This week, the first six students of the TalTech Business Information Technology started a 20-week internship at the Estonian sales management software company Pipedrive. The aim of the internship is to consolidate the theoretical knowledge learned at the university and to gain the first professional work experience in development projects important for the company.
According to Gunnar Piho, TalTech's Business Information Technology Program Manager, TalTech has been offering work-based learning to its students for four years. "In cooperation with the unicorn Pipedrive, we give students a unique opportunity to gain practical experience from the top specialists of a global company right here in Estonia and to establish contact with a potential future employer," said Piho. "In the spring, we hope to expand the internship program beyond Estonia in cooperation with the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and the companies there."
According to Fernando Caldera, Pipedrive's head of development and student mentor, the internship program is mutually beneficial. “Students get very good theoretical knowledge from the university, at Pipedrive they have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the company, to support our team and gain their first work experience. And who knows, maybe some of them will become Pipedrive employees after their studies,“ said Caldera. "I am particularly pleased that four out of six students are girls, proving that a career in IT is not just for men."
According to Mariliis Sinivee, a third-year student participating in the Pipedrive internship program, she was looking for development internships as close as possible to real work experience. "Many programming languages are already familiar to me from the university, but the opportunity to test the knowledge learned in a large company by solving problems and acquire new skills provides a good basis for continuing to work as a developer in the future," said Sinivee. In addition to writing code and participating in development processes, she at Pipedrive wants to experience how teamwork and communication with other team members works.
According to student Alexei Kadeikin, the internship at Pipedrive allows you to see behind the company's tents and take the first steps in the world of technology. “I had heard a lot of good things about Pipedrive before and what I like most about the atmosphere here - all the practice and communication with the mentors is well organized, the content and goals of the program are clear and I feel like an expected team member. I also like the office with an exciting interior design - it even invites you to work,” confirmed Kadeikin.
In addition to Mariliis Sinivee and Aleksei Kadeikin, Annabel Matkur, Reia Rõõmus, Lii Saluvere and Sergei Vassiljev will gain experience in Pipedrive's Tallinn office.
Pipedrive is a sales management software company founded in 2010 by Timo Rein, Urmas Purde, Ragnar Sass, Martin Henk and Martin Tajur. Pipedrive's sales tools are used by more than 95,000 companies in more than 150 countries. The company's majority investor is Vista Equity Partners, and the company has raised capital from investment funds Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Atomico, DTCP and Rembrandt Venture Partners. Pipedrive has offices in Tallinn, Tartu, London, Lisbon, Berlin, Prague, Riga, Dublin, New York and St. Petersburg. Petersburg Florida. The fast-growing company employs more than 800 people.
Tallinn University of Technology is a leader in Estonian technical and IT science and education and a pioneer of a sustainable digital future, offering higher education at all levels in engineering and technical sciences, information technology, economics, natural sciences and maritime affairs. TalTech's strength lies in the synergy of fields, internationality and the orientation of academic activities to achieve practical results. 13 per cent of the more than 10,000 students come from 99 different countries.