2019 HASELT Internship insights

2019 HASELT Internship insights

This year's Summer Internship Program in HASELT has been so exciting for us and we are in the second half of it already! We own the pleasure to be accompanied by such beautiful young minds by mid of September and thus strive to create the best possible experience during this time for them. Once again, Congratulations to all our interns and Thank You for choosing HASELT as an opportunity to boost your careers and skills knowledge.

The 2019 HASELT Internship Program consists of 8 confident, curious, smart and talented Interns, dedicated to the daily tasks, organized into three paths including:

  1. Web Development Path - a team of 2 Interns
  2. Android Development Path - a team of 2 Interns
  3. Azure Cloud Computing Path - a team of 4 Interns.

HASELT is focused on People, we love to get to know people as they truly are. We value the concept of Family and it is how we want everyone to feel in HASELT.

So let's see what our Interns had to tell about themselves. We asked a few "get-to-know-me" questions and here is a sneak peek to their interesting answers.

Aleksandar Stefanovski - Web Development Intern at HASELT, a highly creative and forward-thinking professional. When he is not coding or pushing pixels, he plays the guitar, draw, or watch Marvel movies.

Tell us a thing about you which we wouldn’t know? - I used to be so good at drawing portraits, still life paintings, nature paintings, etc. It's been a few years now since I stopped drawing and painting but I think I might still have it in me. I really used to enjoy doing this. - shared Aleksandar.

Dejan Slamkov - Web Development Intern at HASELT, very passionate and driven about what he does, kind, willing to help, always honest and respectful towards others. Oh, and very sarcastic. :)

So Dejan, what is the most adventurous thing you have done? - The most adventurous thing i think I’ve done was getting into the IT world. It's a lifelong adventure that constantly is pushing me into new challenges, which I thrive upon.

Stefanio Benikj - Android Development Intern at HASELT, an impulsive, eccentric person, with a curious nature, with strange obsessions and ludicrous beliefs, many of which are unfounded or just plain wrong, but serve as a great conversation starter. He has a wide range of interests, including psychology, especially maladaptive, mythology, history, nutritionism, languages and a plethora of others, seen as if something piques my interest, and that happens quite often, he tries to find out everything he can about it.

Tell us one fun, outlandish fact about you! - I have a strange obsession with prime numbers, in the way that I believe that if I do something and a prime number is involved, it will always be successful. - said Stefanio.

Stefan Krzhovski - Android Development Intern at HASELT, dedicated to his work, because he loves what he does, have a steady source of motivation that drives him to do best. Always strive to achieve and accomplish something of value, this passion has led him to challenge himself daily and learn new skills. An extremely easy-going person, who likes watching and playing sports (go Chelsea!!!), loves stand-up comedy, and hanging out with friends.

What is your life motto Stefan? - I live by the motto "Balance in all things".

Jasmina Dimitrievska - Azure Cloud Computing Intern at HASELT, always in for: learning new technologies, setting up challenges, adding creativity to every daily activity so that every day can be different and special, searching for effective solutions in any situation. As an inventive initiator, you will probably find her at the coffee shop with her closest friends talking about creating/finding new opportunities and motivating each other to achieve the highest potential by sharing different perspectives on how things can work better. Besides the hardworking work style, her other passion is going on adventurous traveling, visiting new cities, exploring new cultures, rollerblading in the evening, reading comics, self-development books or watching TV shows.

Jasmina, have any books you read created impact on your life? - "Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women" - Maya Angelou

Dominika Karafiloska - Azure Cloud Computing Intern at HASELT very ambitious and hardworking. Some of her best personal skills are that she is an extrovert, positive, honest and critical thinker. She is a huge Friends fan. She can literally sit down and watch the show for hours at a time and never get bored. She loves dedicating her free time playing around with her camera. Photography is her sweet spot, and there's nothing quite like it in the world for her. She aspires to live a life full of love and passion. She likes to hang out with a close group of friends that she can fully trust, knowing well enough that they trust her too.

What is your spirit animal and why? - Cat: independent, resilient, curious, cunning and mysterious. - shared Dominika.

