Ap­pren­tice­ship: The first year at F7

Hey, I'm Alex, an apprentice at F7. You can follow me in my blogs as I become an IT specialist for application development. I've been at F7 for a year now. Going straight from school into a fulltime job is certainly a very exciting but also worrying feeling for many people. I am all the happier that I chose to start as an apprentice at F7.

Development at F7

During this year at F7, I have continued to develop. Not only in my skills as an application developer, but also in communication and working responsibly in a team. I feel joy and fun at F7. I enjoy getting up in the morning and doing work that inspires me. I enjoy beating my colleagues at ‘Terraforming Mars’, a board game. At F7, we regularly play Terraforming Mars after work, a strategic resource board game in which the aim is to colonise Mars and collect points. The players take on the role of companies working together to make Mars habitable. In doing so, they must use their resources skilfully and adapt their strategies.

The colleagues make every day in the office an experience. The team is humorous and the atmosphere is relaxed. One year at F7 consisted not only of hard work and learning web development with TYPO3, but also of joyful experiences, such as solving an escape room on a ship as a team event or celebrating our successes at F7 at summer and winter parties.

Part of our work also involves turning up for a daily at 09:30 every day. The aim of the daily is to catch up on what we have been working on, but also to discuss plans for the current day. Working a 40-hour week may initially sound exhausting for many students, but the time flies by thanks to the 

Vocational School

The apprenticeship also includes attending a vocational school. In Hamburg, this is ITECH BS14 in Wilhelmsburg. The first day here feels like starting school, but not just with people my own age. I quickly got to know my group of friends here too, with whom I work on the projects at the vocational school. The projects are challenging and consolidate the knowledge from the apprenticeship, but can also be a good introduction to various IT topics. For example, I also learn system integration topics at the vocational school.

Conclusion

Entering the world of work is not as scary as I initially thought. I have arrived very well and have the motivation and enthusiasm to pursue my goals. F7 offers me comprehensive and valuable support that helps me to successfully master my training. I have been accepted into a team that values me and from whom I am learning a great deal.