We are happy to announce the successful completion of the 2020 Highschool IT Mentorship Program organized by R Systems Computaris.
We are passionate about technology and software development; that almost goes without saying. We have also developed a long and solid tradition of programs for sharing our knowledge and experience with fellow IT enthusiasts, especially junior developers looking to build or grow a career in this industry. We make it our mission and shared value to develop a strong software community by training new generations of engineers through theoretical education, as well as hands-on experience in real-life projects and teams.
In addition to the annual R Systems Computaris Programming Academy, our well-established IT internship program for students and junior developers, in 2020 we also started a mentorship project targeted exclusively at highschool programmers. The project is aimed to support highschool tech enthusiasts to start a career in this area by acquiring knowledge and getting a taste of a developer’s life from within an actual team of engineers.
The Highschool IT Mentorship Program started in February 2020, in our office in Galati, under the guidance of our local team of program managers and engineers. The project enrolled 11th and 12th-grade students in a 9-month training including a customized theoretical curriculum, as well as practical sessions. The theoretical content included Java, Spring, SQL, Vaadin, etc. with the final task to develop a school mark register application.
The project presented students with the opportunity to not only expand their technical knowledge but also get a first-hand experience of teamwork, project management tools and so many more insights into the work of a full-time engineer.
The first edition of the IT Mentorship Program presented another premiere to both students, trainers and mentors: due to the pandemic, shortly after the program started, we had to switch from in-person meetings to exclusively online work. We managed to successfully overcome this challenge and create a connection with the students, while building a great environment for learning and working. Their feedback at the end of the training was a confirmation and a great motivation to continue.
Monica: “I’m so glad that I had the chance to take part in this project, it made me realize that my careers goals were not as high as I thought. Our mentors were always ready to answer our questions and help us solve any task that seemed impossible at the first sight. I am so thankful for meeting such amazing people. My project colleagues are also amazing people and without them, this project wouldn’t have been ready and functional. I will miss this.’”
We are also extremely happy that one of the students accepted the offer to continue his career with us and is now part of the team in Galati.
Vlad: “I’m very thankful for this possibility to learn how to work in a team and especially to the trainers for their responsiveness and the whole help.”
From our perspective, we are thankful for a great experience in working with some especially talented students. While still in their highschool years they have shown some great skills, interest and commitment which we are sure will help them in their future careers.
We extend our thanks to the team of mentors for their time, effort and dedication, and we are looking forward to meeting the highschool students of the next edition of our IT mentorship program.