Acty believes in people and contributes to their development, supporting both their professional and personal growth. We were pleased to offer an internship to Siimule after he completed the Vali IT program.
Read in the blog story below how Siimu’s journey from a communications officer leading a large troop to a junior developer has developed, what he took with him from the IT internship and where he sees himself in the future.
Who is Siim?
Siim smiles and begins: “My partner describes me as a calm surface, but restless water. In other words, I am a person who outwardly has a calm character, but inside is bubbling, constantly looking for something new to do.”
Siim’s background
Siim comes from a small rural area, immediately immersing himself in the life of the capital after finishing high school. After high school, Siim entered military service. After military service, he joined the active military, going to the Defense Academy, where he studied for three years. Siim acquired military leadership in the army, and his specific specialty was a communications officer. Since he is brave and kind-hearted, he boldly jumped into the water head first and made it. Siim points out that he is characterized by courage, flexibility and the ability to cope in any situation. “I have never felt that I am very good at one thing. At the same time, I can do anything, whether it’s fixing my car, doing repairs at home or whatever else. I am always ready to experiment and try,” he explains.
Siim worked for three years in a peacetime position as a group commander. His main activity was training soldiers, from basic soldier training to specific communications training in a communications unit.
How did Siim get into the IT field and Acty?
Answering this question has to be started further back, because Siim’s previous profession in the military was also related to the IT field. The position of communications officer meant that Siim dealt with various network systems and communications, including radios, servers and everything else in between. Siim trained the communications unit of the reserve force. Until the moment that he realized that he actually wanted to try his hand in the IT sector. Based on this, he started studying to become a software developer a year ago. He first learned Javascript and Java at a slow pace, but after that, he applied for a course called “Vali IT”. That’s how the decision to continue studying IT, apply to the program and acquire knowledge was born. In August, the contract in the defense force ended, with the course beginning at the same time. “When the profiles of those interested in internships were sent out, it was Acty who contacted me, immediately asking if I wanted to go to them. I made a decision based on my gut feeling, and immediately they said yes,” recalls Siim. The internship period lasted for a total of eight weeks.
First impressions of Acty
“Obviously, if the first meeting is with Ekaterina, the first impression cannot be anything other than extremely positive,” says Siim sincerely. “This energetic and warm reception was very touching. The feeling that I’m really expected and excited to join the team,” he continues. From there, Siim met Aivar, who has long-term experience in IT development. In addition, Aivar has a warm and supportive personality.
What exactly did Siim do during his internship at Acty?
After completing the theoretical part within the “Choose IT” program, Siim began to apply his knowledge in Acty. He first got acquainted with new programming languages – PHP and Laravel, having previously learned Java. Since Siim had no previous experience, cooperation with Aivar was a great support. Aivar instructed and gave clear guidelines on how to act. According to Siim, the tasks given during the internship could be done at a leisurely pace, which gave an opportunity to develop and experiment. “As they say in Acty, if a person has drive, it is of primary importance and leads them forward,” Siim describes.
Practicing the work was a smooth and calm process. After meeting with Aivar, Siim went under the harsh hand of Jaanus, where he had to seriously test himself: “Jaanus immediately started giving me tasks that were over my head. So I had to start digging deeper.”
At first, Siim participated in internal projects with tasks of varying degrees of difficulty – some easier and some that required more in-depth study and learning. In Siim’s opinion, it was a benefit that he was not initially involved in client projects, because when he was still green, working for money would have been too stressful. Even when the internship ended, Siim still didn’t feel that he was ready to join a project that would make money for the company. “In that sense, in the meantime, I was a little frustrated that I could actually start the project. However, I have realized that it is better this way. Everything in it’s own time.” explains Siim.
How does Siim see his future?
Siim describes himself as an intuitive person, so he does not set definite boundaries. “I’m going the way that seems right to me. Right now I see myself wanting to become a developer. At the same time, I don’t rule out that at some point I want to become, for example, a project manager instead.” explains Siim. As one possibility, Siim sees that in the future he could combine IT and military experience. “Planning, organizing people, and coordinating tasks are areas that he believes his military background would be valuable. Since I have spent a considerable amount of time in the military, this knowledge could be effectively applied,” he says.
How does Siim summarize his internship experience at Acty
Coming from the defense force, which is a large organization, Acty’s small size was one of the things that Siimu immediately liked and was attracted to. “This is a place where you communicate with team members personally and where you really get to know each other. Acty is a small and cozy enviroment, where the lower and upper ends are very close to each other, so to speak, which was definitely a plus in my eyes.”
Keywords characterizing Acty
“I would definitely highlight passion,” Siim answers quickly, citing an example of how every morning when he arrived at the office, the company owner Aldar was already there, bidding farewell cheerfully and engaging in brief conversations. And when Siim left in the evening, Aldar was often still at his desk. “This kind of thing adds a lot and makes me feel that I also want to contribute more to the life of this company,” says Siim enthusiastically.
Siim also cites involvement and openness to characterize Acty. “At Acty, a lot of input and opinions are asked from the employees. It’s openness, or rather courage, to hire someone like me at all and try my hand at it,” he laughs. If in Siim’s opinion, many large companies adopt the mindset that there’s a queue at the door, Acty is ready to include people who are trying to reach the top themselves. “And the willingness and support I have received from Acty… It was often the case that others believed in me more than I believed in myself,” he says.
Finally, a few thoughts about practice and Acty
“I’m really looking forward to working at Acty,” concludes Siim with hope, adding that he feels that Acty is the kind of company that accepts people as people and finds ways for each person to contribute to the company’s development. In Siim’s opinion, this is extremely important.
