Enjoy IT – IT youth games 
Successful remote trainee project

Wanted

At Sycor, the second year trainees are responsible for conducting a marketing campaign to recruit new trainees. In this way, we virtually take care of our successors ourselves. We are supported by the HR and marketing department, but we are mainly responsible for the content of the campaign.

Last year, we were able to hold a very successful SummerSchool at Sycor headquarters in Göttingen. This year we would have liked to show young people our company personally on two or three days. Due to Corona we had to replan and without further ado we invented a new format: The Enjoy IT - IT Youth Games. Remote.

Change of plan

Due to the changeover to a remote event, we first had to clarify the question of which software would be best suited for such an event. Luckily, we are sitting at the source and even have people in our own (trainee) ranks who know a lot about it. We quickly came up with the idea of using Microsoft TEAMS for this event and chose one or two additional tools to make the day interesting.

Our colleague Rebeca Galvis Lopez from Sycor's own training department gave us some tips on how to make a remote event versatile. After all, if you've been sitting in front of the computer for hours, you don't just need to be interested in the topic, you need variety and interaction.

In the end, all we had to do was make our event known. Nele, our trainee colleague from marketing, had thought about this. In addition to a poster that was sent to many schools, social media posts were published and so some registrations came together.

Two days. Lots of fun.

Our event took place on October 14 and 15, 2020, i.e. for Lower Saxony in the middle of the autumn vacations. After all participants had joined TEAMS on the first day, we briefly introduced ourselves to each other and played a round of Skribble to loosen up. Here, different words are artistically represented by one person, which then have to be guessed by the participants. This worked so well that the atmosphere was loosened up and the ice was broken. Then we entered the technical part with the presentation of our company, followed by a Kahoot Quiz. Afterwards, we introduced the profession of digitalization management clerks. Our participants already had many questions about this and showed a high interest in Sycor and the training. This resulted in interesting conversations in which we could report from our daily practice. 

The next day, all participants were back on the line and looked motivated for the day. This also started with a little game to "warm up". Afterwards, the event continued with the presentation of the apprenticeship as an IT specialist for application development.

Scratch is also a block-oriented programming language, like the programming of robots. Here it was the task of the participants to program small games. The hamster model is a JavaScript based programming language, where you give commands to a hamster and then let it do tasks in different territories. After the first group phase we went to the common lunch break, where we could get to know the participants better by reporting about their experiences with IT. We also liked to digress from the topic and talked about personal experiences and future plans or why an apprenticeship is a good alternative to a university degree. After the break, we moved on to the second group phase, where the groups were exchanged. The highlight was definitely when the participants could test or see the programming of their robot on our model on site. They had sent us their programming beforehand. Finally, there was a small feedback round about an online tool and the farewell, where we thanked them for their great participation.

Remote-Event. A super alternative

For us as a team a complete success, despite the Corona time, even if we were not personally in one place. Because the participants had their cameras running and were very open-minded, a great community developed over the two days. One thing is certain: A successful event does not always have to take place on site. If motivated participants and speakers are there, it also works wonderfully remotely. A great experience for us.