Thoughts on my trainee period at Trineria

On my first day at Trineria, I joked about having come for the usual trainee routine, making coffee and cleaning shelves. Things turned out a little differently. I was taken in as one of the team, doing actual work. I wasn’t just another trainee getting in everybody’s way. I felt genuinely welcome from day one and that really motivates you to put your best foot forward.

Of course, the first few days of orientation were spent pair programming with my tutor, at least until I was able to hold my own with the work. Pair programming turned out to be a great way of jumping onto a new, unfamiliar project. I felt both surprised and elated the first time that I realised I was able to take off the training wheels so to speak. Then I was able to let my tutor focus on his own work.

As for coding itself, I’ve done mostly frontend stuff using React, which I had gotten familiar with during the semester before the trainee period. It’s actually my preferred tool now. I’ve also had the chance to tinker with some backend stuff using Kotlin, which has been a rocky road full of trial and error, but I’ve also learned quite a bit.

Off-hours with co-workers bring us closer together and make it easier to ask “dumb” questions

I’ve been working mostly remotely out of the town of Ylöjärvi, but I’ve also been doing in-office days every now and then at the Helsinki and the Vaasa offices. In March, we had an outing day with the whole company attending. We spent time bowling and just taking a load off. It was really beneficial for me personally since I was able to acquaint myself with all the colleagues I hadn’t yet had the chance to meet. This get-together really helped me bond with the team. Or at least it made me feel more relaxed about approaching the other team members during work hours too. Thanks to the meet-up, it also felt easier for me to bother people with my “dumb” questions.

Both of our teams saw new hires during my training period. It was a great experience to be an on-looker with the company taking on more staff. Seeing how much Trineria has evolved during these four months alone has been extremely interesting.

The trainee period crystallised coding as my cup of tea

A bit ago we had a meeting with the other class members doing traineeships and everyone got a chance to share their stories. It made me feel really lucky. Not because the others had had a bad time of it – everyone seemed happy with their experiences – but because at Trineria I’ve had the chance to do things that interest me the most about software development.

The traineeship has matched my expectations pretty well in general. I had hoped to see how coding happens in a proper work environment and that’s what I’ve been able to see. During these four months I’ve accumulated all kinds of new resources, work methods, and terminology. There’s also been interest at Trineria to utilise my other skills in different ways which has made me happy. It feels good to know that my prior work experience isn’t going to waste, even though I did choose to switch careers.

It really feels that I’m now doing the kinds of things that are suited to me. I hope to learn as much as I can and become a proper expert in the field. Luckily it’s not all just hopes and dreams because as it happens, they’ve been happy with me at Trineria and after the trainee period I’ll be staying on in a permanent role.