“I was attracted to If’s tech stack.” Confessions of a Junior Developer

How to get a job as junior developer at If. Now is your chance.

Veera Vilpponen works at If as a .Net trainee. In this interview, she reveals to us how she ended up in the program and what she was afraid of. If has hired 50+ junior developers through the trainee program which will run for the fourth time in 2022.

So Veera, what is your background?

I moved recently to Turku from Helsinki metropolitan area where I am from. I graduated from Haaga-Helia UAS, where I studied software development (formally business information technology). Before joining If, I worked in a small IT consultancy company.

How did you found out about the trainee program and why did you decide to apply?

I was interested in trainee/junior positions in Turku, and I noticed the If .NET Trainee program — on LinkedIn. For me, the tech stack was the one that caught my attention in the job posting, as React and C# were technologies I wanted to learn.

Also, the big tech community attracted me, as I had worked a lot on my own or in small teams and wanted to try something different. I didn’t know anything about the insurance business, but I considered it an opportunity. I had had projects in multiple fields and always found something interesting in them, so I thought why not try insurance.

What was the recruitment process like?

The recruitment process had quite many phases: opening interview, code test, coding interview, manager meeting, and then HR tests, if I remember correctly. The code parts were the ones I was nervous about. I didn’t enjoy the code test too much due to the time limit, but the coding interview was organized well.

Despite many phases, the process was smooth. After each contact, there was an estimate of when the next contact point would be. Being informed properly of the process made me feel that there is interest from If’s side too. People involved in the recruitment process seemed to want to get the best out of me, and that gave me the feeling that I would also enjoy working with them.

When did you get confirmation about the selection and when did you start?

I got the confirmation in March and started in mid-August. There were a few months in between, but that’s something I already knew when applying.

How did you work during the first three months? What did you do besides “work”?

We worked in sprints, so we had a particular subject for a week or two, but the ways of working in different sprints varied a little bit. Usually, we had short lectures given by our instructors or other colleagues and related exercises. In addition to the exercises, we also built our own customer insurance portals that had simple functionalities. These portals were implemented using the things we learned on the way.

Sometimes there were workshops and introductions to different departments in If and their functions. In addition to learning new things, we had some after-work events locally and then trips to Norway and Sweden, as there were also trainees.

Was the program what you expected?

I think I had quite the right expectations on the difficulty level. Although, I must admit that I was a bit nervous beforehand about whether it would be too difficult. However, it was said that it doesn’t matter if you don’t know the technologies as those will be taught, and so they were.

Otherwise, I don’t know if I had any specific expectations. I learned a lot during the training, but it still feels like I have a lot of things to learn.

The best thing about the program was the possibility to focus on learning about the technologies that are the basis to be able to work in a team. Also getting to know all the trainees, buddies and other colleagues was a great start for integrating into the company.

What kind of work will you do after the trainee period?

After the first three months, I am still a trainee, but I am getting to know my team and its ways of working for another three months. The team I joined is responsible for the health declaration form that a customer fills in when buying e.g. life insurance, and then some internal tools. I am not yet aware of all the things my team is involved in, but I have noticed that there are a lot of technologies and concepts that we did not learn during the training period. Also, getting familiar with the core business needs and logic is in the center of doing and takes time to adopt.

Would you like to mention something else about the program, you wish you had known before you started?

Even though I knew the technologies would be taught to us, I was a bit stressed about not knowing almost any of them. However, everything started with the basics, so it was enough that I had programmed with other languages before.

The application period for the 2022 .Net trainee program is open 17.1.-28.2.2022. Find more information from here: Young professionals | If (if-insurance.com)