Learning how to code from a garage

(by Dan Sarnelli)

My first two weeks at Johnson & Johnson have been going really well! Tuesday, May 26th was my first day. It consisted mostly of learning about the company, meeting all of the other interns, and becoming familiar with the workplace environment. Some interns, like me, are commuting to Johnson & Johnson from right here in New Jersey. However, many of them are traveling from locations all over the country and staying at apartments in Rutgers University. It was interesting to see how so many people from completely different backgrounds and locations were coming together for the same opportunity. At the end of orientation day, we were able to meet our managers and learn about our specific teams.

Every room in Johnson & Johnson has the Credo posted on the wall. The Credo is used for guiding the decision making of all employees. It has existed since 1943 and can be seen in all languages.

View fullsize

The team that I joined is responsible for developing applications for various Johnson & Johnson needs. This type of work would be far more technical than anything I had experienced before, but I was excited for the challenge. I was glad to see that there were several other interns and coops joining the team as well. While all of us were at varying levels of coding experience, we were all sure about one thing: we would learn a lot this summer! I’ve found myself learning many new coding languages over the past two weeks and there is much more to learn as time goes on.

This is the entrance to “The Garage.” It is the main room for developers at Johnson & Johnson.

The atmosphere at Johnson & Johnson is very suitable for developers. At the moment, the other interns and I are working in an open room with a large table and glass doors. Communication is simple and there is much more freedom than simply working in a cube.

Some developers work in a location called “The Garage,” which actually has a garage themed door as the entrance of the room. I really enjoy the environment, the people I’m working with, and the work that I’m doing. I’m excited for the rest of this summer!

From College to corporate Life

Trading in my college backpack for a business briefcase... or a fancy leather tote, in my case.

(by Jennifer Mbunga)

Gone are the days when I could just contemplate sleeping in instead of going to class (not that I ever actually skipped class ;) ) or just throw on leggings and sweats. In the corporate world people wear slacks and suits. The only challenge here is finding the right clothing for the weather, which can be rather flaky. It can go from bright sunshine to thunderstorm in a matter of hours.

The dress code here at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car is similar to one you would find at a German DAX 30 company. It is western business attire, so it is very professional. That works well for me because my wardrobe is something like 50 shades of black and I went to business school, so I did not have to buy a whole new wardrobe.

My first days at the corporate headquarters were also similar to my first day at university. I barely knew anyone and I wasn’t quite sure how to behave. I learned that smiling at people and greeting them when you cross paths works better than #restingface.

Even though the corporate environment can be quite intimidating, it is imperative to network and talk to people. At Enterprise, the hierarchies are pretty flat and you can just chat with the VP when you see him in the kitchen.I have learned that just being nice and saying hello is a good way to network which then leads to great business conversations.

After a busy first week in and out of the office, I decided to venture into the big canteen downstairs. The first time around I took my iPad as I was nervous to interact with anyone. However, I was quickly introduced to another intern, and asked her if she wanted to go out for lunch sometime. We did and she then introduced me to other interns, which led to all of us going out to eat and have drinks on a Friday afternoon.

So far during my time at Enterprise I have had a variety of exposure to the social side of working at a large global company: eating lunch with my boss (which wasn’t as scary as one would think), having mocktails (virgin cocktails) with my coworkers at a diversity event or doing a meet and greet with managers. The latter was a really fun experience and taught me that even managers get intimidated by new environments.

One of my supervisors gave me a fun task this week. He made me read the book “Who Moved my Cheese”, which is about coping with change. The key lesson is that life’s adventures begin outside of your comfort zone.

Another difference is that new things may come up during the day that force you to prioritize in order to meet the new deadline. This is why I find it so useful to always carry a notebook with me or write things down digitally, because I always have my cell phone or tablet with me anyway. One of my other supervisors was kind enough to give me this beautiful Leuchtturm notebook (it’s made in Germany <3) so I can write down all the important things I come across every day.

I am currently working on a variety of projects I am really excited about all the travel I get to do as a part of my internship. The next week I will be working at our media agency downtown London, right next to St. Paul’s Cathedral and then a few weeks later I will be flying to Frankfurt to spend a week at our German headquarters.

Getting around Chicago and SharePoint

(by Philipp Schodl)

As promised last time, I am back with more details of my exciting internship at Fresenius in Lake Zurich, Illinois!

After a look at my calendar after an amazing Memorial Day weekend away from Chicago (more details later on), I have just realized that three weeks have passed already. It’s incredible how fast time files if you are engaged all the time with stuff you like!

View fullsize

Willis Tower, former Sears Tower, the second tallest building in the US!

