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Final Student Internship ( college exam ) |
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First of all, I'd like to appologize for making an entry this long. I just copy-pasted from my MySpace blog, since I thought that maybe some people over here without MySpace (or without knowing I have a MySpace account since a bit..) would be interested to read it as well.
As many of you might know, I am currently studying Business Information Technology at the "Fontys Hogeschool Informatica" here in Eindhoven. Right now, I'm in the final year, and only have the final student internship ahead of me. For people outside the Netherlands, over here we have 2 internships we have to do, during our college. The first one is in the beginning of the 3rd year, and is just to see a company from the inside. 17-19 weeks, full time, crappy paid. The second and final one, is the student internship at the end of year 4, which is also the last year at college. During this internship, you kinda have to show you are capable of going to work. You can see it as the final exam.
Well, anyway, with that out of the way.. The internship should have started upcoming monday. Though, in my case.. - as some of you also know - some things didn't go as planned.
The first company I had contact with (well.. company.. the city Tilburg), a month or 2 ago, had no real project for me to work on. They sketched some situations, but I couldn't find any parts where I could "show off" the skills college learned me. So, I went on looking for some other company. Bols & Kooijman. They took me in right after the job interview. I thought, "Great! I have an internship, which is pretty fun as well!". I had to assist with the implementation of ERP-software. For those who are clueless about what that means, with ERP-software (enterprise resource planning) you can manage about every logistical process in the company. So from buying in goods, to receiving the payment from selling them. Everything. As you might already guess.. yes, such thing costs a LOT of money, and a company can't possibly want such a project to turn into a failure (there are a lot of different ERP-systems, which all have it's good and bad parts for the company). So that's where I can come in. To help the company to make it into a success, by aiding in the selection of the system, implementing it, maybe changing the processes in the company a bit and giving the employees training in how to work with the implemented system. Well.. maybe even a little more than that, but in main lines, I guess that would be it. (Note: this is only for this project at bols & kooijman.. I am ofcourse educated to do a lot of other things than this, but that's too much to talk about. Yeah, I'm lazy. ; ) )
Anyway! So I thought, "Great! A nice internship spot, in a good learning environment). And then it happened. Like, this wednesday, they MAILED me, yes, MAILED me they have delayed the project until oct06 / jan07. And because of that, I am not able to do my internship over there. Best part of the mail would be them wishing me good luck in finding an internship soon. IS THAT MEANT TO BE SARCASTIC?! Bastards. No way in hell I can fix myself an internship from scratch in a few days of time. Took me long enough before I could go to the job interview of Bols & Kooijman already.
So I went to college, and went to see a teacher about what to do. He told me it wasn't that much of a big problem to start a little bit later. So I went on with my search for an internship. Found a couple of nice spots, so I went to make some phone calls. Phoned this company named "BDO" (a company who is primarilly working in accountancy, the project however, has nothing to do with it. Project has to do with the need for a WorkFlow Management system, in which I have to help them making a decision. About the same as the ERP-project from Bols&Kooijman, just a little bit less big/expensive, and I'm not working in a team here, but alone) first, he told me they already have had someone applying for the internship they offered, but they hadn't decided yet. So I had to send them my CV and they would contact me.
Well, I thought, someone already applied there, so let's make my chances getting an internship bigger. So I phoned this company named "De Leeuw" (a driving lessons school, again.. the project hasn't got to do with driving, but in this case with plan-software, so the instructors are able to plan in the students better). Anyway, same story here. They already had someone applying, but they wouldn't mind hearing me first either before making a decision. Made an appointment for an interview upcoming monday at 11 am.
So I thought again, what now if I can't go to both of those companies? So I phoned a third one. I just want to do this internship like, this period. Not really looking forward to wait half a year, mind you. So okay, which one to pick.. ah. INAD, a company making software for healthcare. Project involves assisting in developing a system where patients can log in at, saying when they took what medicine. And ofcourse the doctors can look into that as well, and keep a record of the patient. As far as I know, I don't have to code the damn thing. I'm not an ICT-nerd, thanks. But I have to assist in thinking what would be best for the patient and doctors, in other words, I have to develop the looks of it on paper. And come up with a Proof of Concept, to show it works ofcourse. They asked me to send my CV, and then they would contact me.
So okay. I now have an appointment with 1 company, and 2 companies will contact me soon. Great. Plenty enough I figured. A little bit later I got an email from INAD, asking me when I would be able to come over for an interview. We decided to make it take place upcoming tuesday at 9 am. Thursday BDO phoned me, asking me if I would be able to come over the next day. Sure, havn't got much to do anyway. So I made an appointment for last friday, 10 am.
Like what the hell! So now I had 3 job interviews coming up. EEK! xD
Anyway, yesterday I had to come over to BDO. I was perfect on time. 10 am EXACTLY. But that's probably because it turned out to be a 5 minute walk from my home!! So close to me!
I see a lot of people walking around in suits and stuff, so I kinda start feeling out of my place there, since I just dressed decently/casual, mostly because I haven't got a suit or something like that yet. But anyway, they told me to sit down and wait for the guy I had an appointment with. After almost 15 minutes he finally shows up. A man, about a year or 26 or so. He directs me to a room, where another guy about age 28 or so is waiting. "Great. A job interview with 2 people putting me against the wall to pull the triggers", I thought.
The interview went pretty good, and they seemed pretty nice. After it they went away for a little bit to discuss who they like better, me or the one who applied a bit ago. After a brief moment, they got back, telling me they like me better. Yay! Always great to hear ne? But.. I had to do some test first. To see if my capacities are high enough. To see if they are at the good level.
Well okay.. so I did that test, turned out I did pretty well. Scored better than most who had the same education as me did. So that was cool. They told me they would give me the internship if I would say yes. But knowing I have 2 more job interviews, and knowing they knew that (since I told them in the interview), I said I'd like to see what the other 2 have to offer first (Hell yes! Wizzeh playing hard to get! xD). They agreed with it, and said that was a good idea of me. Although I did sense a little bit of disappointment in them, they pretty much wanted me to sign right away. ( ^_~ ) Told them I would let them hear something from me tuesday. They wrote it down right away. I did tell them my favor slightly went to do my internship at BDO though. "Because it's so close to my home", I said with a wink and a laugh. "..And ofcourse the project I have to work on seems fun", I quickly added.
 Wizler · Sat Jan 28, 2006 @ 09:07pm · 1 Comments |
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