What do we expect

We expect you
1. to collect informations trough the book of the ‘Industry Days’ (here in attached) about 5
companies/NGO/ and rank them based on your own criterias.
2. To interview one professional through your own personal/professional network (either
engineer or informaticien based on your master) to get an ‘insight view’ of a career path
3. Analyse the informations collected

Steps of the exercise

1. Based on the book of the industry Days (in attached) :
a. Establish a list of 5 companies/NGO/... rank them from :
“Love at first sight”/”Dream company” to ”This is nothing like me”/“I couldn’t picture myself
there”.
i. Artes : They work in different fields I am interested in (hydraulic,
restauration). The fact that they want to keep a human scale and a good
working environment really convinced me.
ii. Synegia : Their page in the booklet is attractive. They are a consulting
company which I don’t know a lot about but it could interest me.
iii. Sweco : I met the sweco team of Luxembourg this year and their pitch was
really attractive. However their sector of activity (office work) attract me less.
iv. DEME : Their work really interest me (dragging, offshore work). However
it’s implantation is in Flandres which is fare away from my home. Also I
don’t speak Flemish. For my first working years, I would prefer to find
something closer to my house.
v. Besix : It’s a company I already know about. I couldn’t picture myself
working for them because there values doesn’t align with mine. However I
still put them in the ranking as they are internationally active and would give
opportunity to work abroad which is something I aspire to for later in my
career.

b. Justify this ranking

Witch criteria you considered meaningful for your own profile and carreer plans? Think about
some general information (sector of activity, subsidiaries, countries of operation...), but also
details that could influence your choice for your future career (values advocated by the
company, age average within the company, ...) or anything that particularly attracted you, ...
2. Interview a professional
Here some example for the question you might ask :
Renaud Giot, Bio-engineer graduate but work at Euroclear as an informatician

 What do you do in your job?

o I design, develop, test, deliver and support computer programs.
 What activities best characterize your job?
o /
 What is a typical day like?
 o Meetings, support giving, knowledge transfer.
 How did you choose your first job?
o It was proposed to me and it seems like a good opportunity.
 What surprised you when you started?
o The fact I didn’t know a lot of things.
 Have you changed jobs or evolved in your initial function? What motivated this evolution?
o Yes, I evolved to learn in others professional domains.
 Looking back, what do you find satisfying you in jour job? And what do you no longer want?
o Satisfying : learning everyday
o No longer want : bureaucracy
 Any advice you would give me before applying?
o Be yourself

Write down a summery of the interview – the name of the person, his/her title – and the key words of
his/her answers to the questions
3. Analyse both sources of informations
Based on this two views :

 What does this tell you? Your studies do not necessary define your job.
 What surprised you? What a job look like “on paper” can be really different in real life.
 What will you keep in mind when you apply for a job/create my own job? To always seek for
something that align with my values and ambitions.
 Did your future plans change as a result of this exercise? And why? No, I don’t really know
what I want to do after. And the fact that you can do something completely different than what
you studied opens a lot of others opportunities which does not simplify the choice.
4. Deadline

We expect you to submit your final production by March the 28st.