CeBIT, here we come!

       What better way to be geeky than participate to the most important fair related to the latest trends in technology: CeBIT!

    What's new, attractive, user friendly, efficient or fancy? What are the most interesting telecommunication and IT companies and products? CeBIT is on our agenda and we want to know all these! On Wednesday, March, 2nd, we will be participating to the the largest international fair in the field held annualy in Hannover.

         Can hardly wait to represent our employer, Fiducia IT AG, one of the most important IT companies in Germany and the largest IT services provider for the banking systems in the south of the country. 

           You can have here a look and get an impression of the size  and importance of the event:

          Excited to share impressions and post pictures and interesting details very soon!

How about this testing session?

          We are currently preparing a prototype testing session, so that in a week's time people inside the company can see our work so far.

          Actually, we had organized something simillar before, an IT Coffee break, in our office, when we invited the specialists inside Fiducia IT AG with whom we collaborated and also our floor colleagues.

 

          Only this time, we will go for something really big, holding an event in Fiducia's exquisite restaurant, with the required space already reserved. :) People will have the chance to play with the iPads, analyze the application we created and give us feedback regarding the features we developed.

          Very excited for that to happen and have an interesting outcome!

P.S.: Apparently, playing and testing an iPad is quite an easy job for some...like cats! Enjoy!

 

bBox feedback session with Reception Team

          Yesterday, for one part of the bBox Team, it was feedback time again. Only this session was dedicated to AIESEC Karlsruhe's Reception Team, the one in charge to take care of the new trainees, everytime a project based on exchange takes place in their LC (Local Comitee).

          We met Michael Vössing, for the Traineeship Evaluation, so that, with our feedback, positive and negative, they can improve their performance in the future projects.

          With cookies at hand, we focused on the first tool, Michael used in order for him to raise feedback: a short and straightforward questionaire, regarding the most important aspects, such as:

• AIESEC Interaction and involvement,
• Reception services,
• Buddy feedback,
• Traineeship (fits the job description?, requested qualities appropriate for the job?, etc.)
• General impression (improvement of professional skills, improvement of the German language).

          After writing, comes speaking. :) So, we tought that it was for the best to even discuss a bit about our experience so far and help at signaling whatever went wrong. And, obviously, raise our appraissals for what went excellent. For example, the trip to Berlin, organized by the Reception Team was an unforgetable cultural experience, an amazing tour performed together with our guide, Michael.

          We really wish that every LC gets inspired by the work LC Karlsruhe is doing and we sure hope that they will do as good a job as the Karlsruhers are doing for the 8 bBox members and the other AIESEC trainees also here in Germany's sunniest city!



Stan, Claudia, Paulo (bBox) and Michi (ICX)



bBox visited Volksbank Heilbronn

          Thursday, January 27^th 2011, we made our way to Volksbank Heilbronn for a very much hoped productive visit. Common motivation? ‘Future banking.’  

        

        For the first point on the agenda, the Volksbank Heilbronn team presented a banking process that is performed in the Fiducia banking system Agree BAP. Mr. Reinhold Borchardt, Mr. Alexander Gysinn (Volksbank Heilbronn) and Mr. Michael Buchberger (Fiducia IT AG, PMM, München) have together explained the logic of  a consumer loan  process, dividing it into steps and showing it into more detail in the agree. At the same time, they answered the questions of the bBox players and Mr. Jens Zimmermann, one of the initiators of the project. This way, the process was translated into the real life banker’s experience: how much time does it usually take to complete the process, what problems can arise, conditions, exceptions.

                         

           What followed, was the bBox presentation of our work since October 25^th, when we joined Fiducia IT AG. After an important stage of selecting the most promising ideas and merging them into innovative concepts, the team was challenged to integrate them into a functional application in a tablet, in only ten days. More precisely, in Heilbronn, there have been two sessions, one introducing new ideas related to a customer screen used in the ‘bank clerk – client’ interaction and another presenting new ways to navigate through processes within a 360° desktop, e.g. Process Fahrplan.