View fullsize

The skyline mirrored in the “bean”

Let’s start with the city of Chicago! I’ve never thought that skyscrapers could be so impressive, but they are! For the first few times in Chicago I just started exploring the city a little bit to get familiar with the area and all the sights. I always find it interesting how a city feels when you use different means of transportation, so I tried nearly everything…a taxi, an Uber, a rented bicycle, buses, the Metro, an water-taxi and of course a lot of walking was involved. Unfortunately Uber doesn’t offer their helicopter service at the moment in Chicago, because that’s the only thing I missed out so far ;-)

But back to my promise to tell you some details about my actual work. As already discussed during the job interview I wanted to get familiar with the SharePoint Server. Before the internship I only knew the system from an user perspective but thanks to Don, a SharePoint administrator for years, I’m also getting very valuable insights in the configuration and administration!

Don takes time to show me something new every day and provides me with helpful hints all the time, while I’m working on my first project, which will be finished this week. This project is about improving an existing search application on the local intranet. As this is only a small part of a bigger project, there should be a lot to come and I’m looking forward to it!

As mentioned in the beginning the Memorial Day weekend was awesome! I went with a friend to Indianapolis, which is only three and a half hours away, to the famous Indy 500 race and it was a blast! Beforehand I saw that this is one of the biggest sport events in the world with 250,000 people attending, but what I experienced there was way beyond every expectation! Hundreds of people everywhere, people renting their yards for parking, a lot of barbecue, a lot of sport enthusiasts as well as people who just went there for the party. Definitely worth to be a part of, at least once!

After the race we drove another three hours south to the Mammoth Caves National Park, which is, with over 400 miles, the longest cave system in the world. Unfortunately it was raining a lot during the day so we had to skip the planned kayaking in the National Park. Nevertheless, the tour through the caves was very informative and entertaining but most of the times it was too dark to provide you with any good photos of the caves ;-) 

The only downside of this awesome weekend away was the way back home…Originally it should have been only seven and a half hours, but due to a lot of traffic jams on the way we needed about nine hours. Anyways, these experiences were worth every minute in the traffic jam!

So far, so good, but there’s a lot of amazing stuff planned for the next weeks, so you better stay tuned!

Start of my fashion adventure at Peek & Cloppenburg

(by Gianna Miscioscia)

I am more than happy to be the Blind Applying champion for Peek & Cloppenburg, one of Germany’s biggest fashion companies. On top of that it is located in Düsseldorf, a wonderful city in Germany being known for its fashion-oriented people and its outstanding architecture. From May to August I will be doing an internship there in Sales and Buying.

After receiving the exciting message that I would be a part of P&C, I had the possibility to choose where I want to put my focus on during the internship. I went for Buying at Fashion ID, which is P&C’s online shop. Two years ago I was already an intern in the E-Commerce sector at mytheresa.com, since then I really wanted to grow my knowledge and experiences in this field.

The start of my internship

After a friendly welcoming event, my internship started directly at the P&C store in Düsseldorf. As you can see in the photo, the building itself is outstanding due to its modern architecture. As a customer you can find a humongous selection of clothing and accessories from various brands, spread over 4 floors. In Germany, Peek & Cloppenburg has more than 60 stores and is also present in other European countries such as Austria, Poland and Czech Republic. During the first week I was working in the premium section for both men and women. Then I got the chance to have direct contact to the P&C customer and I really enjoyed helping them when they were looking for a special occasion outfit. On the other hand it was pretty tough to be literally standing the whole day, especially at the beginning. After the third day, I almost got used to it :)

View fullsize

The second week I was working at the cash register which did not simply mean delivering the customers their paid products in a bag. I also took care of product returns, processing complaints and finding and picking reserved clothes from a back room. This seems to be obvious activities taking place at a cash register, but you have to keep in mind that the store is super huge compared to a regular fashion store. So I was constantly very busy and was in charge of different tasks. 

I think it was a good and helpful experience for me to get an insight in the different areas of a P&C fashion store during the first two weeks. Now I have a better understanding of the P&C customer and I am more familiar with the broad range of labels which is essential for my further internship in the Buying team of Fashion ID.

Until next time,

Gianna

Goodbye Madrid – Hello Berlin!

(by Laura Kühn)

After a quick intermezzo of less than 48h in my hometown I jumped into the train to Berlin.

View fullsize

Once there, I got to know my room & mate for the next month – Lovely person! Already sad to leave her & the flat in 2 weeks…

First day @ Coca-Cola – Me being excited (of course) But no need for that! I had a warm welcome, lovely gifts (got my own Laura Coke Bottle ;) ) & discovered our kitchen with these two tempting fridges in it. Still haven’t tried out all of our products to tell you what’s my bestie. But I am on it!

View fullsize

Berlin, 6:00 am. Excited to join Andreas on his day with the “rote Flotte”, the famous red trucks driving around all over Germany to deliver Coca-Cola beverages…No wonder that the truckers’ kitchen was full of…Coca-Cola? Nope! Our Energy drinks - to stay awake ☺

View fullsize

View fullsize

What a view from the truck. 2m above the street!

