21 kids is quite a lot. That surely requires a lot of preparation time. When did you start preparing, and how was it?

Nico Lammers, dual student in Business Informatics, 6th semester:

We started preparing as early as March. First, we had to decide which of our three locations would be best suited. However, it quickly became clear that we wanted to hold the day at our newest location because it offers the most space and the office rooms are bright and modern. Then we moved on to brainstorming and content planning. What do we want to show the kids, or what would interest them? How many stations should we have? Which skills and values do we want to convey? With these questions, we gradually developed a plan and finally came up with five different stations. Then we ordered any missing materials, tested the individual stations beforehand, and created a schedule. There were also smaller tasks like ordering lunch, making small stamp cards for each station, packing the goodie bags, etc. So, there was a lot to do.

What were the biggest challenges for you?

Colin Plaggenborg, apprentice in Application Development, 2nd year:

The most difficult part was finding something suitable for all the kids. The participants ranged in age from about 11 to 16 years. That’s quite a wide span regarding interests and abilities. Of course, we didn’t want anyone to get bored or feel overwhelmed by the tasks. But I think we found a good mix of tasks and games so that there was something for every age group.

What was the goal of Future Career Day, and what did you want to achieve?

Jamil Raai, dual student in Business Informatics, 6th semester:

With Future Career Day, we mainly wanted to spark the children’s and teenagers’ curiosity about the profession of software developer and teach them basic programming skills in a playful way. It was important to us that the participants had fun and looked back on the day positively. On the other hand, it was also cool to run Future Career Day as our own small project independently. From planning to execution to follow-up, we were allowed to do everything ourselves and have a say. We were given a lot of responsibility, so it was especially important for us to successfully complete the project.

What do you take away from the “Future Career Day” project, and what did you learn?

David von Garrel, apprentice in Application Development, 2nd year:

We realized that good preparation and planning are often the key to success. Because we planned and tested everything in advance, we were able to fully focus on the kids and the stations on the day itself. It also became clear that such an event doesn’t end once it’s over. Of course, we had to clean up and do follow-up work afterward. Documentation and reporting were also part of it. For example, we helped create a short video about Future Career Day. It was also nice to interact with children of different ages and see their interests and skills. I think it was good for the kids that apprentices took care of the supervision. This created a relaxed and informal atmosphere. I’m in my second year of training, so I haven’t been in the profession for very long myself and could easily relate to the older kids, who will soon face the same decision.

Overall, we had a lot of fun, were able to take on responsibility, and learned a lot about project and event planning. It was also great to carry out a cross-year project with the other apprentices and students from all training years and semesters. This brought us closer together as a team.