Insights
Getting started at Swisscom, welcome to FirstSteps!
You know the drill. First day at school, now first day at work. You're nervous, meet lots of new people and want to get off to a good start. It was the same for me.
You spend the first few days of your apprenticeship at Swisscom in the FirstSteps. In my case, they lasted seven working days, two of which were online. They serve as an introduction, to get to know Swisscom better and to set up your work equipment. You get to know a few of your fellow learners and your learning mentor, who will coach you throughout your apprenticeship. The exact programme and location of all FirstSteps vary depending on the learning guide.
We had all gathered in front of the building in the morning and chatted to each other for a while. It wasn't long before we were greeted warmly by our teacher. To get to know each other, we were given the task of bringing along an object that we would use to introduce ourselves. Many of us brought items relating to our hobbies, such as football boots, jerseys, books and even instruments.
Divided into two groups, Windows and Mac users, we went our separate ways and started setting up the work devices.
We later gained a better insight into Swisscom as a company. What kind of culture and values does it have exactly? What is the working environment like and how do people behave? These questions will certainly be answered in your future FirstSteps.
I also learnt about the first security elements straight away. If you leave your workplace and leave your computer unattended, you should lock your device. If you forget to do this, you're immediately made aware of it by being "summited". Someone from the group sits down at your computer and informs the group chat that they will be bringing croissants for everyone tomorrow. There were 5 summits that day. Well, sometimes you have to learn the hard way, but that doesn't happen to me anymore.
During FirstSteps, initial contact was made with the project providers of the first project. In addition to the learning mentors, project providers are the people who accompany you during your project. You learnt a little about the future activities over the next few months and agreed the time and place of the first meeting.
The programme included many different calls with all of the almost 300 first-year apprentices, so we were able to get to know the others a little and see a few new faces. We also talked a lot about important topics such as loss prevention, stress and resilience, social media, diversity and Microsoft 365. There was also an in-depth discussion about the profession you are learning, which in my case was mediamatics.
As there was no canteen in the building where we held the FirstSteps, we were invited to eat in the nearest canteen.
Later, we were given a little time to try out the Adobe Creative Cloud (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.). We were shown the basics and used test photos/videos to try everything out on our own.
The end of FirstSteps naturally had to be celebrated. We were divided into several small groups and sent on a scavenger hunt. The clues were sent to us via Microsoft Teams and a fellow learner from a year higher was there to help each team. The scavenger hunt took us all over the city and really got us sweating. We visited many different locations and shops and finally we were sent to the Limmat, where an aperitif with delicious food and cool drinks was already waiting for us and we all rested together.
I realised that my FirstSteps were a great start in the world of work. It hasn't even been that long, it's been about 5 months, I have the impression that it's only been a short time. I've found some formidable friends with whom I'm still in contact and we meet regularly.
Gina Fröhlich
Apprentice mediamatician EFZ
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