My name is Raluca Vlad and I am a rising senior at “Grigore Moisil” High School in Timisoara. For the past 4 weeks, I have been doing a summer work experience at Haufe Lexware Timisoara. Now, after everything was said and done, I have to admit that it was one of the most challenging activities I have ever embarked on.
When I first got there, it took me only a few seconds to realize that I would not make much use of my background knowledge of c++ learned in the Computer Science classes at school. Therefore, as I had no idea of any other programming language, I started my 4 weeks by going through a substantial amount of online tutorials.
However, just when I was starting to believe I could never do more than these tutorials, I went ahead with working on the web application I was there for. With a rougher start, when I was not sure exactly how everything works, I ended up creating an app that allows the employees of a company to leave feedbacks on each other’s skills. For this, I used Meteor, a full-stack JavaScript platform for developing real-time web and mobile applications. I combined it with React for an interactive user interface and saved my data in MongoDB collections. In the end, I added Bootstrap for a litttle bit of styling.
I am very conscious and aware that this app is not a big deal and any programmer could make it in probably 2 days. Yet, I am proud of my accomplishment, especially taking into consideration the fact that I did not even know how to use HTML when I started.
During my time at Haufe, I was surrounded by a handful of great people, always willing to help me. I know my questions were sometimes silly but they did not care and tried to give me explanations as completely as possible. I know I could have done nothing without them and I am thus very thankful for that.
I am the top of my class so I am used to being the one who answers questions, not addresses them. My classmates always come to me in search of a better understanding of the assignments. However, the tables turned at Haufe. It was a whole new perspective for me and I am positive it will help me stay down-to-earth in the future.
To wrap it up quickly, I will say it was a beautiful experience for me. It opened my eyes and offered me a comprehensive idea of what the real world of IT actually implies. I owe Haufe and, more important, its people a lot of gratitude!