            Therefore, it was the perfect context for the Volksbank Heilbronn’s bank clerks, who later on joined the meeting, to actually ‘play’ with the tablets and test the functionality of the bBox application.

 

 

   Felipe Goyes (bBox)                                                                                     Delyanna Stoyanova (bBox)

 

   

          Volksbank Heilbronn members being explained how the application runs

          As a final result, the visit really had an interesting and productive exchange of information. Not only it provided feedback for both the parties, but it was of great relevance for the bBox members to understand the needs of a banker as an end user of the IT specialists’ work. We have now the goal to focus on the ideas that have reached common interest and could, in the near future, become the new way of interaction in banking.                                        

                                                                                                                  

          Volksbank Heilbronn customer screen prototype                                       

''We would like to thank the team from Volksbank Heilbronn for their positive attitude regarding the bBox Project and for their cooperation!''

                                         The bBox Team

Fiducia IT AG visited AIESEC LC Karlsruhe

          Every successful partnership is usually based on strong relationship. And that can be built step by step with trust, honesty and through very good communication.

          When both the parties are competent, open to innovation and enthusiasm, there are great chances that their common goal becomes reality. It is no wonder that Fiducia IT AG, the biggest provider of IT services for the banking systems in Germany, and AIESEC Karlsruhe, the most productive LC (Local Committee) in Germany, have started a first collaboration: the bBox Project.

          Every second Wednesdays the AIESECers organize their LCM (Local Commitee Meeting), as a special occasion to see each other, keep the colleagues from the other departments up to date about their work and set up new objectives or delegate other tasks that would further be completed.

          Last LCM though, was even more special since Fiducia IT AG, represented by Mr. Uwe Joas (PSW/HR Department) and Mrs. Rebecca Klein (Marketing Department) came to visit. It was a very important opportunity for the young audience since they could find out more interesting details about the company that is the third largest employer in Karlsruhe. Mr. Joas held a very attractive presentation about Fiducia IT AG, pointing out aspects such as Fiducia's formation (merges and fusions), size, figures, structure, and of course, the most interesting projects running at the moment and job opportunities, e.g. one project called ''Jobs 4 NERDS. '' :)






                                    Mr. Uwe Joas, one of the initiators of the bBox Project, speaking about Fiducia

 


          Every project is a real challenge. But imagine now organizing an xchange that involved bringing not one person, but eight, from all over the globe to Karlsruhe. Fiducia IT AG and AIESEC brought us togheter in the bBox (banking Box), so seeing us all here working as a team in one innovative project is their first achievement.

                           Half of the bBoxers presenting the bBox Project -(Paulo, Delyana, Claudia and Stan)

           Then, what is a better way to confirm all the catchy and very relevant information Mr. Joas offered, than by direct working stories from bBox members?

          We are the ones to experience an incredible working environment inside Fiducia, to be amazed by its size and computing power, its capacity and competency of IT operations for close to 800 banks.  Moreover, we are here to contribute to their innovation initiatives!

          Plus, we did not loose any occansions to talk about our meetings with very important specialists inside Fiducia, our other Fiducia colleagues, to which we are talking in a sort of a 'special' German, Spanish or English or the restaurant that surprises with the most amazing food every day.


                                                                              Using gestures to express enthusiasm :)



        Paulo, our colleague from Brazil, explaining how ''the most fun you can have with clothes on is PROGRAMMING''



          For the audience, it was of positive impact to know Fiducia through our experience. And I believe that the photos are actually stating that we are so far very happy about the work and experience in such an important German company as Fiducia is.




                 Marcia Nießen, LC Karlsruhe VP ER (Vice President External Relations) handing a symbolic gift to the guest



          It was a night to remember, one that showed first results of what is a very important partnership. One that offers us the wonderful occasion to now be together, eight nations, eight different cultures, six different languages and yet many things in common!

