Q&A with Damian on his internship at Kiwee
Ksenia PimenovaReading Time: 3 minutes
The internship season is over & here at Kiwee we were happy to host great interns this summer and autumn. One of them is Damian. Check out his story through our 8 questions.
1 . Quick intro? 🙂
I am a student at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology for 3 years & I simply love web development.
2. Why did you choose Kiwee for your internship?
I decided to look for a job that would allow me to test my programming skills in the real world. I went to my school’s career fair where many Wroclaw software companies were present. Kiwee's company name caught my attention and I liked the people who represented the company at the stand. I gave them my CV and went through the quick interview Kiwee was organising right there at the job fair event. During the interview, I understood my knowledge is relevant for Kiwee’s projects. I was also positively surprised by company's internal culture, people's friendly attitude to animals, companies's remote work policy, etc. As it turned out later, it was a good decision to express my interest there at the job fair.
3. What was your work scope and set of tasks?
During my first days of the internship itself I saw the Agile methodology in practice, I had an opportunity to attend SCRUM meetings and also got my first tasks to complete. Sometimes it was not easy to orient myself in the multitude of new assignments. Despite that, I knew I could always ask for help and was always offered it. Initially, I was given some front-end tasks and at the same time I had to strengthen my knowledge of Magento backend. Over time, the range of tasks and the difficulty level gradually increased. All the tasks were manageable even for a fresh graduate and there was always someone who could help me if needed.
4. What’s one thing you did not expect to see in Kiwee that positively surprised you?
I particularly like Kiwee's company culture. Everyone is equal and is treated equally, there is not even a minor difference in attitude, be someone new or very experienced. People treat each other with mutual respect. For me as a young professional, who is just starting my career, this was very cool to witness & experience.
5. What was the biggest challenge you had to tackle during the internship?
In my case it was learning about the full software development cycle. Personally, I like taking on new programming challenges, but as you know, working in a company does not consist of writing the code only. I practiced labelling my tasks the right way, learnt how to manage my time better, understood how to communicate with clients and how to take more and more responsibility for my work. At Kiwee you work on very real projects and see the results of your contributions right away.
6. What are the biggest learnings you have after this experience?
During the internship I understood how the full software development process looks like in reality. I learnt which steps should be taken to create an application, that is designed well, works properly and in accordance to customer requirements. I was able to further develop my programming skills. Thanks to Kiwee's international team, I also spoke English on a daily basis and met really interesting people from various countries 🙂
7. A LOL moment you will never forget? 🙂
The atmosphere at Kiwee is such that fun moments are just there on a daily basis. The most recent one was when our colleague from Mexico brought original sombreros to work. It turned out that that day was the Mexican Independence Day, which of course was celebrated with a small photo session in which everyone could try on the sombrero. There was also a mini sombrero that fit our dogs perfectly.
8. What would you say to future Kiwee’s interns?
Do not be afraid to pass on/send your CV and test your skills. The atmosphere at Kiwee is very friendly and it will be a good opportunity for you to gain professional experience. But remember not say 'good bye' too loudly when Maluch is around. Who's Maluch? And why should you know that? Come and find out it by yourself 🙂
