While the students and trainees with IT-heavy courses of study and apprenticeships expanded their coding skills, the two remaining students rotated through the various departments at TecAlliance in Weikersheim. This allowed them to gain valuable insights into real day-to-day business.
Both of us, Marie Scholz and Andreas Litt, learned a lot of interesting things during this week and are already looking forward to our practical phases. But it will remain anticipation for the time being, as the students of the Faculty of Business and Economics will already be attending the university from 01 October.
19.09.22 Administration
We began our rotation through the departments on Monday with a visit to the administration. During the course of the day, we were introduced to the various areas of responsibility of this department, such as travel booking. Of course, there was also time for a nice chat, as Birgit had already visited my home region (Andreas), the Eifel.
So we started our day with Birgit at the reception and got to know her various tasks there, before we could introduce ourselves to the other colleagues of the administration in the department meeting, so that we could also see the members of this department who are not working from Weikersheim.
With a good lunch from our canteen in our stomachs, this was also the place of our next assignment. Thanks to Maria’s introductions and explanations, we both now know how the canteen works and what to look out for.
Even before all the trainees were introduced to Concur, we were given a sneak-peek by Dennis, so for once at least we knew a little more than our fellow IT students.
Our day continued with a visit to Jean-Pierre and we got an insight into the complicated insurance matters that a company needs but no one else talks about.
Finally, even the “boss” of the administration, Erik, took time for us and explained the areas of responsibility, as well as current and upcoming projects of the administration.
All in all, the first day in the rotation was quite successful and the next days should not be any worse.
20.09.22 Sales Service RMI
On Tuesday 20.09 we started at 7:30 am with Anna-Lena in the Sales Service RMI. We got a deep insight into the activities, programmes and tools and were allowed to work independently. We created offers and were able to complete our first tasks in the Sales Service. All in all, we had a lot of fun on this day.
21.09.22 Sales Service
On Wednesday we were also in the Sales Service. Christina showed us all the tasks of the Sales Service and introduced us to the programmes. Afterwards, we independently sorted out, digitised and re-saved contracts, which was a lot of fun for both of us because we worked very well as a team.
26.09.22 Finance/Controlling
This Monday we also arrived at the office full of anticipation and went to Maria Paul in Finance and Controlling. After a short talk with Berthold Huber, we were immediately thrown in at the deep end with an independent task. After completing this exercise, we deserved a rich lunch. In the afternoon, Sinja gave us a lecture on the further tasks of controlling and future areas of responsibility of the department.
27.09.22 Product Marketing
On Tuesdays, we went to Theresa in Product Marketing. On this day, we were shown more the practical side of this task before we would learn about the strategic side on Friday. After a short round of introductions, everything important was explained to us. After that, we were allowed to start immediately with our first task, the assessment and evaluation of presentations and websites. Theresa also showed us the tools she works with so that we could get an idea of the work of a product marketer. After the lunch break, we were allowed to get active ourselves with programmes like Blender or Figma and create 3D models or websites.
28.09.22 Project Management
On Wednesday, we went to IM-Tools and got to know the tasks of project management better.
Right at the beginning, Dirk explained the different tasks in IM very clearly, so that we could understand and imagine the complex tasks even better. Immediately afterwards, fortified with a coffee, we went into the sprint meetings with Başak and her team. First we attended the Sprint Review, where the completed and unaccomplished goals of the last two weeks were discussed, before we went into the Sprint Retrospective and discussed more personal matters, as well as positive and negative experiences. Because of these two meetings, the Scrum concept that is followed here at TecAlliance became more tangible for us. After all, this had only remained very theoretical after the onboarding weeks.
Later, we were also able to look over Basak’s shoulder, the team’s product owner, as she prepared for the sprint planning. The meetings continued in the afternoon and we took part in the Sprint Planning Meeting. In this meeting, Basak and the other members of the team sorted out their PBIs for the upcoming sprint and more or less divided who should be responsible for which goal in the next sprint. This day in particular gave us a good understanding of the tasks of a product owner.
What we liked very much about today was that we could take part in meetings and see how Scrum is implemented in real life.
As a “bonus”, we were given the opportunity to participate in Sprint Planning II the next morning, in which the team discusses the tasks among themselves and distributes the workload for the next two weeks, so that everyone is satisfied with their tasks and can start the new sprint in good spirits.
29.09.22 Fleet
On Thursday we went to Fleet. Together with Manuela we first booked accounts, then we independently processed complaints and created a user account for an important customer.
We were also introduced to the different programmes that are used. During some tasks we also came into contact with customers and therefore became aware that there is also customer contact at BMW Watch.
After a more or less nutritious meal, which we had definitely earned, we started the afternoon with full bellies and a positive attitude.
After our lunch break, we had the task of digitising contracts again, which worked well with teamwork.
30.09.22 Product marketing
On our last day, we were back at product marketing. Today we went to Nathalie from TecRMI. Here we were able to create a persona and consider which marketing activities would make sense for a particular customer. Beforehand, we were allowed to evaluate the TecAlliance website and were also able to give useful feedback, which should certainly flow into the future design of the website.
Since Nathalie had also completed her Bachelor’s degree at the DHBW and we also had our lecture schedule in the meantime, she was also able to prepare us better for the first days at university with her comments on the individual subjects and professors. All in all, it can be said that Nathalie also accompanied us well and we were able to take a lot with us.
And so our two rotation weeks also ended on a very positive note. We were both able to learn a lot and are looking forward to the next practical phases, when we will delve deeper into the respective topics. For now, it’s time for us to go to the DHBW, where we will really get into the theory, so that we will already know more in the next practical phase than we do now.