P.S.: Special thanks to Mrs. Rebecca Klein for the photos.

Meet the bBoxers better! This Friday we have Paulo from Brazil!

      

      As I promised, the series of interviews with my colleagues will step by step be completed. I know so many things about them, and yet, not all the interesting ones. So, let us get to find more about their amazing personalities together.

 Today, Paulo!

  

     University: University of Brasília

Field of study: Computer Science

Favorite developer tools: KDevelop, Eclipse, GCC, GDB                                

Favorite (technical) website: IBM Developerworks

Claudia Corches: ’’Paulo, I would like to start by congratulating you for your talent: you are the drummer of the team! And you don’t really need drums to play…you can use any other objects in the office… : )’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Thank you! It is a very relaxing hobby, and since I miss my drum kit so much, I eventually have to use a pandeiro, a cajon or maybe just the table and my legs. : )’’

Claudia Corches: ’’Well, we both have music in common. But there are also other things: take AIESEC, for example. What is your story?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’It first started when last year I went to the United States. Even though it was not my first time, I really enjoyed the experience of being in a foreign country, and something caught my attention. Since I had heard of AIESEC before, and a great friend of mine was part of the organization in Brasilia, I sent him an e-mail, while still abroad, to ask about internship opportunities (but not necessarily in the US). He put me in contact with the people responsible for this part, and I realized that AIESEC was way much more than just an exchange agency. Because of this, I worked in the AIESEC office in Brasilia for six months before coming to Germany. I helped other people to have their exchanges, and also gave and received courses on many different subjects, ranging from software freedom to time management, and learned really a lot during this time.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’AIESEC brought us all together in Germany! But we could have all thought of experiencing in any other part of the globe. Why Germany?’’ 

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Germany is a very attractive country. It is known due to its organized people and public facilities. Germans are very honest and punctual. It means, for instance, that trams are always on time, even though you do not have to present your ticket to get into it most of the times, and in spite of that, people always buy the tickets. Things always work very well, and this is really very good, because then you can focus on doing your stuff, and not in such details as getting there.

Besides, this is my first time in Europe, and I would have not only the chance to know Germany, but also many other countries due to proximity and ease of transportation.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’Paulo, you have also developed your skills by working in different environments, such as a very important bank . What were the most challenging tasks?’’

             Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Since the company had more than a hundred thousand employees and a hundred million customers, everything was HUGE. I had to learn things that ranged from dealing with mainframe computers to keeping an enormous e-mail system online all the time, with infrastructure spread between sites thousands of kilometers away.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’You are a true researcher actually! Could you describe for us what has been your focus during university and not only?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’During my course I really focused on research, as I really love the new. I spent a year researching protein behavior in a biophysics laboratory, but of course that involved developing software to do so. Then, my last year of university course was dedicated to a research project on how to improve voice conversations on top of wireless networks, as this is really a trend and not as satisfactory as using wired networks. This was also the subject of my thesis.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’You have participated to more than 10 congresses and events related to your field of studies. Did they bring relevant change for you?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Going to a congress in your field is really good as you get to know not only the latest trends, but also meet the specialists and talk to them, and this is really enriching. Also, other types of events still in your field of studies can aggregate practical knowledge. For instance, going to FISL (International Forum on Free Software) for three times has made me keep in touch with many prominent people in this field, and gave me access to a lot of knowledge, but participating in programming competitions such as the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) promoted by ACM gave me practical knowledge on how to create very difficult computer programs very fast. Thus, I encourage people to go to different types of events, to grasp different experiences.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’…and I know there is also a very important congress coming in the USA, where not only you will attend but also contribute. Tell us more!’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’I wrote a paper on the same subject as my university thesis, together with two professors from the university, and submitted it to the 25^th IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium, to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, in May/2011, and it was accepted. As such, it will be published in the proceedings of the conference and I will have the chance to make a presentation on the subject to many specialists and researches from many different countries, ranging from university researchers to people that work in the computer industry.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’What do you consider to be your greatest achievement regarding your   profession so far?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Many things that happened gave me so much pleasure and will to keep on. One of them was being four times in a row South American finalist of IBM sponsored ACM ICPC, as the rules make your adrenaline boil during the five hours of each session.  Every time I remember how it was I can’t help but put a smile on my face and feel a rush of adrenaline due to the good memories.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’What does the bBox Project represent for you now, after three months?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’I have a lot of fun at work, but I also think that we are developing something really great in the process. It is truly amazing that it is this way. I have the feeling that in the end it will be something that I will be able to talk about when asked again about my greatest achievements, as in the previous question. I really praise the chance of working in such a diverse team, and I can already say it caused some irreversible changes in me.’’