I was also able to try to handle this interesting machine a pallet transporter. A bit tricky, as it’s a bit counter intuitive …But practice makes the champion right? ;) Thanks a lot Andreas for the great day! ☺

View fullsize

After my first hands on experience with the “rote Flotte” the next adventure was already waiting for me: Coca-Cola MIT DIR! All of us were able to take part in a huge event of Coca-Cola the MIT (Merchandising Impact Team) DIR (you) What’s that?! It is ought to promote the new Coca-Cola LIFE. But not in a boring way… There were different “camps” established in Germany.

View fullsize

During the day all of us were in the markets (EDEKAS, REWES etc.) promoting the new green Coca-Cola Life – wearing these lovely green shirts & jackets – looking like a bunch of friendly frogs!

View fullsize

And what’s the camp for? We slept there in the “wilderness” directly at a lovely lake. Having breakfast together & after coming “home” from work sitting together or doing sportive activities.

Me, as pleased as punch! I was able to sell a “get happy app” to one of our visited customers. Great start of the MIT DIR camp!

Then suddenly! I got a call from my very kind boss: “Laura! I have just been to our camp in Leipzig and they told me that they urgently need more support. Do you want to change the camp?” SURE!!! So I was moving to the Leipzig surfer-beach camp the following Sunday!

View fullsize

But before: Enjoying Berlin life with a very lovely colleague of mine. Just got to know her on Saturday while distributing free Coca-Cola Life at the “Alex”.

Leipzig Calling!

View fullsize

I was arriving on Sunday & was amazed! Just see for yourself! Sleeping like Pocahontas in tents ☺ A bit could during night though…

On Sunday we got a guided city tour - but not as boring as they usually are! We climbed the tower of the city hall & at the very top – to our surprise-a cold drink was waiting for us!

Aaaand, there was this really cool boat tour we did! Some of us really brave wearing flip-flops at summerlike 15 °C… Very impressed! 

View fullsize

View fullsize

Business before pleasure!

After a great but exhausting promotion day, our Leipzig camp was waiting for us…with this! ☺ 

Then on Tuesday there was a huge final party in Berlin… Right! Berlin! But I was still in Leipzig… Already sad I heard great news! We were supposed to get “shuttled” away… From Leipzig to a super location, with food, music & entertainment! ☺ Not even a slight rain storm could prevent us from dancing & laughing through the night. I have to admit: One of the best company parties I have been so far.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Unfortunately the MIT DIR was coming to an end & we had to leave Leipzig… 

Back “home” I had my first real breakfast with my roomie. Inspired by the fitness programe of the camp our new mission is: Being Healthy & sporty! New discovery in the supermarket: Chia seeds… I have to say they are better than I thought (oh oh…hipster Berlin has a first impact on me…)

View fullsize

And then…Sport up! Both Friday & Saturday on the bike…Berlin is much greener than I thought! ☺

View fullsize

To sum up?

Crazy first weeks from Berlin to Leipzig & back. Very warm welcome from my colleagues in the HQ in Berlin. This event was reallyyy awesome! Loved it! Thanks a lot! Excited to see what’s next! ☺

View fullsize

Meet Dan, who starts his internship today at Johnson & Johnson

Dan can solve a Rubik’s cube blindfolded. But he can also put his coding skills in use to develop cool new apps to be used in healthcare!

Were you expecting to start your career in IT at Johnson & Johnson?

Indeed! My older brother had been working at Johnson & Johnson for about seven years. He loves the company and knew that it would be a great opportunity for me. As I have already done an internship at Johnson & Johnson, I was able to see exactly why.

Johnson & Johnson helps millions of people worldwide, each day. After seeing the end results of the work being done, it felt like much more than just a job. With all employees keeping this in mind, the atmosphere at Johnson & Johnson is very positive. It seemed like a perfect place to begin my career in IT.

What is, in your opinion, the most promising aspect of merging IT with healthcare?

Combining IT and healthcare is one of the most promising ways to help people by using technical skills. Not everyone can be a doctor, surgeon, or bio-medical engineer. I think this is a great opportunity to use my skills in computer science to make improvements in healthcare. This goes hand in hand with my answer to the first question. Healthcare enables you to be more in the touch with the benefits of your work. This creates a much better working environment.

You’ve been a champion in Rubik’s Cube 5x5 blindfold competitions several times. What has that experience taught you?

Going to Rubik’s Cube competitions has taught me quite a few things. The 5x5 blindfolded event is relatively unknown, difficult, and obscure. With that being said, there are still hundreds of people from around the world that practice tirelessly to be the best at it.

