Embarking on the journey: Joining b.ignited 

When I started my first day at b.ignited, I felt a mix of excitement and nerves. I was a student in my second bachelor year, and my first encounter with b.ignited was at the PXL Job fair earlier in February of 2022. There, I met managing partner Koen Van Belle, whose enthusiasm for Test Automation piqued my interest. Although I was studying to become a Full Stack Developer with little knowledge of Test Automation, Koen's passion was infectious. I told Koen I was looking for a student job in the summer. We exchanged information and after some interviews, b.ignited offered me a student job starting in July. 

From Job Fair to job Offer: a nice opportunity 

I was eager to start that first day, but as mentioned before I was also quite nervous, because I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about Test Automation. b.ignited has a few internal projects, and one of those would be the project I would work on. Given my experience and interest in mostly backend developing, this would be my focus for the first few months. I was supported by several colleagues in this process, and it was really refreshing to work on an actual real-life project, in contrary to the “practice” projects at school. I noticed that in those first few weeks I had a lot to learn, but I did feel like I was catching on quickly. I remember seeing new technologies at school and thinking to myself “Hey, I’ve worked with this already at b.ignited, I know how this works!”. It gave me such an advantage in class and on school projects. Having the experience already and relaying it to my classmates was a great feeling. On top of that, with b.ignited being a Test Automation company, I obviously also started my first introductions in the Test Automation world.  

Taking on challenges: My internship experience at b.ignited 

In my third bachelor year, the time arrived to choose a place for my internship. b.ignited was the obvious choice for me, I already felt at home within the company and with the project. I was given the opportunity by b.ignited for an extra challenge during my internship, my role would be to support the other interns during their internships in b.ignited. This was a great experience as we were all able to learn from each other in a very short time. They appreciated having a student as support, and I was able to develop my skills as a team leader. However, it was challenging, as I also needed to focus on my internship and bachelor thesis, resulting in a lot of context switching during the day. Leading the daily standups, supporting their questions, developing on the project, writing my thesis, … The days were certainly diverse. 

Building a strong foundation: reflections on two years at b.ignited 

After the internship, I was offered a full-time contract and have been working for almost two years for b.ignited. Reflecting on those initial months at b.ignited, I realized how important they were in not just my technical skills, but my confidence and leadership abilities. The combination of real-world application, supportive mentorship, and the opportunity to lead and learn from peers created a great foundation for my career. 

To those starting their journey in Test Automation, or any other field in tech, find a place that challenges you, supports you, and allows you to grow from learning to doing.