Hello! I’m Irene, the marketing intern at uxebu.
Keyword: marketing
Yes, because uxebu is a very well known German startup which basically operates in the high quality IT consulting field. And I’m the marketing intern.
Doesn’t sound strange until now, right?
Well, let me tell you all something more about my experience. I graduated in Marketing and Business Administration in Trieste, Italy. I’m a girl, so normally people don’t expect me to be able to optimally use the computer and all the related stuff. Usually male humans look at me amazed when I show them how to safely remove the usb stick. BUT I felt different! I have always been interested in computers, and I (incorrectly) thought I was quite good in using them.
Friends of mine considered me a sort of computer geek just because I knew how to code in HTML or I knew some particular features in MS Office. A very good friend once also said me “wow, you know how to use a wireless printer. YOU SHOULD WORK IN THE COMPUTER FIELD!”.
Result? I got caught up in excitement. I felt like a computer boss for years and years. I mean, I studied business stuff, so whatever falls outside that context seemed to me to be non required knowledge, therefore something that goes beyond the people’s expectations. In short, I felt like a computer whiz, without any apparent merit.
Then I arrived at uxebu.
People speaking in German (I really don’t understand a word of German language), about topics I’ve only distantly heard of during random listening to my boyfriend or watching The Big Bang Theory (that has nothing to do with coding, but for me an absurd speech is worth the other): JavaScript, Python, Ruby on Rails, Coding Dojo, API, TDD….aaaaaaaah!!! At the end also the word “browser” confused and scared me. You know when you hear terms and words that are impossible to remember, so your brain just shuts down for a while? Well, before coming to Munich, normally this happened when I was listening to THOSE words (or to German language…).
Now I’m here, with German speakers doing whatever stuff using weird words.
During the first weeks I said to myself “OK Irene, you don’t have to deal with all of this. You are the marketing intern, we defined that as THE keyword. Don’t bother with all the rest”. But, know what? It’s impossible to do marketing without the global knowledge of what your company is exactly doing: “XX sent this email, what does it mean? What should I reply?”; “On social networks they are asking us for some information, what’s exactly the question and what should I answer?”; “Ok, I’ll update your blog, sure… Ehm…..Can I talk about the weather or what?”.
Without having the general (but still specific!) knowledge of the working environment in which your company operates, you can’t work in the proper way. You’ll always waste the people’s time, asking trivial questions which however require a detailed answer. It’s a waste of time, time is money, and you, as a marketing intern, should be helping making money, not throwing it away!
Therefore, I decided to squeeze my brain and force myself to do everything possible to better understand all of this computer matter. I have to say, I’m quite proud of what I have been able to learn! Thanks to great teachers too 
)