If it can be that difficult to be the best at something so strange, one can only imagine how difficult it is to be the best at things that actually matter. It is a subtle reminder to always try my best, especially in a world where everything is constantly changing and everyone is always improving. On the other hand, competing was a lot of fun and it was nice to make so many friends from around the world in the process.

One week in Zurich

(by Gonçalo Guerreiro)

Hello again! I am on the final run of my internship at ABB in Krakow but it doesn’t mean things are getting less exciting. My project is going well and the weather is getting warmer, so enjoying the free time in the city is easier than before. I have just come back from a week in ABB’s Global Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland and I want to tell you more about it.

View fullsize

As part of ABB’s Global Trainee Program, all Global Trainees are invited for a week-long event in Zurich. During this week they have the opportunity to learn more about ABB (history, business, values, etc.), meet senior leaders and of course connect with each other!

This event was going to happen during my time in Krakow and ABB invited me to attend it as well, as part of my internship. I was already happy with the opportunity before going but now, after returning from Switzerland, I am even happier.

It was a very intense week: The programme ran from 8:30 to 17:00 every day and we covered topics ranging from the “softer” ones, like Intercultural Awareness and Business Etiquette to some more technical ones like Internal Audit, Supply Chain Management and Accounting. We also had the chance to visit a couple of ABB factories in the area which helped me better understand some of ABB’s products and business.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Not everything was hard-work though. Every day, we either had networking Apéros (Swiss name for cocktail events), or nice dinners, or both combined.

Overall I had a very good time in Zurich. It was very interesting to know more about some operational departments of ABB. I was generally very impressed from the company’s culture, the amount of possible development opportunities and how enthusiastic and approachable most of the speakers were - it reinforced my opinion that ABB is a nice place to work. Besides the learning, I had the opportunity of getting to know an amazing group of diverse young people with whom I will keep in touch.

P.S.: Of course I didn’t forget to bring a load of Swiss chocolate with me!

First week at Enterprise Rent-A-Car

(by Jennifer Mbunga)

One day at the end of 2013, I was on Facebook looking at different multinational companies to apply to, as I was thinking about doing an internship back in Germany. This is when I first came across Blind Applying. I started filling out the application, but never completed it. At that time I was in the U.S. doing a year abroad and was thinking about leaving after a term, but I ended up staying the whole academic year (really great decision by the way!). In November 2014 I fully filled out the application for Blind Applying. There was no dreadful cover letter – I hate them-, all I had to do was give in my contact information and upload my CV.

Interviews

Months went by and I completely forgot I had applied. In January, I got an email from Alex who works at Blind Applying. I was in the TOP 40 and got invited to a phone interview. This was conducted by Jessica who works at Enterprise’s headquarters in Eschborn, Germany (near Frankfurt). I was then invited to the assessment center in Eschborn as a part of the TOP 15, which was crazy in itself when you think that there were over 10k applicants in the beginning.

View fullsize

Long story short, at the day-long assessment I got to meet 5 other candidates, the Human Resources (HR) Team from Frankfurt as well as Matt, the European Talent Acquisition Manager from the headquarters (HQ) in Egham, England, who I am now reporting to.

A week or so later we all got feedback and I got a call from Matt. He delivered the news to me like this: “As you may know I have a bit of bad news for you.” (He paused and my heart sank!), “You are going to have to tell your friends and family that you will be spending three months in the UK!”

View fullsize

View fullsize

Fast forward to now – My Internship in May 2015

My first day at Enterprise Rent-A-Car was a Tuesday, May 5 – internally called the Enterprise anniversary, which is a tradition celebrating every employee’s anniversaries with the firm by giving them a card and having a “cake day”.

View fullsize

View fullsize

The office space here at the corporate HQ is new and really modern. Enterprise moved in here in March 2014, so the atmosphere is warm and welcoming at least for someone like me who likes interior design. Working at HQ can get quite hectic as everybody here is really busy. Luckily, Matt introduced me to my coworkers and showed me around. What I liked is that I can bring my own devices so I can use my iPad and apps at work. I was also given a quick tour of the city and Matt took me out to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch, which was very kind.

What I do during my internship

On my second day, I attended a Media Day taking place at our media agency Bernard HODES. As my internship revolves around HR Brand Development for Enterprise’s “new” markets in Germany, France and Spain a lot of my tasks have to do with employer branding – which is similar to consumer branding but aims at getting people to want to work for you as opposed to buying your products.

On Media Day, different companies came to pitch their ideas on how they would be able to help Enterprise reach its recruiting goals. The office’s balcony had the best view on landmarks like St. Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye and the Shard. Another bonus was the different gifts and goodies the companies brought, like macaroons, chocolate and stationery stuff. Lunch was also on the house.

