It will soon be more than a year and a half since I returned from my internship in Germany. Applying and participating in the Internship Programme of German Busienss was definetly the best decision I made. Let’s start from the beginning. I am Karlo Ivic, born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am currently in the final year of the Faculty of Information Technologies in Mostar and an employee of the IT company Virgin Pulse in Tuzla.
Together with my friend and colleague who is also a member of the 20th generation of this amazing Programme we decided to apply for the Zoran Djindjic Internship Programme of German Business for the Countries of the Western Balkans, which gathers young people from the Balkans, who have the desire to progress and learn in life, gain new friendships and acquaintances, and also build work habits and gain experiences that are valuable in life. For this reason, I think that signing up for this Internship Programme is a complete hit because it enables us to do all that.
I had the opportunity to do my internship at the company Oerlikon Digital Hub in Munich for 3 months. In these 3 months, I gained so many positive experiences and work habits that I use today even after returnng from Germany. I had the opportunity to work in sectors related to data science and cloud. I had perfect mentors around me who were always ready to help and teach us new things in these fields. I had the opportunity to work with people from all over the world, over 20 nationalities, where I could hear various experiences and new things during my work in the company.
I saw and learned a lot of new things during my stay in Germany, I tried to learn some basic terms in German, with the fact that I improved my English, which helped me a lot when building my CV. Having lived in Germany and worked in a large company such as Oerlikon Digital Hub definitely boosted my CV and supported me finding a job back home very easily.
Apart from the fact that I lived in Munich, which is a perfect city, with its beautiful landscaping and parks, I had the opportunity to travel with my scholarship friends from my generation every weekend. Imagine this, you work from Monday to Friday, on Thursday night you pack your backpack, then after work on Friday you run to the nearest train station to catch the train to arrive on Friday night at your destination where you will spend the weekend. It sounds incredible, doesn’t it? In 3 months, I managed to visit more than 25 cities in Europe and, in addition to Germany, 6 other surrounding countries.
Also, the team of the Zoran Djindjic Internship Programme of German Business for the Countries of the Western Balkans always supported us. Whenever we had a question or faced a challenge, they came back to us – even in their annual vacation. What makes this Internship Programme of German Business such an amazing and outstanding experience is that there is no end to end- When you return to your home country, you become an alumni member of a regional alumni network that organises regional meetups and gatherings of of all the different generations of this Programme.
I cannot express my gratitude enough to be a member of the 20th generation of this wonderful Internship Programme that has brought so much good into my life. I want every young, ambitious person who wants to step out of his/ her comfort zone to apply for this Internship Programme, because trust me, this is a once in a lifetime experience.
Karlo Ivic, generation 2023