As a working student in Lisbon
Hello everyone! Normally I report here on the latest projects and events at CORTEX media. Today, however, I have the pleasure of taking you into my CORTEX world and giving you a glimpse behind the scenes.
I started my career here over two years ago. I was currently in the third semester of the Bachelor’s degree course in Information Management and Corporate Communications at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences.
As a student, it was clear that I needed a job with flexible working hours that would help me progress and, ideally, be fun. Today I can say that I have definitely found that at CORTEX media.
All my colleagues work in close contact with our customers, mainly on the implementation of large web portals, web applications, mobile applications, the associated servers and much more. At the beginning, I wondered how I could contribute as a non-computer scientist. However, it soon became clear that there was a lot to do besides programming. Over time, I felt more and more that my potential was recognized and so my responsibilities grew alongside my area of work. Today, my job is very varied because, in addition to looking after the corporate blog, I also take on tasks in the areas of communication, event management and recruiting and am one of the contacts for issues relating to our ticket platform Cortex-Tickets. I am also regularly involved in large projects, such as the new website for the ratiopharm ulm basketball team or the implementation of the Schwenk Zement web portals and internal software for PERI. All my colleagues work hand in hand here.
Speaking of colleagues: Thanks to the flat hierarchies and the average age of around 28, there is a great working atmosphere and colleagues have become friends. Whether in the office, at lunch together, at the Christmas party or simply over a beer after work – there is always laughter. Professionally speaking, communication channels are short, people are motivated to work on innovative ideas and some decisions are made as a team. Feedback is usually given directly in a respectful manner and even as a working student you are asked for your opinion, have a say and are encouraged.
In addition to the wide range of opportunities and the great team, I really appreciate the flexibility. My typical working day starts with a good-humored “Hello, it’s me!” at 9:00 a.m. at the front door of the office. It’s centrally located in the heart of Ulm, very easy to get to and surrounded by restaurants and stores – so you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to lunch. However, my studies and my plans to spend a semester abroad meant that a regular and consistent work schedule was often not possible. But the workload, working hours and workplace at CORTEX are flexible in such cases and make many things possible. For example, I’m lucky enough to be able to reduce overtime during the exam period and postpone working hours if necessary. Even when I moved to Portugal for half a year for my semester abroad, I had the opportunity to continue working from there as normal via VPN, only with warmer temperatures and beautiful beaches just around the corner. This meant that I could be reached as usual on my Ulm phone number, was online in the internal chat during working hours and none of the customers noticed that I was working hundreds of kilometers away from the office during this time.
It should be clear by now that working at CORTEX is never boring. What is interesting, however, is that the concept of innovation is really lived here. Our Managing Director Andreas Buchenscheit doesn’t just think “inside the box”, he is involved in universities, is the initiator of the LoRaWAN in Ulm and co-founder of initiative.ulm.digital e.V. and citysens GmbH. Digitalization knows no boundaries. His commitment in this regard arouses our interest and motivates us to think outside the box and find out what else is possible.
I am very happy to be part of CORTEX media, because not only have I learned a lot, but I have also found great people who always make me happy to go to work. So I’m all the more pleased to be back in the office soon.
All my colleagues work in close contact with our customers, mainly on the implementation of large web portals, web applications, mobile applications, the associated servers and much more. At the beginning, I wondered how I could contribute as a non-computer scientist. However, it soon became clear that there was a lot to do besides programming. Over time, I felt more and more that my potential was recognized and so my responsibilities grew alongside my area of work. Today, my job is very varied because, in addition to looking after the corporate blog, I also take on tasks in the areas of communication, event management and recruiting and am one of the contacts for issues relating to our ticket platform Cortex-Tickets. I am also regularly involved in large projects, such as the new website for the ratiopharm ulm basketball team or the implementation of the Schwenk Zement web portals and internal software for PERI. All my colleagues work hand in hand here.
Speaking of colleagues: Thanks to the flat hierarchies and the average age of around 28, there is a great working atmosphere and colleagues have become friends. Whether in the office, at lunch together, at the Christmas party or simply over a beer after work – there is always laughter. Professionally speaking, communication channels are short, people are motivated to work on innovative ideas and some decisions are made as a team. Feedback is usually given directly in a respectful manner and even as a working student you are asked for your opinion, have a say and are encouraged.
In addition to the wide range of opportunities and the great team, I really appreciate the flexibility. My typical working day starts with a good-humored “Hello, it’s me!” at 9:00 a.m. at the front door of the office. It’s centrally located in the heart of Ulm, very easy to get to and surrounded by restaurants and stores – so you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to lunch. However, my studies and my plans to spend a semester abroad meant that a regular and consistent work schedule was often not possible. But the workload, working hours and workplace at CORTEX are flexible in such cases and make many things possible. For example, I’m lucky enough to be able to reduce overtime during the exam period and postpone working hours if necessary. Even when I moved to Portugal for half a year for my semester abroad, I had the opportunity to continue working from there as normal via VPN, only with warmer temperatures and beautiful beaches just around the corner. This meant that I could be reached as usual on my Ulm phone number, was online in the internal chat during working hours and none of the customers noticed that I was working hundreds of kilometers away from the office during this time.
It should be clear by now that working at CORTEX is never boring. What is interesting, however, is that the concept of innovation is really lived here. Our Managing Director Andreas Buchenscheit doesn’t just think “inside the box”, he is involved in universities, is the initiator of the LoRaWAN in Ulm and co-founder of initiative.ulm.digital e.V. and citysens GmbH. Digitalization knows no boundaries. His commitment in this regard arouses our interest and motivates us to think outside the box and find out what else is possible.
I am very happy to be part of CORTEX media, because not only have I learned a lot, but I have also found great people who always make me happy to go to work. So I’m all the more pleased to be back in the office soon.