Cloud IT Training – Interview with Christina from Cognizant Mobility

Hello Christina! Would you like to briefly introduce yourself to the readers and tell us what brought you to the field of software development in cloud IT?

My name is Christina, and before I trained as an IT specialist at Cognizant Mobility, I worked for several years as a chemical-technical assistant in the pharmaceutical industry and in the public sector. In just about every company I’ve been in so far, I’ve had the feeling after a while that I’ve ended up on the sidelines. I wanted to develop myself further and learn new things, but that didn’t fit in with the organizational structure or was too complicated for my superiors. At a dinner three years ago, I thought that I would like to switch to IT and become a software developer. I have always been interested in computers and technology, so it was an obvious choice. The idea didn’t let go of me anymore and so I simply quit my job because of my rather long notice period and started looking for an apprenticeship.

Brave! And how did you then come across Cognizant Mobility, Christina?

I know my current team leader through a private contact. It’s not so easy to find a training position if you don’t start looking until February. And if, on top of that, you don’t fit the standard expectations of a young apprentice fresh out of school, then it doesn’t necessarily get any easier. At some point, I asked my network if anyone knew anyone who was still looking for an IT specialist trainee for the summer. Fortunately, my current team leader was interested right away and was also able to get the HR department and management excited about the idea of starting the training program a year earlier than originally planned.

How did you perceive the subsequent application process? Were you well received and was your individual situation taken into account as you wished?

The application process was a bit unconventional. But that was due to the overall situation. ESG Mobility, now Cognizant Mobility, was in the process of separating from ESG in Fürstenfeldbruck. However, the recruitment was still carried out by ESG, which has been an IHK training company for many years. My hiring process fell right in the vacation season and Mobility also had to be registered with the IHK as a training company first, so everything was delayed a bit and I couldn’t start until mid-October. But I am incredibly happy and grateful that Cognizant Mobility hired me on the spur of the moment and thus enabled me to put my “crazy” plan to switch to IT into action.

Exciting, and great that you took this path together! Once you were accepted and started, how was it determined exactly what area you could get started in?

At first, I was only loosely assigned to a team. After all, I first had to learn the Java language from scratch and had little other prior knowledge relevant to the team. Via Udemy courses and with the help of training by our Java trainer, I then intensively acquired these basics. The original plan was for me to go through a number of departments, but unfortunately, due to the special circumstances during the pandemic, this did not materialize. My team leader coordinated my assignments in the various teams with the project managers and me. It is also always a question of which team has the capacity to supervise a trainee. The colleagues were all very nice, looked after me well and I was able to learn a lot from them.

Apprentices in Cloud IT – Here’s what your first steps look like!

Those who start in Cognizant Mobility receive a welcome package, there is a kick-off event – at least in pre-pandemic times – and the mentoring program starts. How did you experience that for yourself?

I can still remember very well my first day at the office! All of a sudden, all of my colleagues were standing around me and I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Everyone gave me an incredibly warm welcome and photos were immediately taken for an intranet article. (Note the Red: Yes, we were 🙂) It was a great surprise and I never expected so many colleagues to be excited about hiring their first own trainee.

Let’s go back to the first conversations, because that’s where important impressions are made! How did you find working in HR – was it comfortable for you, eye-to-eye, and did it help you fit in?

Yes, absolutely and at any time! Because I’m already a little older than the average trainee, I’m used to taking things into my own hands and organizing things. I always had questions and topics with which I contacted my colleagues and the cooperation was always very cordial, pragmatic and constructive.

Let’s go into detail – what do you do as a future IT specialist during your training? Were you given responsibility there as well, did you feel you could realize yourself and learn?

I have worked on Java applications in the backend. Partly Spring Boot and partly Java EE based. It was mostly about implementing REST interfaces, business logic and database access. I like it very much in the backend and I have learned and tried out a lot of new things in the last two years. I also kept coming up with new ideas of what I would like to learn or read in addition. My team leader, our Java trainer, and Cognizant Mobility as a whole have always listened to my suggestions and supported me through everything.

Nice to have a productive environment! Was that the reason for you to continue working for Cognizant Mobility in Cloud IT even after you had passed your training?

The appreciation and support within the company are phenomenal! And that across all levels and areas. Previously, I was with a large pharmaceutical company and often had the impression of being invisible and unimportant. At Cognizant Mobility, things were different from the very first day. Here, you are not some abstract personnel number, but a human being with interests and desires, with strengths and weaknesses. The interaction with each other is very cordial and always constructive. This is incredibly important to me! In addition, Cognizant Mobility operates as an IT service provider in the project business. I am absolutely sure that I will not get bored here!

We think so too! May we ask you what you particularly like about us? We are open to any criticism, positive or negative!

I really like the fact that Cognizant Mobility is a medium-sized limited liability company with a management board. This may sound strange, but in my eyes it is a real added value. The hierarchies are flat, the managers still know the employees personally and can respond to them individually. I also really like the fact that the management regularly informs employees about current developments and that you can contact them with any question.

I think Cognizant Mobility has gained a lot of experience through the training of its first own IT specialist and the official processes around it, and has already optimized a lot of things for the trainees of the next cohorts.

From a young professional’s perspective – what advice would you give to other young professionals in cloud IT who are interested in an apprenticeship?

I would advise anyone interested in training as an IT specialist in application development to be aware that IT is a very broad field and there is an incredible amount to learn. As a software developer, you learn not only programming, but also a lot about software architecture, IT infrastructure and networks, quality assurance, project management and business processes.

If someone were to ask me today whether they should quit their current job and look for a training position in software development, I would immediately say yes. Certainly it is not easy to find a job and from today’s point of view I would start looking earlier and only quit my current job when I had a contract in my pocket. But fortunately, everything still worked out for me. All I can say for myself is: Everything done right!

We see it exactly the same way, and also from us at this point again congratulations on the passed training! What’s next – what are your plans for the future?

After passing my final exam, I changed teams and am currently familiarizing myself with the new topics and technologies in order to be able to support my team soon. After the intensive time spent preparing for the exam, I’m looking forward to my next vacation and to really unwind. Now I can enjoy the “study-free” evenings and weekends again!

Thanks so much for your time and great answers, Christina!

Cloud IT, specialist information technology, training – the bottom line

We hope we were able to give you an insight into how it feels for trainees in general and for Cognizant Mobility trainees in particular with this little article on the topic of training in IT, in this case in the field of cloud IT. We found the interview very interesting and are of course looking forward to offering further training and giving young people the opportunity to contribute to a highly dynamic, rapidly developing technology environment and to develop their personality as well as their know-how.

If you are now also interested in getting to know us and learning more, you can do so at any time at this link – just write us briefly what moves you and what you want, and then we’ll talk about it together!

If you also want to know what life is like not only as a trainee or professional with us, but what opportunities working students have with us, you can read about it below this article.