(by Gonçalo Guerreiro)
Just like a strike, my first two weeks at ABB Corporate Research Center (CRC) in Poland passed by. These were quite intensive weeks: from moving and settling, to finding my way around my new city, Krakow, and having my mind flooded with new information. A lot of things! Or at least it felt so.
I want to start by sharing how I got here because it was quite an unusual path of joining ABB (or any company by the way). Back in November, close to completing my master thesis, I was diving into the job-searching world trying to spot any opportunity that seemed like the way for me to go. I don’t remember exactly how, but I found the Blind Applying website and it was compelling. How did it work? 21 employers scattered around the world were offering internships and you couldn’t just pick one. You would submit your CV to the pool hoping for your profile to be matched with one of the employers for an available placement - that is if you would match at all. I decided to give it a try.
One day in December I got a phone call: ABB was interested in having a first online-interview with me! Fast forwarding, it seems I was a good match as I ended up here writing these lines, in Krakow.
My first weeks were an interesting experience. On my first day I was welcomed by one of the HR managers I had been in contact with prior to my start at ABB. I had a short training on the building safety procedures and some logistics of the daily life at the CRC with the office manager. Some data about R&D at ABB was presented to me, and I was introduced to my supervisor, Daniel with whom I spent a couple of hours talking about what would be my main task. Quite a day!
The days following my start have been more focused, and filled with challenges and learning. Even though I was not a complete stranger to the system I am working with, there is now a whole new level of complexity, functionality and, as a consequence, possibilities. I am surprised with my own evolution since day one and yet, only two weeks have passed.
The ABB research facilities are located close to the city center and this allows me to go every day for a pleasant walk while searching for a new place to enjoy my lunch break. I am kind of a foodie and Polish cuisine is another promising world to explore during my stay in Krakow. It seems very good and eating out is relatively cheap here.
During my first weekend, which was quite sunny and warm compared to the weekdays (like every weekend should be right?) I took the chance to wander around the city and get into tourist mood. Krakow is a beautiful city with nice people. I took the pictures below last Sunday at the Wawel Castle.
At this point my hope for the next weeks is for the work to keep being as challenging and full of learning as it has been so far and that my newly developed skills will eventually allow me to do cool things with my assignment. I hope to make some new local friends and to become able to understand some Polish words too - for now my vocabulary is non-existent.
The adventure has just begun!
We’ll keep in touch,
Gonçalo