Thanks to an internship as part of my degree course "Technical Editing and Communication" I spent 18 weeks at coeno this summer. As it was my first real full-time job, there was a lot to learn and time flew by. I look back on an exciting, funny and busy time. In this blog article I report about my everyday work as a student at coeno and about what I took with me from my internship.

A typical day at the coeno

As a sleep-loving person, the flexible working hours were very beneficial to me. The start of work is not fixed to a certain time of day, but rather moves within a framework that is only determined by appointments and meetings. So nobody complained if I was not on the mat at 8 o'clock in the morning, unless I had an appointment for that time.

In our largest project we always met at 10 a.m. for a stand-up meeting to discuss the tasks of the day together as a team. My typical arrival time at the agency was therefore 9:30 a.m., and on particularly motivated days 9:00 a.m. My working day began with a cup of tea, preferably ginger and lemon. Then I checked all channels for new news. Besides e-mails, coeno uses Slack for quick arrangements and Basecamp for task management. Usually I was able to start my first task before the stand-up. Afterwards we discussed the current status of each team member and the next steps together with the project management in the "Wall Room". After the coordination, each team member continued to work independently on their own tasks.

During my internship I was allowed to get a taste of all possible areas. My main tasks included writing user stories, specifying UI concepts, building prototypes and adapting UI designs. For the tricky or creative tasks we often met in pairs to discuss different approaches and of course to give me a better understanding of the tasks. I always enjoyed working together because I like it when two heads work on an idea and you can watch it being put down on paper.

At lunchtime, we mentally went through all the regular restaurants in the area and checked their online menus until we could agree on one. As the agency is located in the middle of the Glockenbachviertel, there is a wide choice of dining options. Vegetarians and vegans are also catered for. At lunch there was always a lot of talking and laughing. During my internship, the 8th season of Game of Thrones was the permanent topic of conversation and was hotly discussed.
After the lunch break I went back to work. Especially on hot days it can come to a small afternoon low. The one or other iced coffee to cool down or an energy bar as a brain booster could help.

Around 6 pm the working day slowly came to an end. In the first 2 months I was always quite tired after work. It's true that even as a student, you're always busy during the examination phase - but I soon realised that a full-time job is something else. Time as a resource has taken on a completely different meaning for me. Besides work and sleep, there was suddenly not so much room for leisure time.

My conclusion

My internship at coeno gave me an interesting insight into working life. I was able to take a lot of professional know-how with me which will be an advantage for my later career choice. I got to know many interesting people and had the opportunity to work independently on cool projects. I am particularly grateful for the pleasant working environment. coeno not only equips its permanent employees* with their own MacBook, but also an intern like me. The free catering with delicious bars, tea and coffee is not a matter of course for me and is a great bonus point. coeno is now saying goodbye to the working life and I throw myself back into student life, which I am already looking forward to very much.

By Jonas Ratza, student at the University of Applied Sciences Munich in the degree programme Technical Editing and Communication