A dream has come true for Steffen Musiol: The outstanding computer science student has been living and working in Brisbane, Australia since summer 2012. After Nicolas Mundrod (2010), Steffen is the second DBIS student who successfully applied for an internship with SAP Research, Australia. Steffen has already noted down some of his impressions in order to share those with other students – just have a look:

“During a lecture given by Prof. Reichert, I first heard about the possibility to apply for an internship with SAP Research, Australia. At that time, I was in the second master term of my computer science studies with main topic on media. In general, I had been up to spend a term abroad and Australia had been always on the top of my wish list. After a successful meeting with Prof. Reichert and with the support of DBIS staff I could take this chance: in quite a short period, I received an offer in response to my application.

Just after my arrival in Brisbane the internship immediately got going! This job has definitely nothing in common with a stereotypical one in which somebody needs to make coffee. I got directly involved into a new project and I had the opportunity to look into new SAP technologies. Further, I immediately became accepted as team member and responsibilities were naturally assigned to me. Thereby, my colleagues always were on hand with help and advice for me. That’s the way it’s supposed to be and I really threw myself into work.

Considering the place: Brisbane is quite a comfy city representing the perfect basis for trips to the subtropical national parks as well as the beautiful Pacific beaches. Based on my very decent earnings (especially from a German perspective), I could save some money to fund a two-month trip across the country. Thereby, apart from the important professional experiences, I have been able to gather a lot of cultural, traditional as well as language skills. Some of these special experiences are New Year in Sydney, diving at the Great Barrier Reef or enjoying the atmosphere of Melbourne (see pictures).”

From the perspective of the Institute of Databases and Information Systems, an internship abroad represents a very valuable opportunity to extend bachelor/mater studies with professional skills as well as international experience (including language, culture, organization skills, etc.). Therefore, DBIS keeps supporting this great opportunity for students further on.