View fullsize

View fullsize

The following day, we attended a panel discussion about “The Evolution of Candidate Attraction”. In case you are wondering, breakfast was served there too and it was pretty good (big foodie here ;) ).

After heading to the media agency once again, I got an idea of what type of work they do for Enterprise and how companies develop Employer Branding strategies. I am going to be spending a week with them in June and I’m looking forward to that.

It’s not all work though

Even if it was my first week, a lot of emails were waiting for me already. One of them was for the company party at Thorpe Park – an amusement park- next month. I am really excited to go!

View fullsize

View fullsize

So far I truly enjoy the prospects of moving around a lot and learning different aspects of HR brand development. Working in such a big company can be quite intimidating. I tend to be shy when I am placed in a new setting so I am still trying to find my place and look forward to connecting with my coworkers even more as time goes by. Come back to read more about my adventures in the beginning of June.

A lot to learn and discover

(by Erran Yang)

My first weeks at Stora Enso have been great! I had a warm welcome and took part in the first orientation meetings. During the orientation, I got to know more about Stora Enso, the company’s culture and the products, which I found really impressive.

Stora Enso is a Nordic company which endeavors in a great effort to protect the environment and preserve the bio-diversity. There have been initiatives to plant eucalyptus in woodlands and take care of local residents’ living conditions, to ensure that every place our business covers is left a better place. It was also mentioned that the polluted water is purified to the standards of drinking water before it is flown back into the rivers and there is a lot of effort going on to develop paper packaging products that are 100% degradable. Additionally, I learned a lot about paper making and packaging techniques from other new onboarding colleagues and senior staff at Stora Enso.

As for me, I work in Stora Enso as a sales coordinator. My main responsibilities is to make orders and ensure they are running smoothly from producing to delivering. Keeping the customers informed at every step and supporting the sales team to follow up the order is also part my work. Fenix and Coptimi are two pieces of softwares I need to use during my work. They were a little bit complicated at the beginning, but with the help of my colleague Emma, I can handle them a bit better now. Hope I can have a good command of them very soon.

I feel proud of working in Stora Enso. Every decision made in this company is based on eco-friendliness and sustainability. We try our best to fulfill the purpose of ”Doing good for the people and the planet”. I hope I can learn more about Stora Enso and the paper packaging industry in the near future, as well as the specific duties a sales coordinator needs to do.

Greetings from Shanghai,

Erran

Life is an adventure and Blind Applying is the living proof!

(By Philipp Schodl)

I got to know Blind Applying late in 2013 (actually I heard about it for the first time a few days after the application deadline 2013!). It was like love at the first sight! I loved the idea of applying with one comfortable process for several internships at global companies. Seems like I’m just lazy but don’t get me wrong. Most of the current application processes are just cumbersome, for the applicants as well as for the recruiters.

Blind Applying was the first completely new approach companies took to bring recruiting onto the next level and create a win-win situation for all parties involved in a hiring process. In my opinion there’s no need for further discussion about the success of this program, especially if I compare it with other current approaches (e.g. the tinder-like job matching apps etc.). After discovering Blind Applying my only thought was: “Without a doubt… I’m going to apply for it in 2014!”

At the time I was preparing my CV for the application, I was in my third semester of my master’s programme in lovely Innsbruck, Austria. I was already excited because our university announced that we will do a study tour to Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area in early April. So we’ll get the chance to visit companies, universities, startups and accelerators and experience their (working) culture.

When I received the first email from Fresenius HR in Bad Homburg (their HQ), I expected the internship to be based in Germany. Until then I only knew that Fresenius was a huge healthcare company, but I’d never really thought about applying there directly. Luckily I’m now freed of this limiting mindset, to already reveal something about my upcoming experiences ;-)

The first surprise was when I was told that the video conference has to be in the evening because the internship will be in the United States! I was like “This sounds too good to be true…”, but two weeks after the interview I got a call from HR that they are more than happy to welcome me as their new intern in the IT department at Fresenius in Lake Zurich, Illinois! As my student life will be over soon, visiting Silicon Valley and working abroad in the United States seemed to me like the perfect end of an exciting period as a student!

View fullsize

The hidden trail to the Mammoth hot springs…after ‘hiking’ 15 minutes in flipflops at -4° C / 25° F, we definitely needed them :-)

Due to the special circumstance that I would be in the States right before the internship starts, obtaining the visa was quite a burden, but with the help of Fresenius we’ve found a way to address this issue. The first part of this exciting journey lead me to Arizona, California, Nevada & Utah visiting several National Parks (Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Antelope & Bryce Canyon, Zion), Las Vegas, Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe before we were headed to the study-tour in San Francisco.

View fullsize

Entry point to the famous Yosemite National Park

The two week long study-tour with the university was mindblowing (I usually don’t like this word, but in fact, there’s no other to describe this experience!). We discussed with executives from established global players as well as we talked with entrepreneurs who just started their companies. This chance to learn about their views on innovation, entrepreneurship and the special mindset in the Silicon Valley was really a take-away no lecture could ever provide you with!