Katerina Markovska - Azure Cloud Computing Intern at HASELT, coming from Ohrid, one of the most beautiful cities in our country. An ambitious and self-driven person, who thrives on challenges and constantly set goals to accomplish. A people person who loves meeting new people. Hard-working and decisive, always trying to make rational thinking and take on problems with speed and clarity. In her free time, she loves to play the piano, watch crime shows and travel a lot. :)

Do you have any special talents Katerina? - I would say that I do have one special talent which is called "absolute pitch"- the ability to define tones just by hearing them. This helped me a lot in the process of becoming a pianist in the last 13 years.

Irfan Merseli - Azure Cloud Computing Intern at HASELT, very adaptable, capable of fitting a particular situation or use. Responsible, careful and caring. Nature lover, loves exploring new places, meet new people and different cultures.

What is one thing you wish people knew about you? - There are more things I wish people knew about me, but as the question requires one thing: I never give up. - said Irfan

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We also asked them a couple of questions so they can describe their experience in HASELT by far.

You've been with HASELT on the Summer Internship Program for 3 weeks already, could you share your experience with us so far?

Aleksandar: I think HASELT is that kind of a place that anyone would want to be part of it, it's like every person's dream job come true here. The things I've experienced here so far are something really special and I'm grateful to be a part of such a thing. The people here are really kind, nice, willing to help and most importantly friendly and communicative. They are the best in every aspect. Our mentors are really helping us a lot with our project and they are teaching us stuff no one else would. And finally our CEO is the type of CEO that every firm would want to have but I think we are the only ones lucky enough. Because of these reasons I really enjoy my time spent here and I really love the Internship Program.

Dejan: The first 3 weeks were all about learning new technologies, constant talks about them with mentors, and a lot of self-learning also. Getting to know the team and other employees was a big part of these 3 weeks too, going on lunches together, making coffees, making smoothies, sharing stories, sharing experiences...

Jasmina: By this time I've met amazing people here, learned a lot of new things besides the technical parts, I've developed soft skills from the courses held by more experienced employees in the company. As much as I met the other colleagues, I can tell that there is something special in each one of them while still keeping up with the same standards of what is valued. The mentors are available and ready to answer any question that is connected to the tasks or other topics. The workspaces are comfortable, designed to meet the needs of employees so that they always feel like they're welcomed. Nothing is forced, the rules are made to meet the needs of the employees so that they can express their full potential on finishing the tasks at their own pace, in a way that works best for them and still achieve the goal.

Dominika: As an intern, I really like being here. HASELT is a great place to learn both practical and theoretical working opportunities. I like the fact that people enjoy coming to work and feel appreciated. Feeling acknowledged and rewarded for your effort is one of the main things I'm looking for in a company, and HASELT knows how to recognize these values. The workplace culture is top-notch, everyone here is super-friendly. HASELT offers a fun and relaxed work environment, which is another thing I like about this place. After the internship, I will know what to look for when choosing my future job and I'm already certain where I can find what I'm looking for.

Katerina: I am more than happy to be part of this program which is helping me a lot to develop myself as a person. Everything in this company is above my expectations. We learn a lot with our mentors who are dedicated to us and are happy to help anytime. Everyone in this company is so friendly and we feel free to talk about any topic. I love the activities that are organized every week by the company because in that way we get to know each other much better and have fun together.

Irfan: The experience in HASELT is something that I haven't met before, and I really missed it for years. The place where you grow up intellectually, with knowledge and with humanity in the soul. Except for professionalism you gain here, you meet the culture that everyone should learn.

Stefanio: My experience so far has honestly been nothing but positive, both with the working environment and the work that we're doing. The weekly soft skills training, I wasn't expecting, however after attending them you come to the realization that it's not enough to only be trained in technical skills if you can't communicate or collaborate effectively. I also like the advice I was given that we are not here to make an application but to learn the correct way how to make it (and how to break it :) ).

Stefan: My experience in HASELT has been wonderful because of the incredible people I had the pleasure of meeting and working with. It has been very enjoyable in developing Android applications, which was my objective for quite a while.

We guess you've come to some interesting challenges already, can you tell us more about it?

