Q: Did you find it difficult to get started at Teal in the beginning – especially from the home office?

A: “After graduating, I went straight into professional life… yes, I had a bit of respect for that.

The onboarding by my colleagues really helped me to understand what makes Teal tick. The openness and helpfulness of the team quickly dispelled any concerns I had. The financial subsidy for setting up a home office also made my start perfect.

The fact that we started working from our home office was no problem at all. It helped that we were able to quickly make personal and professional connections through many “get-to-know-you” meetings and “trainee sessions. Many of these meetings were also held by the managing directors, so you came into contact with really everyone from Team Teal at an early stage. Perfect for us was the constant support from our trainee mentor and IT consultant Andreas. He really made the onboarding phase a lot easier for us and always helped us immediately if we had any questions. Thanks for that! ”

Q: What does your daily routine roughly look like? Have you developed special habits to organize yourselves in the best possible way?

A: “Depending on which project or task you are currently working on, the daily routine also differs. In a project that is being worked on with several colleagues, a daily update meeting is important in order to maintain an overview. For this reason, we meet at least once in the morning to discuss which task each individual is completing and whether they still need support for this task. In order to be able to track which tasks have been completed or are currently being worked on, these are documented and made available to the respective team members. This ensures that all planned tasks have been completed and that new tasks are recorded and processed. Project-dependent tasks are distributed to us trainees by the project manager. Of course, this is not done indiscriminately, but in consideration of the trainees’ own skills and workload. Once you’re a little deeper into the project, you quickly notice that the first tasks are assigned and processed with increasing routine, and that you’re moving forward much more independently.

In addition, the tasks within a project often differ in size. An attempt is made to keep a task relatively small and clear so that no points are omitted or forgotten during processing. Thus, the tasks that you get are often very scalable and you can work on them safely and quickly. For larger tasks, a rough estimate is first made as to when these can be completed. During the processing, an update is then regularly given to the person responsible for the project. In this way, the time estimate given at the beginning can be continuously updated in order to finally set a precise delivery date.

But now one more point about self-organization in the home office:

I first had to learn how to work in a home office and how to organize myself. An external soft skills training course organized as part of the trainee program helped me with this, among other things. A regular tea break on the balcony in the morning and the same with a coffee in the afternoon help me sort out my issues in my head and recharge my energy. Giving myself enough time at the end of working hours to prepare for the following workday helps me enjoy a relaxed end to the day.

The work itself is very exciting and varied. After just two months in the trainee program, I was able to work on projects for customers. The fact that an experienced colleague is always on hand to help with problems or questions is very helpful for getting started. ”

Q: How do you deal with your colleagues? Do you have more contact with some and less with others in day-to-day business?

A: “There is a very good and friendly atmosphere among colleagues. Despite the pure home office situation, there is always an attempt to build a good bond between colleagues. There is the opportunity to take part in regular game nights or to get to know each other better at quarterly in-person team events (…by the way, our trainee mentor Andreas is much taller than one had previously assumed in the video meetings 😉). During cool activities like bowling, cooking classes or sightseeing, the last inhibitions that you might still have had among each other are then completely dissolved and the joint work works even better!

Since the working atmosphere was very open and friendly right from the start, it wasn’t difficult for me to make connections and approach colleagues. Especially with people from the same project, you spend a lot of time and get the opportunity to learn a lot about the other person in meetings or when working on tasks together.

The open working atmosphere and the self-organization here in the company allow you to digress and talk about personal things even in a meeting, so that after a bit of small talk and laughter you can get back to work more calmly.”

Q: Last question: what do you enjoy most about the job or Teal in general? 

A: “For us, the appreciation you get for your work plays a big role. Within Teal, we feel that the work you do is not just for employment, but also has real value for the company. Right from the start, we were given tasks that had an essential value in a specific place. This showed us that our colleagues had great trust in us, and that from the very beginning. We were valued right from the start and were much more motivated to complete our tasks as a result.

The general environment and also the self-organization ensure that we have fun and are motivated at work every day – and anyway, of course, the exciting topic of IT security =).

Our trainee year is slowly coming to an end and it has been extremely fun to share our experiences and tips with the new trainees, just as previous trainees have done with us. We are excited about what is to come, and we are really proud to work for a company that you feel so connected to after such a short time.

At this point a big thank you to all our colleagues!”