“What I value most is the low hierarchy, smart colleagues and the company's mindset of accepting everyone just as they are.”
Who? Rasmus – trainee and computer science student at Tampere University. Designs and develops an engine management application for agricultural machinery.
My experiences from Bootcamp 2022
Spring '22 was slowly but surely drawing to a close. My first year of computer science studies at Tampere University's Hervanta campus was nearly wrapped up, and like many other students, I'd decided to look for a job.
Bitwise in particular appealed to me – right down to its slogan – with the relaxed vibe that shone through its website and its promise to deliver high-quality software. I'd also heard good things about the place from people I knew, so I decided to send in an application. Good thing I did: after a few interviews and a technical test, I got in and joined Bootcamp.
My previous work experience was from startups of fewer than twenty people, so I was a bit nervous about how hierarchical a bigger company would be. Those fears vanished in one go during the interviews and my first days. The low hierarchy showed everywhere: my team gave me a warm welcome and made it clear straight away that there are no stupid questions. Whether it's been an assignment, a suggestion of my own or a question about an existing feature, I've always been given a clear, logical reason for the decisions made. I appreciate that, because it makes the work more meaningful.
From bit-twiddling to creating a scripting language – with mentors supporting me day to day
Over the summer, I've been working on engine management software in a .NET/C# environment. At times the tasks have been really interesting, ranging from bit-twiddling to generating HTML and Excel files from large volumes of data. Even though the environment wasn't completely new to me, I've been learning new things all the time. I especially enjoyed one slightly bigger task early in the summer, where I got to create a simple(ish) scripting language for describing the system's internal simulator.
Through both Bootcamp and my customer project, I've also gained mentors whose experience-soaked insights and knowledge will definitely help me in this field for a long time to come. For example, getting to grips with the large codebase of my customer project would have been tough without the clear explanations I've had from my project manager.
Bootcamp has also included various training sessions, which have been a solid addition to my studies, filling gaps in my knowledge of the field.
On top of a good job, Bitwise has offered lots of activities on the side. The in-house “Buzz Team” is constantly coming up with new things to do, and there's been even more Bootcamp-exclusive stuff. We've had wall climbing, a pinball tournament and minigolf, and later in the autumn we should be visiting the Ursa observatory too! All of it has been voluntary, though, and if life circumstances or just plain old tiredness got in the way, there's been no particular pressure to join in.
All in all, I had a great summer in Bitwise colours. What I value most is the low hierarchy, smart colleagues and the company's mindset of accepting everyone just as they are. At the moment my hourly contract runs until at least spring 2023, so there'll be plenty of interesting puzzles to solve alongside my studies.