From Classroom to Coding Realities: My Internship Journey with Brainsquare & Montova

We interviewed one of our recent internship students. Let's hear about his experience at Brainsquare headquarters.

I first encountered Brainsquare at Thomas More's student and employer Speed Date event, where I submitted my resume. Following this, Brainsquare reached out to me. As I learned more about Brainsquare's projects and work fields, I became intrigued, finding that the work aligned well with my professional aspirations. Given my preference for backend development, Brainsquare stood out among companies primarily offering frontend roles.

I am currently part of the Montova Development Team, which is responsible for the product development of Montova. Montova is a SaaS B2B platform part of the Brainsquare Group. In my job, I get the chance to work on their AI OCR Intelligent Document Processing technology. This facilitates the extraction of non-structured data from images, scanned documents and so on, transforming them into a machine-readable format. Customers can apply this in areas such as order and invoice flows, allowing them to integrate a wide range of documents they receive from their partners in a seamless way.

In terms of working style, team ambiance, environment, people, culture, and guidance, my experience at Brainsquare/Montova has been very positive. I've found the IT company's development team here to be open and communicative, contrary to the stereotype of developers as isolated and working separately. Also, the option to work remotely has offered me flexibility, and I truly appreciate the overall welcoming atmosphere.

As I work in a new environment, finding my way and adapting to a workflow are challenging at first. However, after a short training period, I managed to find a good balance between guidance and being able to develop independently.

Regular interactions with experienced developers, status updates, and daily standup meetings where questions were welcomed created a supportive environment. This structure motivated me to actively participate and complete tasks.

In the initial phase, I familiarized myself with the existing code by installing relevant programs and carefully going through them. During this process, I discovered some bugs, and by fixing them, the code became clearer to me, allowing me to bring it up to date and stay on track. For things I haven't learned in school, I seek information through articles or by asking questions, gradually clarifying any ambiguities. I believe proactive engagement and communication were key to overcoming these challenges.

Before starting the internship, I didn't have a clear picture of what to expect in an IT company. However, working at Brainsquare/Montova exceeded my expectations. The people, the building, the location, and the workflow—everything combined made for a positive experience.

The internship has provided invaluable work experience and insights into what it's like to work in a real company. Additionally, working on AI-related projects has expanded my knowledge base, and having the chance to observe different coding styles among other developers has been an enriching experience.