View fullsize

Group photo of our class at Stanford University

One of our last visits were at Cogswell College where I found the following interesting poster. I thought that it fits perfectly to my next adventure, the internship with Fresenius at Lake Zurich!

View fullsize

After this exciting opportunity I went back home for one week to pick up my visa and settle everything for a good start with Fresenius! I arrived in Chicago on the 1st of May, but I was a little bit exhausted because of several farewells the last days. However, everything worked out fine, the flight was on time, picking up the car was no trouble and also finding my apartment was an easy task, so I could enjoy the rest of my first weekend with perfect weather.

On my first day at work I had a very warm welcome by Fresenius! I got introduced to my colleagues, showed around the huge building as well as I got a little tour in the surrounding area and I was invited to a nearby restaurant for lunch. I really appreciated all their support and want to thank you all because after this first day I didn’t feel lost anymore!

The next few days I went through an official orientation programme, was introduced to all the systems in place and already got an impression on which projects I will be working during my internship.

Soon, I will reveal more details about my actual work. I’m looking forward to it! Until then I want to stick to Steve Jobs motto and hope you do the same: “Stay hungry, stay foolish!”

Greetings from Sanhattan – Santiago de Chile

(by Isabel Hertl)

One month is already over since I have arrived in Santiago de Chile and I cannot believe how quickly time flies when you are working in a great team and having a good time.

My first days in Santiago have been very easy going and relaxed. I moved into my apartment which is close to the office and with an amazing view to „Los Andes“.

View fullsize

I also did some sightseeing to see some of the most important “spots” of Santiago. By this occasion I already discovered my “favorite place” in this great city. I know it is a bit early to say that, but if you have ever been to the “Cerro San Cristóbal” you know exactly what I am talking about! And even more with a spectacular sun-set that I was happy to watch.

View fullsize

Another favorite place of mine is “Codelco”. That is the biggest copper producer in the world and this is where I am working and spent most of the time with my EY-team. Since day one I felt super integrated and like a real working member of this team. My tasks are very interesting and all my colleagues are helping me out whenever I get stuck or have a question.

View fullsize

My weekends I have been spending so far with traveling. For example I have already been to Valparaíso. This is a lovely place to discover – next to the Pacific Ocean with beautiful and picturesque streets and small colorful houses, chilean handcrafted souvenirs and little cafes and restaurants all around.

View fullsize

That’s all for today – will be continued soon!

Best regards,

Isabel

Here we go!

(by Anna Ahnert)

View fullsize

Visa issued, flight booked, package ready and here we go!  were great. I had the chance to get an insight in interesting projects and also prepare the materials for my project which I will take with me to the U.S.

Too bad this first part of my internship is already over. My dear colleagues surprised me on my last day with a super cool farewell party and made it hard to say goodbye, even after this short period. But I’m fully on tiptoe of what will expect me in Chicago. During the last years, my family and friends have been pretty experienced with saying goodbye. The farewell at the airport was unspectacular :-)

After having landed in Chicago, I was overwhelmed by the dimension of Chicago O’Hare Airport. With my whacked feeling, my biggest concern was about getting the right car, manage the American way of driving and find the way to my new home for the next months. But for sure, everything went well, I arrived happily but super tired in my hotel.

On the next day I was exploring the surroundings of my new temporary home and got a little cultural shock due to the dimensions here. My first visit at Walmart was great! After accepting that it is normal to buy a whole canister of milk (3,785L) and that the Americans seem to like vodka sauce on their pasta, I went to Chicago Outlets to do some more shopping before I went back home. On my first day in the T-Systems North America Office. I had a very warm welcome, got to know a lot of my new colleagues and they organized a nice pizza party for my welcome. All in all a great start here in the US!

View fullsize

View fullsize

Meet Laura, the Blind Applying champion of Coca-Cola!

Laura will soon be sharing insights from Berlin, as she works in Sales and Marketing.

Have you wished to work for Coca-Cola before?

Coca-Cola is the number one brand worldwide in terms of brand image and marketing. Hence, Coca-Cola was taken as a showpiece example in nearly all of the courses at my university.
Moreover, the wife of my father was working for the Coca-Cola company for several years before they moved to Berlin and loved its culture and working atmosphere. Whenever she came home from work she excitedly told me about her challenging and great workday. As a result, ever since then, I have been highly interested in the company as a potential future employer. Therefore, I am even more excited that I was allocated to the CCE AG through Blind Applying.

Is there something you will miss about studying in Madrid?

