From an Intern to a Mentor in a Year - Meet Markus, Software Engineer

Markus Leemet, Software Engineer at 1oT

Over the past 2 years, 1oT has hosted 4 classes of software engineering interns by giving the aspiring engineers the adequate training and tools to kick-start their careers in a highly competitive job market.

Today we will be sharing the success story of Markus Leemet, a former software engineering intern, who has come a full circle in his career at 1oT. In the span of a year, he started as a software engineering intern, got hired as a full-time employee, and quickly transitioned into being a mentor and the first source of contact for the participants of past two internship classes.

Markus' interest in software engineering was heavily influenced by his older brother. Together, they would solve projects at “Project Euler” - a website offering mathematical problems, which can be solved through programming. Seeing his brother succeed in the computer sciences, Markus took further interest in it and started taking extra computer programming courses in high school, which is where he completed his first actual project. 

By the end of his high school years, it was evident that relocating from Tallinn to Tartu for starting his IT studies at the University of Tartu is the logical step forward.

It was during his time at the University that he was first introduced to the role of tutoring. He was a volunteer in a program that was focused on making computer science and engineering fun and interesting for school children. Together with his peers, Markus traveled around Estonia and gave a variety of programming and virtual reality workshops to high school students.

As his first internship period was unfortunately at the same time as the biggest wave of Covid-19 in Estonia, then finding a good place to get started as an intern proved to be a challenge. Many companies were still reluctant to hire new employees in fear of another lockdown.

But after having heard about the company from his classmate, who had gone through the first round of 1oT’s internship program and had stayed at the company as a full-time employee, Markus knew that 1oT would be right up his alley. He had had a goal to find a small, tight-knit, and friendly team environment in Tartu, and 1oT ticked all the boxes. So when he got accepted into 1oT’s second class of software engineering interns, he didn’t hesitate for a moment.

He started as one of the two interns and remembers his time being very productive and educational from the get-go. The two interns got their first project to build an internal phone app from scratch and were working on it for the entirety of their three months of internship period. The app was completed and is in daily use by 1oT's employees to this day. 

“I’ve come a full circle,” he laughs, “within the span of one year I went from taking the internship trial test myself to being the one to correct them and give feedback to the candidates.”

Markus describes his overall journey at 1oT as a huge learning experience and also describes the knowledge gained as his biggest accomplishment during his time in the company. He adds that even though he has only been in the company for a year and a half, the gained experience makes it seem like it has been at least a double amount of time. 

It’s because in 1oT, the developers’ work has an actual impact on the company’s product and services, and they are not just stuck writing a small portion of code for some unseen back feature.

• Ask questions! Getting into 1oT’s product development can feel overwhelming at first, so it’s important to reach out to your mentor when you get stuck or confused. There are no dumb questions.
• Don’t worry when completing your given tasks take more time than expected. It’s understandable that it can feel de-motivating to see others work on major projects when you’re still stuck with a smaller one. It’s important to understand that completing tasks is not a race and it’s most important to learn from them (and your own mistakes).

This Fall, Markus will be mentoring his third round of Software Engineering Interns, a fifth total for the 1oT team.

The new 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). 

1oT doesn’t expect years of experience from the students, just eagerness to challenge themselves, and openness to learn new things.