Insights into the working world of working students at Cap3

First of all, the most important thing: What do our working students actually study at Cap3?

Our working students come from various fields such as computer science, business informatics, business administration, philosophy, information technology and design. This diversity enriches our workflow in that everyone brings different talents and interests with them and can therefore also develop creative approaches and solutions.

How do you usually become aware of us as a working student?

The ways in which our working students have found Cap3 are just as diverse as the people themselves. We once found out for them how they actually found us and received a variety of different answers, from the recommendation of a former professor to a variety of job portals and courses offered by Cap3 at opencampus. A working student has also already been recruited for our company thanks to the recommendation of an employee.

In a lecture, my former professor praised Cap3 as a young and agile company. This sparked my interest, as my 6-month compulsory internship was pending and I wanted to complete this in the area of software development, a perfect fit!

Lorenz, working student (business informatics)

And what is the process of applying for a working student position at Cap3?

After the personal decision for Cap3, the application process was quick and completely uncomplicated for our working students! In some places, there was a direct response to the online job advertisements, while in others an unsolicited application was submitted. After the email was sent to bewerbung@cap3.de with a small cover letter and a curriculum vitae, a response and an invitation to a personal interview was sent soon after. In a relaxed atmosphere, you then had the opportunity to get to know each other and get an impression of the workplace. The positive commitment to the job was not long in coming and so the first working day could soon begin.

What tasks do our working students take on at Cap3?

The tasks of our working students at Cap3 are wide-ranging and their different talents result in a wide range of opportunities. While some of our working students are passionate about our website or social media presence, others work in the design department, in the frontend or in the backend. But they all have one thing in common: They actively support their team at Cap3 and are indispensable!

And what do our working students like best about working at Cap3?

The answers were particularly numerous here, because, of course, every working student has their own personal requirements for the job. In our survey, Cap3 very often impressed by involving its working students well right from the start and integrating them into the team, so that you quickly feel part of the whole thing. We received a lot of praise for letting our working students take on exciting and challenging projects on their own. The working students also particularly enjoyed the use of new technologies and the project content. Of course, internal events such as the annual CodeCamp and the summer party were also met with great enthusiasm - among students as well as other team colleagues.

What important insights have our working students been able to draw from their work so far?

At the end of the day, working student work is of course based on the experience and knowledge that you take with you home and into later working life. Good integration into the team and into existing projects helps to collect them and thus optimally prepares them for working life. This is also in line with the experiences of our working students, who agreed that working at Cap3 gave them a lot, both in terms of insight into the working world in general and in terms of specific areas such as front and backend development. It has also emerged as an important insight among many how important it is to contribute your own opinion to projects and always strive for good cooperation with your team, which in turn often saves time.

My work as a working student has definitely encouraged me to be more patient when faced with new challenges and at the same time made me more confident that I can overcome them. Even though new tasks can seem complex and opaque at first glance, I have found that with the will to learn something and enough time, they become ever easier and more feasible.

Michel, working student (business informatics)

How well can theoretical content from studies be applied at work?

The question of how well study content can be applied at work is not so easy to answer. Ultimately, it always depends heavily on the particular project in which you are currently involved. While certain aspects of studying computer science can of course also be applied to work, the major hurdle is probably that you learn little about specific technologies during your studies, because these technologies would no longer be up to date at the end of your studies due to the continuous and, above all, rapid change in the digital world. This means that you are not spared from working your way into a lot of things outside of your studies. However, the degree provides you with the necessary and valuable skills to quickly become familiar with new technologies - the master key, so to speak, to open the various doors.

We would like to know what expectations our working students come to us with — and of course whether they have been met!

When it comes to a new job, whether as a permanent employee or as a working student, one thing is our constant companion: our expectations. Whether we want to or not, it is there as soon as we start something that is new and which we are therefore unable to assess yet. Furthermore, this can be of both good and bad nature, but this also means that an unfulfilled expectation can also be something positive. With the typical CAP3 openness, one of the working students responded to our question as follows:

I think I expected that the work would be more stressful and that there would be many deadlocked structures. As a result, my expectations were not met.

Justin, working student (computer science)

Of course, the working students also had many expectations in the “classic sense”, such as gaining initial practical experience in the desired job, developing their own skills and a pleasant atmosphere among the staff. And according to the interviewees, these were met, if not exceeded!

Since working student work often also serves as support in finding a career, we would like to know the following: How can things be even better?

Of course, we would also like to make the best possible use of the fresh energy that working students bring to a company. We therefore asked what suggestions our youngest team members had in order to make working student work even better and more effective. Here, too, suggestions have been made which repeatedly show us how a new component can loosen up an existing system and thus also improve it. One suggestion that we particularly liked was to schedule regular meetings between working students, under the motto Students @Cap3. Here, working students would have the opportunity to exchange experiences, ask and answer questions and network with each other even better!

The final question, which of course interests us all: Do our working students want to continue working at Cap3 after their studies?

The answers to this question were very clear: Insofar as it has not already been decided that you will continue working for us after graduation, Cap3 in the Kiel area is at least seen as a great employer and therefore as a very good option for your own future. We are very pleased with this verdict and would like to thank our working students for their wonderful work and patience in answering our many questions!

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