Aleksandar: I've come to a lot of interesting challenges here since the internship started. I mean the whole internship program is like a challenge for me. Coming here every day from Tetovo, working on the project with my teammate Dejan, making plans for the project that we work on together, writing the code, fixing bugs, testing the code, supporting the Android and Cloud teams. In one sentence, getting the feeling of how it really is to work as a Web Developer and be a part of a great company like HASELT. I have never done these kinds of things before since this is my first time working in a company and all of this, it is indeed an interesting challenge. And I accepted that kind of challenges since I started my internship here at HASELT and I'm really happy that I did. Because all of that taught me and still teaching me how to be a better person, programmer, friend/colleague and really prepares me for what's coming after I finish college.

Dejan: The project we’re working on, the Web API specifically, is following the Domain-Driven Design pattern. It is very interesting, to say the least, every single piece falls into place and it’s very structured. It’s something new for me and it’s very thought-provoking to see how the different pieces are connected.

Jasmina: I wouldn't say that it's a challenge, is more like learning a lesson, it's understanding and accepting the different personalities and finding a proper way to function with that. By realizing this I and the colleague that sits next to me created a great collaboration, learned to make compromises on things that we don't agree, contribute equally in projects more specifically contributing with a special skill that is necessary to accomplish the task.

Dominika: This is my first internship so everything is challenging for me. Instead of waking up at 10 and going to a few classes a day, now I'm sitting at a desk from 9am to 5pm. I am learning to ask questions, taking a logical approach to any situation, and not jump to conclusions. I think I can successfully handle each challenge so that my internship is successful just as I hoped it would be.

Katerina: From the very beginning of the program, I've come to many challenges in Cloud Computing because everything was new to me. As I was facing them, the mentors did a great job and taught me a lot about how to learn, read before I implement anything and how to think when something is not working. I think that these situations helped me a lot to improve my point of view now when I am facing a new challenge.

Irfan: Yes I had some challenges till now, which were everything related to our module – and there were scenarios of real-life situations that employers face with them every day in real projects. As I mentioned, every challenge was also something new to learn.

Stefanio: Well... in terms of challenges I have to say that I had some difficulties with compile-time annotation processing frameworks, because I've never worked with them before, and the errors are shown at compile-time, so sometimes you might think that everything you've written is correct and then its not. However, I can't complain too much, because a compile-time error is so much better than a run-time one.

Stefan: Some of the challenges I have encountered was implementing the MVP architecture pattern in my application along with compile-time processing frameworks.

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What are your expectations until the end of the program?

Aleksandar: My expectations are that I am going to be way more prepared for this job than I was when I started the internship. So far I've learned a lot from many people here in HASELT and I will still continue to do so, until the end of the internship. I hope that I get prepared so good and learn many things and maybe one day, once I finish college I'll have the chance to work at HASELT.

Dejan: I expect to improve my current skills and learn new ones, like professional communication, teamwork... Knowledge of a project cycle, from how the requirements are formed, to production. Also, learn a little about topics that are not specifically Web from the other internship teams.

Jasmina: My expectation until the end of the program is to learn and understand the concepts which were mentioned that are going to be taught on the internship program and stay friends with people that I met.

Dominika: I expect to learn as much as possible from all the experience that I'm getting from HASELT. As a student, I value the opportunity granted to me to be working here, and I want to become as skillful within the timeframe given from this program.

Katerina: Until the end of the program I think that I will learn a lot about the path that I've chosen, improve my soft skills, get a new and improved approach about many challenges and I will become a better person overall.

Irfan: Until the end of the program, my expectations are to learn more things that will prepare me professionally to be ready for the future.

Stefanio: As far as my expectations go, I would say that they would be to learn as much as I possibly can while I'm here, make connections that might refer me in the future if needed and improve my skills, both technical and interpersonal.

Stefan: My expectations until the end of the program are straightforward, I want to further improve myself and expand my knowledge and understanding of developing Android applications.

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We do our best to ensure that in these two months we will provide them with unforgettable memories from HASELT. Based on their answers, this far, we are on the right path, already! :)

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