Hello, this is Douglas Halleux and I am an intern working on my Finnish language skills at Koud. I come from Belgium and I moved to Tampere two years ago. I have been learning Finnish on my own here and there for years, but never seriously enough considering the difficulty of the language. Finnish isn’t an easy language to learn, but after 7 months of classes, I can now have simple conversations with locals. It is always satisfying to see one smile because of my efforts to speak in their language.
A little bit about myself: I have a passion for video games (I am an enjoyer of Grand Strategy and RPGs), history, reading and ice hockey. I also enjoy studying programming on my own. I studied international trade at the Belgian equivalent of an “ammattikorkeakoulu”, but I never got fully along with my studies. I traveled and lived in China, in which I did my end-of-studies internship. It was an incredible experience in which I discovered the local culture and way of life. Shortly after, I moved to Canada where I began working as a QA tester for localization in the video games industry. I always had a great affinity with IT, and I got instantly hooked by the tasks and fell in love with my job. When my working visa reached its end, I traveled back to Belgium. There, I worked for 7 years as a QA analyst. Finally, I moved to Finland shortly after the Covid pandemic to open a new chapter in my life.
As part of my Finnish integration course, I had to find an internship for 3 weeks in a company based in Tampere. The search was daunting, but I was elated to know that my application was accepted at Koud! Here is how my three weeks went.
On my first day at Koud, I was warmly welcomed by all the people at the office. I exchanged introductions with my new colleagues and got acquainted with my future tasks for the next 3 weeks. Despite being stressed the whole day before, I felt great relief being welcomed in such a friendly manner. The office is very comfortable, and everyone was very understanding of my inability to talk fluently in Finnish. I tried my best to use my current knowledge to formulate sentences, and I think it was understood by most. Also, the office dog greeted me every day, which was very important for my morale!
During the first week, I mainly discussed with my colleagues, learned a bit of Go, but also began working on a test plan for the project I was assigned to. Starting from nothing, I acquired all the resources required to have a decent test plan and created the layout. I took the time to find the correct terms in Finnish, which was an arduous task considering that the context is very important to find the proper translation. We also had a Vappu party at the office during which I ate delicious “munkkit” but also “tippaleipä”, something that I never tried before. With a good glass of sima, it is great!
The second week went smoothly. My tasks were to test out the application they were working on and make suggestions and potentially find issues (anomalies/bugs). Using my test plan, I covered every feature that was available at that time and found a few suggestions for improvement. I also began working on a presentation about “What is QA?” to train on my ability to write in Finnish and spread my knowledge of my profession to my colleagues.
I presented that subject to the team in the third week. Despite a lot of mistakes in my language, I felt satisfied with the result, and I received praise for what I did. I still have a lot to learn, but it was a great first step and a confidence booster. This final week, I am also writing this blog post for the website, both in English and Finnish. Every day, I spend some time testing the application too and, of course, converse with my colleagues.
Overall, I had a very positive experience within the company. Everyone was lovely, I could easily ask for help from anybody, I accompanied my colleagues for some delicious meals and participated in interesting afternoon conversations. While not being able to understand everything, I can still grasp what the conversation is about and give my input or ask questions. I never felt left out.
I feel like I integrate the Finnish society well, as after work I returned home to get a nice shower and a warm sauna. The good weather is slowly coming back too; I can soon add grilling to the routine.
Many thanks to everyone at Koud for everything during my internship. I will cherish this experience.
