Helena worked as an intern in Systematic’s marketing and communication department for 5 months, starting September 2009.

Helena’s thoughts on ...

... choosing Systematic for an internship

As Systematic puts it, the company is ’proudly Danish, and truly international’, so I simply couldn’t miss a chance to work there!

The fact that English is the company’s corporate language was very appealing to me, since I’m very passionate about English. This meant the internship provided me with at least a double benefit. I was able to use English in my day-to-day work as well as carry out tasks related to the subjects I’m currently studying at Aarhus School of Business.

However, I also considered it an exciting challenge to work in a company developing complex IT solutions as this field was far from what I was used to working with. Today, I’m happy I took up this challenge, as I gained a lot of new knowledge. Wake me during the night now and I’ll easily explain what CMMI is.

... being an employee compared with being a student

When working in Systematic, I had the opportunity to put my theoretical knowledge into practice.

While pursuing my studies, I often found myself asking what am I actually capable of, what can I do after I’ve finished my studies? By working as an intern, I realised that my knowledge was very much appreciated in the company and that I could actually do more than I expected from myself. It’s a great feeling.

... the best thing about being an intern in Systematic

The greatest thing about my job was meeting and talking to lots of interesting people!

In general, ‘Systemates’ are open and really down-to-earth. They’re eager to help you if you’re in need, and your ideas or suggestions are always listened to. I also learned a lot from being surrounded by people who’re willing to discuss and share their knowledge.

Even though I was ’just’ an intern, and stayed in the company for only five months, I was treated as a colleague on equal terms with everybody else, and had the same development opportunities as everyone else.

... what she learned as an intern

I feel that I improved both professionally and personally.

It was a valuable experience to get practical insight into how communication-related tasks are carried out in real life and in a real company compared to simply reading about it in theoretical books. I’m happy that I expanded my business English vocabulary and gained more technical knowledge, since I of course had to understand the things I wrote about. I also had to make sure that the readers got it right, so I became more conscious about the language and terms I used and in what context.

I also noticed that during those five months I grew more confident in myself and the things I do. I became more open and a better communicator. Best of all, I got much closer to knowing what I want to do in my future career.

... the most memorable experience as an intern

Oh, that’s a tough one! My role as an in-house ‘journalist’ within the company led to many exciting moments.

One that definitely stands out was my visit to a large military control bunker where Systematic has a number of employees working full-time. After finishing my interviews with the relevant sources, one of the ‘Systemates’ took me for a small tour round the command facility in the bunker. As a part of the tour, he also showed me one of the underground rooms that you can enter and leave only with a card and a password. We got in all right. But when it was time to go out, the card wasn’t working. You could probably imagine that with no one else around and being slightly claustrophobic, I wasn’t having the time of my life. Luckily, someone eventually picked up the internal phone we were calling to get help and came down to ‘rescue’ us. Well, that’s a definitely memorable and positive episode now – not then!

... a typical day at work

Most of my time in Systematic was devoted to either talking to people or writing stories.

Being curious by nature, I really enjoyed going out and doing interviews. However, there were of course some days I only spent in front of the computer screen doing the research or working on the stories. But to me, that wasn’t less interesting. Quite the opposite, actually! I enjoyed the process of creating a new story as well as seeing the final result published.

I also had a number of other tasks such as translating internal documents or assisting a colleague in planning an important event. That, without any doubt, gave a nice variation to my day-to-day tasks.


Meet Kenny, Lara and Anders.