I will definitely miss the welcoming and supportive staff of the campus of the ESCP Europe that was like a family to all of us students. Moreover, I will miss speaking Spanish… I am still dreaming in Spanish and every now and then I am tempted to answer in Spanish while talking in my native language, German. Additionally I will miss the friends I made in Madrid and of course the city itself, which is a metropolitan city where you feel like home immediately. Full of friendly, open-minded people and with a diverse portfolio of activities, from museum visits, to bars and restaurants to an outstanding nightlife.

Most favourite book or movie?

My favorite book is „The Kite Runner“ by Khaled Hosseini. It uniquely illustrates the fall of the monarchy of Afghanistan through the Soviet military intervention and the rise of the Taliban regime. The book took me on a journey to the fascinating but cruel life of a young boy and his best friend during this time. It opened my eyes to see what kind of privileged life we are living, that we should appreciate every day in our lives and try to give back to those who are facing a much harder existence and struggling with life.

Good luck to the Blind Applying interns who started their internship today!

Time flies… and things get done

(by Gonçalo Guerreiro)

I started my internship at ABB in the beginning of March and it has been an incredible experience so far. From the first steps in the office, to the opportunities of wandering around Krakow, a lot has happened and, as my project moves forward, I realised I haven’t shared much about it yet.

Since I joined ABB, I have been working to develop a proof-of-concept for a “new” type of controller. This means I am building a simple version of a controller to test the feasibility of a new approach. If successful, the technology can then be improved, scaled, and may be applied in future products.

What can it be used for?

Controllers are very common in today’s technology: industrial processes, automotive applications, aerospace industry, among others. They are capable of monitoring a system’s operation and control its future behaviour. The controller I am working with could end up being used in almost any application but, for now, the plan is to test it in a water-pumping system and in a servomotor to assess its efficacy.

New?

Control has been around for quite some time and it’s widely used. The novelty in my project comes from the usage of parallel processing in a predictive controller. Predictive controllers calculate the input for a certain system by comparing its actual state to a programmed desirable behaviour in order to match them. Predictive control problems can easily become very complex and difficult to handle. However, it is very likely they could be solved more efficiently with the use of multiple processors rather than a single processing unit (the usual approach). This possibility has motivated my research and I have been exploring it for the past two months.

How am I doing it?

In order to develop the project I have been using as a main tool, one FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) in which I implemented a multiprocessor architecture. I am programming the system using the C language. While I was not a stranger to some of the tools / concepts I am using, the amount of learning  has been incredible.

The status

I am happy with the developments so far. I already have a basic working version of the controller and the next steps will be its improvement and testing in a real situation.

That was the sum-up of my project so far. I hope it has some appeal for the engineers out there and that I didn’t geekify it too much for the others!

Some other updates: I have just received a video camera from ABB to do some video diaries from my experience during the internship and next weekend I will be travelling to Zurich for a week of workshops at the global headquarters together with global trainees from all over the world. I will keep you in the loop!

Meet Justin, the Blind Applying champion of Siemens

Meet Justin, the Blind Applying champion of Siemens! Justin will soon be sharing his learnings from continuously improving processes, as he is doing his internship in Görlitz.

How excited are you to be starting an internship at Siemens?

As one of the biggest companies in the world Siemens is able to offer loads of
opportunities and paths to find your own way and that is what young people are
interested in.

Siemens describes its culture as “Always act as if it were your own company” and that implies in my opinion, not just a personal responsibility but rather, an open space to your personal fulfillment that makes this opportunity of starting an internship at Siemens so exciting.

You’ve stated marathon running as one of your hobbies. How has that helped you in your work?

Marathon running is like climbing a mountain. You need to be very focused to find the best way, persistent to keep sight of your goal and work hard over a long time to keep up. But when you reach the peak you feel greater than ever before. And that is exactly what is helping me in my work.

Sometimes work is very demanding too. Even so you will feel nearly as good as finishing a marathon if you reach your goals at work and that is pushing me in all kinds of situations.

Is there a person who has inspired you in life and work?

There is not one person I admire thoroughly because nobody is perfect. In my opinion it is more about admiring single features of people. For instance I admire some people for their passion for their company, others for their creativity or others for their fearless fights against injustice.

If you would mix all of these features maybe you would find the one person I would admire and I would aspire after, but as long as I don’t know this person I admire single characteristics and strive after them.

Welcome to my Merck-Experience! – My start in a once in a lifetime experience

(by Yoshiki Fukuda)

First of all, thanks to those who are interested in reading my Blind Applying story. My story started on a day in October, when I saw the Blind Applying advertisement as a suggested post on Facebook. I was very fascinated by the concept to “blind apply” to all participating companies with only one CV - no cover letter, no certificates and no transcript of records. This uncomplicated way to apply was my reason to give a try and upload my CV. Not too long after that, I was invited for a telephone interview which I successfully passed. I was really looking forward to start my internship at Merck. When I uploaded my CV in the first place, I have never thought that I would be chosen out of ca. 13,200 applicants. As you can see, nothing is impossible!

