“So far, there has never been a boring day. Every day consists of learning something new and applying the gained knowledge right away.”
As per tradition, we were happy to welcome 9 interns to our teams in mid-June. This year, our Research Institute gained 6 Research Assistance interns and 2 Programming interns, whereas Data Exchange Technologies Department gained 1 Programming intern.
Now that they’ve had the time to acclimatise for the past month, we interrogated them on their current endeavours, and some future ones.
Why did you decide to apply to Cybernetica?
Semjon: I knew for a long time that people in Cybernetica do some real computer science. I love computer science and cryptography in particular, so I imagined that Cybernetica would give me an interesting research project to work on. They sure did!
Kristian: I decided to apply to Cybernetica when I approached the Cybernetica stand at the Delta Career day. After speaking shortly with the HR specialist Katrina, I found interest in topics they were working on and decided to apply for an internship.
Brigite: I decided to apply to Cybernetica after Võti Tulevikku career fair at TalTech. I had not heard much about the company before that event, but after talking to the people there, I became very interested. Additionally, when researching later, I liked how many different fields are covered by Cybernetica and what their overall goals are.
Kristiina: During the spring semester, I took a privacy-preserving technologies course. This was one of those courses where each week there was a different lecturer with a different topic and in this course, most of the lecturers were from Cybernetica. The topics of lectures were interesting, and the lecturers seemed like professionals in their respective fields. So, some day after the lecture I came home and looked at internship opportunities at Cybernetica and the rest is history.
What do you want to learn and achieve at the internship?
Semjon: I write code for a digital identity project. If everything goes well, I will have it ready in a couple of months. To achieve that, I need to learn more about protocols and security.
Kristian: During my internship, I want to learn good programmer habits from my mentor and get as many new skills as possible. Also, I want to understand how the corporate structure works in the IT sector. I would hopefully want achieve a position at Cybernetica or some other company after the internship.
Brigite: I want to learn how Cybernetica functions and what systems are used to achieve great results. I interned at another company last year, and the feedback I received was about not asking for help at the beginning. So, in this internship, I want to start asking for help right away. My biggest goal, however, is to stay at Cybernetica after the internship.
Kristiina: As a research assistant, I have quite a few academic goals. The most important of them are to apply knowledge and skills learned in university and develop my research skills further. I am also excited to work alongside Cybernetica’s people. As I mentioned in my previous answer, the lectures given by Cybernetica’s employees were truly inspirational for me, so doing my internship under their supervision is a great honour. I hope to learn a lot from them!
You’ve now been an intern for a month – what are your current impressions?
Semjon: It is amazing! My colleagues are very friendly, my supervisor is always ready to help me when I get stuck. The task I work on is difficult and gives my talents a good challenge. The office is comfy.
Kristian: Current impressions after the first month are very positive. I like how I have been given a lot of freedom. I get to do research and figure out all of the technology behind my tasks. All the colleagues have been very friendly and helpful so far.
Brigite: I enjoy hearing about the current, past and future projects at Cybernetica. I like the office and the very smart people, as well as how quickly I get help and feedback when I ask for it. Most importantly, I appreciate that the work I am doing is on a real project and that it is needed.
Kristiina: So far, there has never been a boring day. Every day consists of learning something new and applying the gained knowledge right away. My supervisors are extremely nice people, always encouraging to ask them questions and are able to provide guidance when needed. In general, people at Cybernetica are sweet and helpful.
How would you change the world if you could?
Semjon: Not the most significant thing by far, but it would be so cool if people could visit each other’s dreams and have fun together – like in the Inception movie, but wholesome. I guess we already have something similar – video games – but in their dreams people would be more creative and become friends in a more real way.
Kristian: If I could change the world, I would nudge it towards a future that's both self-sufficient and community-focused. In that world I envision, neighbourhoods would be self-sufficient with local food production, renewable energy, and knowledge shared openly.
Brigite: I think there are more things in this world I would change than the expected length of this answer. But one thing I would like to create is a railway system that covers enough of the world to replace cars and trucks, reducing pollution and fatal accidents. I would also like to change human brains so that there are fewer selfish and greedy people.
Kristiina: I would want people to have a daily dose of positivity. It could be something small like looking at cute animal pictures or something big like going to a concert of a favourite music artist. It wouldn't matter what it is as long as it brings joy in one's life.
