We’re back! If you are joining us for the first time, welcome to our “From Intern to Employee” blog series. So far, we have heard two incredible stories from employees who began their journey with Bicom Systems as students. 

Catch up by reading Semir Omerović, Associate Software Engineer’s story here and Lejla Hodžić, one of our Software Developer’s experience here.  

Today, meet Asmir Selimovic! While pursuing his studies at the University of Tuzla, in January of 2017 Asmir started his internship at Bicom Systems. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and this past February officially joined our team as an Associate Software Engineer.

Continue reading to learn what a typical day looks like for Asmir and why he chose an internship with Bicom Systems! 

What do you do at Bicom Systems? 

“I’m a member of the SERVERware department and at the moment I’m developing and maintaining different authorization and authentication programs. I recently started working on securing API calls between our software.”

What part of your job makes you excited to get out of bed on Monday morning?

“I am happy to say that the projects I’m working on are very exciting! For me, cybersecurity is one of the most interesting branches of the IT industry. The complexity and challenges make it an exciting field to work in.”

Describe what a typical day looks like for you. 

“There is a saying, ‘Programmers are people who turn caffeine into code.’ So, the first thing I do in the morning is make myself a cup of coffee. After that, our team has our ‘daily standup’ meeting. It is where we talk about the work we plan to do during the day and what we accomplished yesterday. In my opinion, this is the most important period of the day! It is where we share our experiences and where you can get advice/suggestions on how to improve your work.”

“The rest of my day consists of daily tasks, research, the occasional conference and hanging out with colleagues in the break room. I am constantly learning new things from team leaders, and every day is different. It never gets boring!”

Why did you choose the telecommunications industry?

“During my sophomore year in high school, my informatics teacher showed us some basic programs written in Pascal. I liked the fact that I could design and make a piece of software that could do almost anything! Since then, I knew I would pursue a career in the IT industry.”

“My interest in telecommunications came somewhere along the way. The telecom industry is constantly growing. It allows you to be innovative and show your creative side to find the best solutions for real-life problems.”

What websites, books or other resources would you recommend for people in this industry? 

“Some of my favorite websites are Hacker News, Medium and of course the Bicom Systems Blog. The most interesting topics, articles, and tutorials are covered there. I follow Rob Pike, one of the creators of GoLang, the programming language I currently work in. Also, I would recommend a book by Donald Knuth called ‘The Art of Computer Programming.’” 

Why did you choose to do an internship at Bicom Systems?

“In my third year of university, our professor told the class that Bicom Systems was looking for interns. He said it would be the ‘perfect place’ for us to get familiar with the industry. I applied and during my interview, I knew this was the place I wanted to work.”

How did you know you wanted to work here?

“My interview was with the team leads from four different departments. They told me about the projects they were working on and the challenges they were facing and I couldn’t be more interested!”  

“We live in a time where social media giants are dominating the IT industry. But, all of that runs around one thing, Ads. Elon Musk said, ‘The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads’ I wanted to get away from all of that. One day I want to look back on my career and see I’ve made a change that helped people. Bicom Systems looked like a place where I can make that change and I wasn’t wrong.” 

What do you like doing outside of work?

“Outside of the office I like spending time in nature. I love hiking with friends, having barbecue parties, watching sports, and spending time with friends. I am a typical Netflix watcher (currently binging Friends, yet again) and video game player. But, what I enjoy most is cooking! It relaxes me, and I love experimenting with recipes that aren’t common in my country.”

“To me, cooking and software development are very similar. There is a French phrase, “mise en place’, that describes how chef’s cooking stations are arranged for optimal work. Software developers also have their own mise en place! The development environment we use must be perfectly organized and set up for optimal work.”

Finally, what is your advice for future interns or people thinking of applying for an internship?

“Internships are a great way to grasp how things work in the industry. They help you with your studying because you work with professionals who teach you a lot. My advice would be to communicate what goals you want to achieve right from the start! I think that is the key aspect of a good internship and for employment later on. You can only be passionate about the work you love to do.”

If you want to learn more about our internship programs take a look at our website or send us an email to hr@bicomsystems.com.

Do you have any more questions for Asmir? Or about Bicom Systems internships? Comment below!