We recently had the privilege of choosing a summer trainee from an amazing roster of future top talents who applied to work with us. Our campaign was a massive success and letting go of so many good candidates was a hard task. We trusted our gut feeling and chose Väinö, who caught our eye early in the process. He has met our expectations fabulously during the first weeks with us and we are absolutely delighted to have him.
Now let’s hear it from him; Would you please introduce yourself?
“I’m Väinö, a summer trainee at Digisalix, and a second-year computer science student at Aalto University. I’ve been interested in programming for a very long time, and I have made multiple tiny projects over the years. In 2021, I started practising competitive programming and got fourth place in the Datatähti programming contest. In 2022, I was selected for Finland’s team at the international NOI, BOI and IOI programming contests.
Although I haven’t done much competitive programming since then, Digisalix has given me an opportunity to apply my algorithmic skills in practice.
Digisalix solves challenging and interesting problems that can be approached in multiple ways, which keeps the job always interesting. During my first month at Digisalix, I have already learned how to apply old algorithms in new ways, and I have enjoyed my job a lot.”
That’s great to hear. How did you end up applying to the Digisalix trainee program?
“The job posting gave me high expectations for the company. It was the most interesting job posting I saw during my job search: other programming summer job postings rarely mention algorithms or mathematics, and most of them are pretty boring to read.”
We agree – serious business should not equal boring. And hey, how could it, when it involves a hefty amount of math and algorithms? What are your expectations for the trainee program?
“My job at Digisalix has matched the high expectations I had: I have been able to work with algorithms instead of boring CRUD, and my opinions are being listened to. During the rest of the summer, I expect my job at Digisalix to teach me more about making software for others to use. Most software projects I have worked on before either have very strict or loose specifications, but real-world software development is often somewhere in the middle.
Customers don’t often know exactly what they want, and software engineers need to be able to handle uncertainty. This is a subject in which I have had very little previous experience, and Digisalix gives me the opportunity to work with such projects.”
It sounds like we have a really good match.
Happy to have you on board!
Väinö’s tips for employers to find great trainees (like him)
- Tell what the job is actually about. Telling interesting things about the job could attract more qualified applicants.
- Express genuine interest in the applicants. People don’t want to write proper cover letters and such if no one is going to read them anyway.
- Make the application process quick and easy. Asking applicants to write the same information multiple times across long forms pushes them elsewhere.
Väinö’s journey with us shows how crucial it is to pair passionate people with the right opportunities, and exemplifies how clear communication, genuine interest, and challenging work environments can attract top talent.
Top tips from the employer’s perspective for trainee applicants:
- Apply Early: Jump on the opportunity as soon as you can.
- Show and Tell: Share what you’ve done earlier – it shows what you are capable of! We were delighted to dive into pet projects big and small in the interviews. Also let us know who you really are. We’re interested in finding a person and not just a list of demonstrated skills.
- Use Tools Wisely: Feel free to use tools like ChatGPT to polish your language, but don’t rely on it for everything. We appreciate a human touch in your application—after all, we interact with computers enough already!
As Väinö keeps honing his skills and cooking up innovative solutions, his presence reaffirms Digisalix’s commitment to nurturing young talent and solving complex problems.
Welcome aboard, Väinö—we’re excited to see what the future holds!