Claudia Corches: ’’What would you tell to any of your friends it is a must do in Germany and, Karsruhe, in particular?’’

Paulo Azêvedo: ’’Travel a lot, eat as many different dishes as possible, go out of your comfort zone! There is so much to try and learn in this world that we cannot waste any second! Karlsruhe is a beautiful city, so whoever comes has to go to the Castle and to the Pyramid, at least, but I also recommend the Federal Constitutional Court, the gardens behind the Palace and the botanical garden. And of course, there is an entire continent to explore, just a train station away!’’

Claudia Corches: ’’Thanks, Paulo!’’

’’Paulo is the security man and the one who would strongly fight for perfectionism.  He is the most energetic and explosive speaker in the team. Very talented at languages, not only he would put the technical information into the nicest words, so that everybody could understand and become more interested, but also, he can now even dialogue in Romanian. So, in what language would you prefer talking to him or commenting on his posts?’’

                                      (bBox)

When bBox doesn't work...

  

       

          When we do not work, we still have soooo many options to spend our free time and make the best out of it.

          I believe it is more than expected that once you are in Europe FOR THE FIRST TIME - like the group in the photos :) -, you try to visit and explore the most beautiful or interesting places...as much as possible. It is the case of the bBox members and other AIESEC trainees as well.

          Some chose to go to Switzerland...

                          



Xi Huang, Pipe, Nair, Jessy, Adriana
(China, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico)



                 
                      Bern                                                            Luzern

             The Main Train Station in Luzern

 

Nair

Pipe, near the Parliament in the center of Bern

       



Einstein Museum (http://www.museen-bern.ch/)






          ...others, like me, for instance, chose to explore a bit more of Karlsruhe and Durlach.

  

                                     Marktplatz, Karlsruhe (By 2016, it is planned that tramway should be removed from

                                         the shopping  area in Karlsruhe and placed underground.)



The Pyramid

This building is the tomb of the founder of Karlsruhe - margrave Karl Wilhelm. When he died he was buried in the Konkordia Church that was located right at this place. When in 1807 Karlsruhe's famous architect Weinbrenner tore it down, because he needed more room for the marketplace, he had to find a solution to cover the now unprotected grave. He built a wooden pyramid as a temporary measure. But it became a permanent solution and was rebuilt out of stone in 1825.The building cannot be visited, although there is a door on the northern side of the pyramid. In all those years the interior was entered only once in 1889 by Grand Duke Friedrich 1st. It is said that he forgot his umbrella inside the pyramid. Maybe future generations will wonder at this special grave good.Nowadays the building is the landmark of Karlsruhe and one of its symbols. (http://www.virtualtourist.com/)

  I really missed going to church and sing, so after a bit of research, I found a beautiful chatolic church, very close to the place I live.



Saints Peter and Paul Church, Durlach

Imposing altar



"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14)

          And children sure come to this church! There even is a choir for little children as well. So,when in Durlach, do not hesitate to visit the church.

                                                                                              

                                     Claudia