Infobip (W)intership: Not only for software developers, and not only during summer!

Winter is usually not the time for companies to communicate their internship programs. It’s been too long since last summer to report on previous activities and too early to announce the next program.

But it’s never too early or too late if internships are not just happening during the summer, but all year round as is the case at Infobip, a communications platform with a global reach across six continents.

They have recently started their – Wintership program! Software Engineering, Application Security and Data&Analytics departments in Zagreb, Rijeka and Vodnjan welcomed 25 interns on their campuses and offices for a seven-weeks long program!

It was in 2022 that internships returned to the Croatian unicorn in their full glory. They were last held live in 2019 at their Vodnjan campus, but Infobip maintained a connection with students during the pandemic through the Virtual Classroom online program which attracted around 600 students to participate.

Eight internship programs at 7 locations

Internships have proven to be a win-win program – students get an insight on what it’s like to work in a challenging but fun environment of a global IT company and acquire knowledge useful for their further career development, mentors get the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, and helping young people at the beginning of their careers, and Infobip gets motivated employees full of potential, but also cooperation with faculties and contribution to the education of future generations.

No wonder they decided to make them better and bigger. As Monika Ivanović, Head of Employer Branding at Infobip explains:

In 2022 we organized 4 internship programs at 6 locations, in our offices in Zagreb, Vodnjan, Split, Sarajevo, Košice and Katowice. And the beginning of 2023 looks promising with the new Winternship program welcoming 25 interns at three locations in Croatia.

The biggest one in 2022 was our summer internships for software engineers, but we also launched other programs, such as Service Engineering and Platform Operations Internship, that took place in Zagreb from June to December and from October to December, respecitvely, and the Business Internship program, taking place in spring and autumn in our Sarajevo office.

All of these programs attracted 1619 applications in total, and some got a direct entry to the program for winning various student challenges supported by Infobip. Exactly 103 were chosen, and more than 100 mentors worked with them, in addition to more than 150 “beepers” who participated in the organization.

“Internship is a big deal, the first important step in your career.”

Software Engineering interns improved their programming skills but, received knowledge that goes beyond just coding, says one of them, Filip Pankretić :

I’ve learned that it’s not just how good you are at coding that makes you a good developer! You also need a good environment filled with people who are friendly and want to help you grow and learn.

Adin Haračić, who attended an internship in Sarajevo, says that it was a big deal for him, the first important step in his career:

I’ve learned that the working environment is very important and that even as an intern you can feel important in an environment that is empathetic and where other people’s feelings and opinions are listened to and respected.

Mentors try to get the best out of you and motivate you. Anyone who wants to work and acquire new knowledge will only flourish in such an environment!

Next step: Scaling

At the end of the summer, students and mentors from all offices gathered at Infobip’s Alpha Centauri campus in Zagreb for a three-day event called the Graduation Ceremony.

It was an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other in person, work together,  maybe get to ask that last missing piece of wisdom from a mentor, and present their projects in front of their colleagues. And, of course, to hang out and have fun.

When the program ended 87% of them got not only new skills and experience and a diploma, but also – a job at Infobip. Monika says that for 2023 they already have plans for even bigger, better, and more ambitious internship programs:

We are working to create a framework to expand the student internship programs to more Infobip offices around the world . Also, we plan to expand the business areas included in the internships to much more than just technical occupations.

We have already started business practices in Sarajevo, and we are working with various departments, like sales, legal service or human resources, to get them involved.

Therefore, if you are a final-year college student, have graduated from college, and do not yet have work experience or know someone who does, visit the Infobip Internship website and apply!