Open Doors ASSIST 2020 - Impressions

ASSIST Software organized the first online edition of Open Doors ASSIST, a technology and engineering event for students and IT enthusiasts in Suceava. The event took place between the 24th and the 26th of November 2020, on our Youtube  and Facebook channels.
The focus for this year’s edition was the beginning of a career in software development and the business operations in a real software development company.

Throughout the three-day event,  participants had the opportunity to interact with the speakers by submitting questions via YouTube and Facebook. The level of interest was high, with questions ranging from technical subjects, to career advice, to general questions about our collegues’ experiences and their paths to getting employed at ASSIST. 

As previously mentioned, the focus of this year’s edition was  career development, so we created an agenda that would help the participants progress in their careers.
All the live sessions started at 5 pm each day on our YouTube and Facebook channels. The participants who joined us met some of our talented colleagues from the design, back-end, front-end, mobile, QA and HR teams and  got a glimpse into ASSIST Software’s culture, projects, and departments, while  also  finding out  about the job and internship opportunities within our company.

During the first day’s sessions, our colleagues shared inspiring tech stories, while also talking about their hobbies and debunking some myths about programmers.
The participants had the chance to interact with the team and the speakers in the Q&A sessions by submitting questions in the comment sections of the live streamed videos on Facebook and YouTube.

The highlight of the day by far was the interview with our special guest from STATSports, one of our biggest clients, who talked in-depth about his work in the world of sports and the challenges  that come with  developing gadgets and software meant to help the greatest athletes reach their performance goals.

Day 2 – Career Day 

On Day 2, the participants  were introduced to the professional opportunities offered by ASSIST Software. Throughout this day, our colleagues made sure the participants got familiarized with our company (the way we work, how our employees carry out their activities, the typical career path for our employees, etc.). 
Most importantly, we talked about our internship program and how students can get access to it.We also gave them some advice about how to adapt to the professional life they dream of and how to achieve their career goals (learning process, steps, progression path, etc.).  

We wanted to showcase some of our success stories, so we interviewed some of our employees who started out as ASSIST interns and are now hired as developers. They were happy to share their experiences, how it felt to go from a student to a full-time employee, how to learn like a programmer, and much more.

Another topic we covered was girls in tech. We interviewed some of the women in our company, and talked about their experiences in tech and their advice for aspiring women in this field.
The discussions weren't focused solely on technological aspects, but rather they were more general, covering topics such as career opportunities, interview tips, learning strategies and career advice. The interviews were followed by Q&A sessions, where our colleagues gave their opinions on career-related topics and shared their  first-hand experiences. 

The participants didn’t leave the event empty-handed; our colleagues put together some amazing resources for each of the main IT career paths a student might want to pursue. The resources are still available, and can be found here. 

On the last day of the event, we introduced the participants to the ongoing project of our Game Development Department, our recently released game: Elly and the Ruby Atlas.
The team who worked on the game had a live discussion, where they shared their experiences and challenges faced while creating the game, and how they approached the project. They also went into less technical details like how they got to work for ASSIST Software and what they find most difficult when it comes to game development.

At the end of the event, we announced the big winner of the raffle we organized for this event. In order to participate in the raffle, the participants had to sign up for  the event and apply for an internship position within our program. The lucky winner was Andrei Miron, a Computer Science student at Stefan cel Mare University in Suceava. He became the lucky owner of an Apple iPad 7 with a 10.2” screen and IPS technology. 

In the end, we want to thank everyone that was involved in the event, from the organizers to the interviewees to the attendees. This year’s event was our first online edition of Open Doors ASSIST and we are grateful to everyone that helped make it a success! We hope to meet next year as well, in a face-to-face event.