Bianca Bischoff – Good things come to those who wait

What were your tasks during your training as an IT specialist in the field of application development?

I am in the development department, where I completed my training as an IT specialist for application development. The tasks are, of course, classic programming as well as object-oriented programming of applications and forms. Analyzing errors and problems is also a big part of the job. I have also worked on customer projects. Here you are assigned a ticket by a customer and then have to write completely new programs or make changes to forms, for example. I had to struggle with the old SAPscript form technology from SAP.

What has your career been like so far and why did you choose this apprenticeship?

I started with an apprenticeship as a retail clerk and then joined a junior promotion program in food retailing straight afterwards. After a year, you could complete this and decide whether you wanted to do the retail specialist or retail management course. One is more theoretical, the other more practical. I then went on to do the Handelsfachwirt – which took almost 3 years. That was all in the retail sector. Nevertheless, I somehow felt like doing something else. In the end, I switched to wholesale within the company.

I had my first contact with SAP there because we used the SAP merchandise management system. Ultimately, I ended up in administration. I ended up really working with SAP there and was a consultant for the users, i.e. SAP in-house consulting. My colleagues and I were already programming small queries. I realized that I really liked it. It also runs in the family. My brother is a systems integrator and my father studied industrial electronics. He builds and programs all kinds of things at home.

I realized that I wanted to go in that direction too. In the end, I became aware of the apprenticeship at Softway AG. However, it wasn’t an easy step, because I was already done with everything and was earning quite well. But I still don’t regret starting the shortened apprenticeship at Softway. During my little detour, I was able to gain a lot of experience that is still very useful today, for example in understanding processes or getting to grips with a wide range of customer problems.

What makes your employer Softway special?

The company is very small compared to my previous employer. As a result, everyone knows each other and you’re not just one of many – you’re seen as a person. I think it’s good that everything is very harmonious here. I’ve seen it very differently in other companies. People were treated very differently there too. You simply feel very comfortable here. The boss and my training manager are simply great. Always willing to help, you get a lot of input from them and they are happy to pass on their knowledge. My thirst for knowledge is definitely quenched. What I find particularly special is that, as a small company, we still have very large and well-known customers. Every Monday there is a little training session for the back, as a physical balance because you sit at the PC a lot. Working from home and flexible working hours round off the whole thing.

Who would you recommend this training to?

Well, you don’t necessarily have to be a math freak, but it’s an advantage if you can think abstractly and work with numbers a bit. It simply has to be fun to develop, try things out and create solutions. All in combination with technical aspects. You have less contact with customers during training, but it does happen. Compared to retail, however, this is minimal. Instead, you are in intensive contact with your colleagues. We are looking for someone who is open and friendly, who integrates well into the team and also wants to do something with their colleagues. Age doesn’t play a major role here.