Experiences of in4mo Summer Trainees

We haven’t shared much about the people behind in4mo in the past. It’s about time we start – to begin with, we’ll tell you about the experiences of the 2018 summer trainees and their thoughts about the past summer. What did they find especially interesting, what was challenging, and do they feel like they got to develop themselves?

Saara, M.Sc. Marketing Student, Hanken School of Economics

I worked as a marketing trainee at in4mo during the past summer, from the end of May until the end of August. From the beginning of employment, my manager made me feel very included; he had prepared everything beforehand and booked in meetings for me with product managers and the customer care team during the first two weeks. It was intensive; I got to learn a lot in a short amount of time. He told me, “I don’t care when exactly you come to work or how long you stay, I only care about what you actually get done”. I still find this attitude remarkable – this is what all managers should tell their teams.

Furthermore, the international atmosphere at in4mo is exciting; currently, there are 15 different nationalities in Espoo office. As a Swedish speaking Finn, I got to use both Finnish and Swedish every day with colleagues from the Nordic countries. Moreover, I learned a lot about French, Indian and Pakistani cultures, to name a few. Also, practical jokes are a thing at in4mo: you leave your screen unlocked for a few minutes, and someone will have changed your background picture to a naked cat.

On my first day of work, a colleague handed me an official-looking image of the seating arrangement in the office, with in4mo employees’ “names and job titles”. The job titles were clearly made up, such as Åke, “money man” or Elisabeth, “being Austrian”, but little did I realise some surnames were changed too. It took a few weeks before I realised the surname of the mobile team’s lead was not in fact “Pikachu”.

Concerning my job tasks, I got to work with creating value propositions for in4mo’s solutions and developing an events strategy, I conducted research about the competitive landscape, was in charge of practical preparation for events, developed our branding, participated in redesigning the structure, content and layout of our website, wrote and corrected texts, designed marketing material, and added Google Analytics events to track the efficiency of our CTA buttons – to name some examples of my tasks the past summer.

It was eventful and interesting, and I feel like I learned a lot at in4mo. Regarding challenges I faced during this time, I’ve realised it takes time to fully understand new industries, target markets and the competitive landscape of a company, no matter how efficient you’re trying to be already early-on. You need to be patient; you’ll learn things bit by bit, but this is also what keeps things interesting.

Highly grateful for my time at in4mo, I’m now looking forward to the incoming academic year at Hanken and many interesting courses within marketing and corporate strategy. Thank you in4mo for a truly rewarding summer!

Hassan, M.Sc. Communication and System Engineering, University of Vaasa

My internship at in4mo started on 1st of June and lasted for 3 months. My position was a test automation trainee, where I mainly focused on first performing the manual test to check the functionality and performance of our main product Building Claims, and afterwards writing python code scripts to automate these testing steps.

This was my first job in Finland and first ever experience of working in a software company. The starting job of your career plays a crucial role in your future, and I am overwhelmed by the outcome of my trainee period. I have learned and experienced much more than I would have imagined.

Working alongside and under the supervision of my senior colleagues helped me learn a lot and quickly adopt the set of skills required for this position. The office environment and culture were relaxed, and even with many tasks and responsibilities coming towards me, I never felt in panic or under pressure.

Frankly, I never imagined that working could be this interesting.

Through the whole period I learned the most important aspects of software testing, documenting test steps and keeping history of the changes, coding in python, writing efficient scripts for tests that should be easily understandable by other testers, continuously communicating with the development team regarding the bugs found during tests, experience with Robot Framework, git and MySQL.

For future interns, always express passion about the jobs you’re given. While a lot of the work is “busy work,” you’re an intern and that is what you’re there for, so at least put a smile on your face, because that’s what your boss is looking for. Even if you’re worried that a question or a problem you have may be dumb, still consult with someone, because it will show your willingness to learn. Network and talk with the people in your office, you never know when an opportunity may arise, so knowing people will help you move up the career ladder.

Juho, B.B.A. Business Information Technology student, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences

I started working at in4mo as a testing trainee in June. My main job has been writing new test automation scripts and other test automation related tasks, and some manual testing as well. Working at in4mo has been very rewarding for me in many ways. I’ve been interested in computers for around 15 years now. However, before this summer I thought that specifically coding wouldn’t be my favourite thing and I’d prefer working with other ICT-related tasks.

That has changed during this summer. After working at in4mo for 3 months, I’ve been able to learn a lot more than by studying for 6 months at university. In4mo’s highly versatile products have provided a challenging and intriguing work environment. I’m also glad to have the privilege of working in such an international environment without having to move away from Finland. We have a nice, warm-hearted community here with so many different nationalities that it’s always easy to find something new to chat about.

Despite my lack of previous experience with Python or test automation when I started here, I haven’t felt stressed or frustrated. Asking questions is important when you’re a trainee and by doing that, I’ve gotten the support I’ve needed to develop my skills. Learning by doing has been a very fruitful experience for me and I’ve never before felt this satisfied for choosing to work in the field of ICT.