1oTeam in 3 words?

• Supportive work environment - be it starting my internship remotely because I was still staying in Azerbaijan at the time, mixing work and classes on school days, or just asking questions at work, everyone was always understanding and helpful.
• Hard-working - there was a hard-working vibe, and I found it inspiring. Sometimes I would even stay later at work not because I had to but because of the drive and motivation I had felt all day.
• Team-oriented - when talking about what has been done it was always referred to as “we” did it, even when one person had done the most of the job. It made me feel like we all worked together and towards the same goal.

5. Are there any internship tips you’d like to share?

• Don’t be shy – Nobody’s perfect and there are no “stupid questions” during your internship time - you’re there to learn after all!
• Don’t be afraid of challenges - Remember that you can learn something new and improve yourself in that field with every challenge.
• Visit all the offices you can! - Get to know the people in the company, even when they don’t work in your department. There’s something to learn from everybody.

Artur-Aleksander

Artur-Aleksander is an Informatics BA graduate from TalTech. He found his passion for software engineering, which he also considers his hobby, when he had an opportunity to take a software development starter course in high school. Even though he likes the wide range of knowledge that Informatics offers, he sees himself pursuing software development/engineering in the future.

1. How did you find your way to the 1oT Software Engineering Internship Program? What stood out to you about it?

It was quite a coincidence that I saw the advertisement! I usually never open these emails that the school sends out about job/internship opportunities for students but for some reason that one time I did. 1oT’s internship program was the first introduced, and I immediately applied!

I found it very interesting that 1oT provides connectivity in the IoT sphere, because it was the field that I knew almost nothing about, but had always seemed interesting. IoT world seems like something very on-trend right now globally, and it seemed like a good combination with software development - to me, it was two ever-developing fields combined.

Also, I like that 1oT is a smaller Estonian company and not a big corporation. I like that you know everybody involved in the company, including C-level executives. It just seemed like a great place to get started with my career.

2. What would you describe as the biggest challenge during the internship period, and what was the biggest success you had?

I would say that the whole experience was a challenge, but a good kind! All tasks that we had to do, were actually to do with the company’s products, which involved a lot of responsibility. You had to test your own work because you were responsible for it working, and you knew that when it passed the code review, it would go straight to the production and then the consumer. It was a great insight into the actual day-to-day work of a software engineer.

I would consider learning how to handle the databases my most significant accomplishment. When I first started, I hadn’t had any previous experience in it, but by my third week as an intern, I was already to perform migrations and other actions in the databases all by myself.

3. Which of the 1oT’s values applies to you the most?

I would say “Work hard, play hard”, and “Get s*it done”. I have this one principle: “Always make sure to finish what you have started and give everything you can that the final result will be of high quality” which I think suits well with these two values.

Nevertheless, I really valued that even when I didn’t get to finish something by the end of the day, no one on the team gave me a hard time about it. Everyone’s very understanding.

4. How would you describe 1oTeam in 3 words?

• Friendly

• Helpful

• Fun!

5. Are there any internship tips you’d like to share?

• Don’t be afraid of the internship! Even when doing school and internship at once might seem overwhelming, it’s definitely worth it and very much possible!
• Make sure to ask whenever you have a question. No one’s going to think of you badly because of it - you took on an internship to learn and it’s okay to make mistakes.

Caspar

Caspar is a Software Engineering BA student in TalTech. He found his way to Computer Sciences during his last year of high school when he took a short course on it. He’s saying that if he hadn’t gotten interested in Software Engineering, he probably would have started learning Physics or Math.

1. How did you find your way to the 1oT Software Engineering Internship Program? What stood out to you about it?

I was looking for internship opportunities on our school’s website and applied to multiple companies. If I remember correctly,1oT was one of the first to respond and I decided to commit to them. As it’s doing business in the IoT sphere, it seemed like an innovative company that would allow me to improve my knowledge in a completely new field.

The fact that the company is rather new and smaller sized also appealed to me. It just creates so much more intimate working relationships.

2. What would you describe as the biggest challenge during the internship period, and what was the biggest success you had?

The biggest challenge for me was getting used to the entire work pool - there were multiple large-scale projects ongoing at once and navigating between them seemed difficult at first because I hadn’t been involved in large projects like this before. But I learned to share my attention quite quickly. It also helped that I got to do very “real” and significant tasks right from the beginning, and got more responsibility as I improved.

My most significant accomplishment was learning how to use the Front-End Javascript framework Vue.js - I had only briefly used it before. Now, at the end of my internship period, I can say that I got a pretty good hang of it.

3. Which of the 1oT’s values applies to you the most?

Definitely “Work hard, play hard”. I think it’s very important to enjoy what you’re doing. Of course, it’s important to work but that work should be something that brings you joy, so it wouldn’t feel like you’re just wasting your time there. And after work, you have to know how to let go and just enjoy life.

4. How would you describe 1oTeam in 3 words?

• Hard workers

• Good at communicating

• Friendly

5. Are there any internship tips you’d like to share?

• You have to be ready and willing to do work to succeed.

• Ask questions! Don’t let yourself get stuck when something is stopping you from moving forward.