What really happens in the Hive student lab?
We get these questions quite often. What is Hive, what do they do, who’s in team? Do I get any help? Now as we are recruiting the next team for Spring 2019, I decided to unveil the inner workings and make it easier for you to decide if this could be something for you!
Hive is a student-driven lab. Yeah, a cool description, but what does that mean?
Each Hive runs a 5-month project, where talented students from various countries and study programs are brought together to solve a big, real challenge of our time. One could argue that Hive is an internship — but it is so much more! It is a focused 5-months in the thriving and entrepreneurial environment of Western Sweden where you have the freedom to try, explore, fail, learn, and succeed. It is an opportunity to have access to a large network of best-in-class professionals and have the freedom to work as students without limitations. In addition, the result of the exploration can lead to a real digital product and not just on top of professor’s desk.
In practice, a Hive is a team consists of 4–6 students coming from the fields of design, development, UX, cognitive science, business, and service design. The setting is unique for every team since the group is not only chosen by competences but also by team dynamic. The Hivers will become a part of Humblebee and enjoy some of the same benefits as the rest of the company — like free breakfasts and fikas in the office. For us it is very important that Hivers feel included and welcome and that’s why their workspace is in the middle of our office.
During the first week the team gets a challenge defined by the Bees at Humblebee — these topics are something that we would love to put our own hands on but just don’t have the time! The goal for the project is to explore the topic or challenge, find out new points of view, and finally find innovative solution to that. The result of the project is a minimum Viable Product that can be presented and even launched at the end of a term!
Do the students get any support or are they totally alone?
Yes, of course they do! Each Hiver gets his/her own personal mentor, whose job is to provide necessary help and inspiration for the individual to get the most out of their time in Hive. The team also has two Bees helping them during the whole project. Plus, the rest of us in the office are always happy to help or give some feedback!
Hive is what the teams makes it. In addition to a highly valued reference on your CV and connections to a great network, it can give you life-long friendships and perhaps even possibilities to become a Bee or join one of our sister companies!
Iida Nyyssönen is a Product Manager and Business Designer at Humblebee, a digital product and service studio based in Gothenburg, Sweden.
