Many young people develop an interest in specific subject areas while they are still at school. At IT Sonix, we offer them the opportunity to deepen these interests as part of an internship. This allows them to get a taste of different areas of the company. The timeframe and expectations are clarified in a preliminary discussion so that the focus of the internship is tailored to the individual interests of the participants. Those interested in software development, for example, will spend more time in this area than in our HR or UXD team.

Students also have the option of completing their internship in a specific area. Irrespective of this, we provide all interns with a contact person. It is important to us that our interns also have a say in which tasks they take on. Depending on the duration of the internship, we also offer Scrum training.

On average, we employ three to five talented young people each year as interns. Laura-Marie is currently completing an internship in one of our e-government projects. She is in the final stages of her Master's thesis in bioinformatics and is helping us to optimise AI models, among other things. In the following interview, she provides exciting insights into her time with us.

How did you come to IT Sonix?

I became aware of you through the mentoring programme at Leipzig University. Danny Hucke was my mentor there and I learnt a lot about IT Sonix and your way of working. This sparked my interest in software development and agile working and I wanted to specialise in these areas. I already had a small computer science module on Bash in my bachelor's degree (Biochemistry). I realised that I enjoyed coding and then took an additional basic computer science course. That was also the time when I came across the Master's programme in Bioinformatics, which combines both areas. Computer science is playing an increasingly important role in the natural sciences, especially when it comes to analysing data.

What were your expectations of the internship?

It was important to me to complete an internship where I was actively involved in the day-to-day work and could take on my own tasks. I wanted to gain a deeper insight into software development and agile working. In other words, what it means to programme a complex software project in a large team.

What does your work with us look like?

I am part of a project team and also take on tasks from the sprint, mainly software development in the backend. Sometimes I work alone, sometimes in pairs. You can learn a lot here, especially by working with others. I also work on AI topics and have gained a good insight here too. I test various chatbots locally and try to find out how they could be used at IT Sonix in the future, e.g. as coding assistants.

What challenges did you face?

One of the challenges for me initially was to get to grips with the project and realise its size and complexity. At university, you don't normally have to deal with such large and complex projects; the tasks there are manageable and you usually know every line of code. The more time passed, the better I got to grips with the project. Taking on my own tasks, asking questions and receiving support from the team helped me a lot.

At the beginning, it was also unusual for me to work in such a large team that was carrying out many tasks in parallel. Coordination is crucial and you are also dependent on others for certain tasks. Good communication is essential here. For projects of this size to be successful, a lot of consultation and good advance planning is required. It is important to coordinate the individual tasks well and bring them together to form a whole.

Is your internship going as you imagined it would?

In fact, everything is just as I imagined it would be. Taking on smaller software development tasks in the project was something that was very important to me.

What will you take away from your time here?

I now have a much deeper understanding of software development and coding. For example, how to approach tasks correctly and solve problems or what it means to work in an agile and structured way in a large team.

Planning ahead, i.e. thinking and planning before you start something, is something I will definitely take with me for my future. Just as it is helpful to keep optimising a preconceived plan.

What are things that you liked about us?

I really appreciate the fact that there are so many things on offer here outside of work; the joint lunch buffet in the office, for example, or big events such as World Usability Day, which focus on important topics. There are sporting events, games evenings, a gardening club and much more.

Another thing that impresses me is the family-like atmosphere despite the large number of employees. You feel at ease and can chat to everyone. People treat each other as equals and I didn't feel like a trainee.

I can only recommend doing an internship here to anyone interested in software development or project management. You learn a lot of new things that are simply not accessible during your studies due to the lack of practical experience. My time here is a valuable experience that I wouldn't want to miss.

What's next for you in the future?

First of all, I would like to do my doctorate and what comes after that is not yet clear. However, after my internship with you, I can well imagine working in software development later on.

Thank you so much for your time Laura-Marie!

We are always happy to give young talents like Laura-Marie a chance and pass on our knowledge. Through our work, we are committed to advancing education and research and having a positive impact on society and the economy. It is important to us to continue to promote the Leipzig region as an attractive IT location. In doing so, it is essential to create prospects for young people.