After I got accepted for the internship, I got a call from Merck offering me support for finding a place where I could stay during my internship. Even though I found a nice flat-share through a popular German website, I really appreciated the support from Merck which showed me how much they care about new employees. My flat-share is located only few minutes from Luisenplatz (see picture above) which is the heart of the city. I stay together with 3 flatmates who are studying computer science and electrical engineering.

At Lusienplatz there is a big public transportation hub and plenty of grocery stores and shops.

On my first working day, everything was exciting because the environment was still new for me. After finding the right street railway, it took me seven minutes to arrive at Merck. While waiting for a short welcoming from the HR at the visitor center I had a chance to meet other interns who were also starting their internships. Afterwards I was struck off to find the building section where the Inhouse Consulting Department was sited. The secretary gave me a tour at the office and introduced me to colleagues. It was a very warm welcome from everyone. I am sharing an office with two other interns who are also joining the Inhouse Consulting Department currently. In general the professional and educational backgrounds of the people within this department is widespread which makes it even more interesting to work with them.

Even though my first two weeks are already over, I had the chance to learn new things and work on interesting projects. Since day one, I am an active member of the project team with my own responsibilities and also opportunities to participate within all activities. Nevertheless I am still looking forward to all the new experiences in the upcoming weeks and months. Besides the professional experience, there are plenty of opportunities to meet, share and discuss about our new experiences with other interns from different departments. For example, at lunch break, I am joining a little group of interns having lunch together. Also, there is a “Praktikantenstammtisch”, which is an event organized by Merck and interns, taking place every Wednesday. At this event you will have the chance to meet interesting personalities from all over the world. Even during the weekend the interns having activities together like traveling to other cities or partying. However, the major language here is English due to all interns coming from different countries. I want to join the weekend activities in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully, I could give you a small idea of how my internship at Merck looks like.

See you next time!

Greetings from Darmstadt,

Yoshi

Meet Julia, the Blind Applying champion of Munich Ref

“You can do whatever you want to do with enough comprehension, endurance and friendliness.”

Julia is using her engineering knowledge to analyse risks in the area of renewable energies.

Given your engineering background, have you ever thought of working in insurance?

No, I never thought of working in the Insurance business. I had some points of contact within this business because of the project work I do. But I was very surprised when I got the invite from Munich Re.

You have been for a semester abroad in China. What has been your most interesting learning from that experience?

That you can do whatever you want to do and you can go wherever you want to go, with enough comprehension, endurance and friendliness.

Favourite book or movie?

My favorite book at the moment is a germen ones. It is “Sowas von da” written by Tino Hanekamp, who is the owner of one of my favorite clubs in Hamburg. I moved to Munich a few days ago and I am missing Hamburg a lot. So it feels a little bit like home when I am reading it.

Meet Erran, the Blind Applying champion of Stora Enso

“Teamwork is about respect not only to your team members, but also to yourself”. Erran will soon be traveling to Shanghai to do her internship in Sales.

What is, in your opinion, the most exciting aspect about working at Stora Enso?

Working in a team to achieve a common target and to succeed in a project has always appealed to me. Plus, since there’s a growing interest in a company’s sustainability efforts and Stora Enso puts a lot of emphasis on that, I would like to see how it works from an employee’s point of view.

Coming from China, you’ve been studying in Paris for 2 years. What have you learned from your experience?

For me, it has been more about an attitude towards life than what I have learned in school during the over-board time. When facing difficulties，instead of being pessimistic which will take you nowhere, it is more helpful to encourage yourself to do something to change the situation step by step. Another important lesson is a new understanding of teamwork. I used to believe that teamwork is just about cooperating. In fact, it’s about showing respect not only to your team members but also to yourself. Every good idea should be taken into consideration if a project is to succeed. Always being cooperative and compromising can sometimes be fatal to a team.

Which book/movie will you take with you?

Game of Thrones!

Coffee break in Cologne

(By Tessa Balg)

The first half of my internship at Deloitte is already over and it seems like time has just flown by due to the many things I have learned, the new people I have met and my awesome team. I used my leisure time to explore Cologne and thus want to show you two favorite places of mine.

If you ever visit Cologne, you can’t miss the Cologne Cathedral, probably the most popular spot in the city. Here you can see it illuminated at night. In the day time, you can also climb the stairs to the top.

As for my favorite place, where you can find me most of my weekends, and one of the most beautiful places in Cologne: The Salon Schmitz, a former butchery where they serve the best Café Latte in Germany and the most delicious Quiches. On the weekend it is so crowded, you hardly get a free spot without reservations.

Bis zum nächsten Mal!

Tessa