Tom Berthold worked at Senorics from April until August 2022. Now that his internship has come to an end, he reflects on his time at the company.
As part of this final reflection, Tom has taken the time to answer a few questions and report about his tasks, the corporate culture, and the experiences he has gained at Senorics.
Tom Berthold, MPR and Sales Intern
What do you study and how did it lead you to start an internship at Senorics?
“I study a combination of business administration, Chinese language teaching and intercultural communication courses at University of Applied Science in Zwickau, Germany. This qualification includes a 20 week-long internship during the 6th semester in which we can apply our knowledge and gain experience outside the classroom.
I’m extremely happy to have discovered Senorics during my search for a suitable internship. I was curious about the technology and additionally, their cooperation with Chinese partners spiked my interest. So, I was very happy when my application was accepted.”
What department did you support and what were your main tasks at Senorics?
“During my internship I mainly supported the sales and marketing department, as well as the purchasing department. More specifically, I was involved in writing Chinese articles for WeChat, supported marketing in organizing events, sent out offers, confirmed orders, wrote invoices and delivery notes for customers, and prepared deliveries.
The highlight of my time at Senorics was our participation in Texprocess 2022 in Frankfurt. It was a whole new experience to participate as an exhibiter in a fair, rather than just as a visitor.”
Left to right: Sunny, Tom, Hannah, and Harsha at Texprocess 2022
How did the internship benefit you in your professional development?
“The internship certainly boosted my self-confidence in terms of talking to customers and handling tasks independently. It was very rewarding to see that my actions had an impact on the company. The real life-working environment also exceeded my expectations, which was largely due to the inspiring working atmosphere at Senorics.
My goals for the internship were to apply my marketing knowledge and enhance my Chinese languages skills. Senorics made it possible for me to achieve those goals and I’m grateful for the experience.”
What is your biggest learning from your time at Senorics?
“I realized that being responsible for one’s own actions is sometimes more difficult than I initially assumed, and that mistakes are necessary for improvement to happen. I also learned that open communication is very important and that an honest working environment is crucial for productivity.”
How did your experience the corporate culture and the team spirit at Senorics?
“Senorics has a really unique corporate culture. I never imagined working in a company where I would address my superiors by their first names and have the freedom of working flexible hours. The atmosphere is characterized by people being motivated and supporting each other diligently when solving problems. I have received a great amount of support during my internship and was welcomed with open arms from day one. People treat each other with kindness and superiors care about all their team members, appreciating their efforts and motivating them to voice their ideas and opinions.
I consider myself very lucky to be a part of this company, it made me enjoy my daily commute to work.”
Is there anything you would like to add?
“I would like to say thank you to my colleagues at Senorics who helped me out whenever I needed assistance, especially to Hannah, Li, Lisa, and Renate. I’m very grateful for the support they have given me over the course of my internship. They made me feel welcome, showed patience when teaching me new tasks, and enabled me to learn from my mistakes by encouraging me to try again. I haven’t just gained valuable professional experience at Senorics, but also a number of friends.”
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Left ro right: Hannah, Tom and Lisa at Senorics 5th anniversary celebration
One final question, what is your favorite use case? How would you like to use Material Sensing in the future?
“To be honest, there are simply too many use cases to choose from. However, one application I would use daily is detecting levels of protein in my food. It would enable me to adjust my nutrition plan, have a more concrete overview of my protein intake, and get stronger - all thanks to our versatile technology.
In the future, I would also love to see our chip integrated into smartphones. It would not only enable protein analysis, but food analysis in general. Consumers should be aware of what their food contains and whether fresh produce might be negatively affected by fertilizers. Our chip integrated in smartphones would give them that 7th sense and reveal the answers.”
Would you like to start an internship at Senorics or join us in a permanent role? Take a look at our current open positions and keep an eye out for any future vacancies. We would love to hear from you!
