A summer internship during the pandemic
The internship has always been a good opportunity for students to gain experience, get to know professionals from their field of interest and interact with people with shared passions. Although the current situation is a difficult one, it was a good time for 4 students of the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology to take part in a learning experience. Thus, Costi Crăciun, Mădălina Oanţă, Denisa Stroe and Vlad Stroie decided to enroll in the ING Bank Romania internship program this summer.
During the 2 months, guided by our colleagues, they were involved in the areas Data Warehouse, Service Desk or DevOps to develop their knowledge and to be one step closer to an IT career.
They knew about ING from friends and colleagues, and although they interacted with other employers, or had previous volunteering experience, the internship was their first opportunity to work with IT professionals. "The interview convinced me that it is an environment that would help me develop and I decided to go for it," says Costi.
How was the internship program in the middle of the pandemic? It was an equally real experience, even from the comfort of their homes. The program took place online, and this was not an obstacle to the adaptation and integration of students. "The fact that all the activity took place online did not affect me so much, we communicated very well through Microsoft Teams and using share screen I managed to learn, develop and want to deepen this field as much as possible" , says Vlad. "Colleagues supported me in everything I did, they were by my side at every step and helped me with the questions I had.", continues Mădălina.
The 2 months meant for the young enthusiasts experiences, acquaintances, and new friends and, at the same time, a first step towards a career. "I really liked the welcoming atmosphere, the interaction with colleagues and the possibility of professional and personal development that I can have as an employee," Costi tells us.
Thus, they chose to accept the challenge to become ING employees due to the pleasant period of the internship, in which they learned things both from the IT and business areas, but also due to the development opportunities. "I liked that, in addition to the technical part, I also learned things related to business, which I think is very important when working in a bank, even if you don't get in direct contact with those things," says Denisa.
Costi, Vlad, Madalina and Denisa, 4 students who have in common the desire to develop themselves, the passion for the IT field but also for sports, reading or travel, are now colleagues at work, not only in college.
- Costi Crăciun, Feature Engineer, now combines business, process and IT knowledge to incorporate customer requirements into system specifications.
- Mădălina Oanţă, Helpdesk Officer, provides colleagues with support when IT equipment or services do not work.
- Denisa Stroe, Feature Engineer, performs application-level tests and identifies bugs to fix them.
- Vlad Stroie, Development Engineer, centralizes data from ING systems for various reports.
We wish them the best of luck and many beautiful experiences in ING Bank Romania.