Our apprentice Dennis introduces himself

“You immediately feel part of the Softway family and are involved in current tasks and projects.”

1. Dennis, please introduce yourself briefly!

My name is Dennis, I’m 24 years old and I was born in beautiful Schwäbisch-Hall in Baden-Württemberg. I came to Upper Franconia because of my studies and as I really liked it in Bamberg, I stayed here afterwards.
I also like to play sports in my free time, especially ball sports such as tennis, basketball and soccer. I also enjoy attending sporting events, for example, as a native Swabian I try to be at every VfB Stuttgart home game. But I’m also interested in local events, as you can always meet new people from the area.

2. Why did you decide to train as an IT specialist?

When I graduated from high school in 2017, I initially thought it would be a good idea to study at university, but I immediately realized that I was missing the practical relevance in everyday life. Unfortunately, it happens again and again during your studies that you acquire a lot of learning material for exams, only to forget everything again shortly after the exams. This made learning very difficult for me.I had never had any contact with the subject of application programming before. That’s why I sent an application to Softway AG asking for an internship.
After the four-day internship, I was so happy that I had found something I enjoyed. As an intern, I was immediately welcomed into the team and felt at home straight away. If I had any questions, I could approach my current colleagues at any time. That was never a problem. You immediately feel part of the Softway family and are involved in current tasks and projects. That was the most important aspect for me right from the start.
And what’s more, I was able to remember what I had learned much better because I always applied it directly. So I was able to acquire a lot of knowledge in a very short time. As many employees had also completed their training here at Softway AG, I was able to benefit from many testimonials and was finally certain: I want to become an IT specialist for application development!

3. How would you describe your day-to-day work? What are your tasks at Softway AG?

There is no traditional working day, because my tasks are very varied. In the first year of my apprenticeship, I have hardly any customer contact and therefore not so many fixed appointments. But that’s a good thing, because it often gives me the opportunity to organize my working day more freely and to plan my tasks and commitments independently.
But there is one constant in the day. That’s our morning stand-up meeting in the development department. Here, everyone briefly explains what tasks they have to do that day and, if necessary, what topics they need help or support with. This gives trainees a good overview of what their colleagues are doing that day and what their working day looks like.

4. To whom would you recommend this training?

The field of application development has a lot to do with logical thinking. That forms the basis. Apart from that, I wouldn’t see any specific requirements that absolutely have to be met. Of course, you should be willing to learn and motivated, but that applies to every apprenticeship.
It’s interesting to see that each developer’s individual personality and way of thinking contributes to different approaches to solutions.
And I can say one thing: the typical cliché of the “IT nerd” who only sits at the computer doesn’t apply to anyone here.

5. what makes your employer Softway special?

This is difficult for me to answer at first, as I have only worked as a temporary employee or mini-jobber in my professional life so far and have therefore not yet been able to gain so many insights into other companies. However, I often hear from my classmates at my vocational school that they are left completely alone with tasks in their company or that their colleagues hardly have any time for them. The best they can do is turn to their trainers.
Fortunately, things are very different at Softway. We are a smaller company and everyone always has an open ear for questions or problems. You feel at home straight away as you are quickly integrated into the team. In the end, I am very glad that I decided to do this apprenticeship.