Sievo Summer Academy Experience

In the beginning of May, 12 of us “summer seals” opened the doors to the office on the seventh floor. We sat quietly in Tom, our office’s living room, excited for what was coming. Fast forward a few months, and our meetings in Tom aren’t so quiet anymore. To celebrate the last weeks of our summer here at Sievo, I asked for some comments about the summer from my colleagues. Below are some of the highlights.

Note: Although it may not seem like it from the answers, I swear most of the time we actually work.

The weekly wine lottery brought some mixed feelings.

“One of my favourite happenings were the wine lotteries because they were exciting and it’s nice to win even though I still haven’t won .”

“The weekly wine lottery on Fridays must be fixed, it is unreal how every single time the same Sievonians happen to have Lady Luck on their side.”

“Apparently beginner’s luck is a real thing. I participated once and won!”

We felt like we were given a lot of responsibility at work.

“I have gotten a lot of responsibility from the beginning – and I got to go on a business trip to Paris!”

“I was positively surprised at how much responsibility Sievo gives us summer employees. For me, the most exciting part of the summer has been hosting our biggest customer event SievoxFriends.”

“From day one, I have been given a lot of responsibility. I have interviewed people, made decisions about budgets, and set deadlines and reminders for the CEO, to state a few. At Sievo, it doesn’t matter if you’re 23 or 43 years old, as long as you can do the job!”

Everyone is very helpful.

“In my role in Performance Marketing, I have had excellent deep-dive sessions to understand the workflow, strategy and get hands-on-experience for the first tasks. That’s how it works here at Sievo! They welcome you, guide you, and then you get the responsibility for your work. Importantly, you get concrete answers to your questions, no matter how silly they are! Everyone is willing to help you and make sure that you can get your work done; this made me feel like I am a part of Sievo and not just an employee for the summertime."

“There has always been work to do, so I have never run out of tasks. My favourite thing was that whenever I asked for help or an opinion, there was someone willing to help or give their view.”

The office is a fun place to be.

“The funniest thing that I have seen is the Platforms team’s pushup challenges. Almost every day the team starts doing pushups around the same time in front of their workspaces.”

“My favourite part of Sievo’s office culture is the Thursday Coffee Break and the fact that there’s always something to celebrate.”

“It’s all ‘work hard play hard’. People are sitting at their computers crunching numbers most of the time but the moment the clock hits 2 pm on a Friday afternoon, there’s a queue at the fridge to get a beer.”

“Summer Weeklys with other Summer Seals are brilliant little “therapy sessions” to keep track and discuss our feelings and how the work is going.”

“The best things have been the billiard games, the porridge breakfast every morning, and exponential growth in fruit consumption.”

And then there’s the billiard table, which seems to be more important for certain people…

“One of the first things you see when entering the office is a pool table. First time I came to the office for the interview, I saw the pool table and instantly locked eyes with that beauty. It was love at first sight. Absolute fireworks. Socks spinning inside my shoes. George Michael’s Careless Whisper started playing on the background, animals started gathering around the pool table as if it (she) was a Disney princess… then reality punched me in the face, and the interview commenced. After the interview I lingered at the entrance for a while giving a quick glance for that princess with one slightly crooked leg, hoping I’d see her again. Luckily, I did. Not only is she good looking, having fun with her is one of the best things to do to distance yourself from staring at several computer screens for too long. Obviously resting my eyes on her beauty has become a daily routine for me and I have a regular ‘customer’ challenging me to a game (or two) after lunchtime.”

All in all, I think it’s safe to say no-one has hated their time here. Some of us will stay at Sievo and some of us will continue with university studies. I personally may have to come back at some point, since my billiard game is not close to being on the right level yet.

Thanks, Sievo, for the summer – it’s been a blast. <3