Greetings from Berlin!
This past week has been one of the most interesting experiences of my life. It has always been a dream to come to Germany and I must say, it has lived up to my expectations! I am sitting here at my desk writing this blog absolutely exhausted.. But that’s a good thing! While me and everyone else on the program have been keeping busy, I have already learned so much. I also got to practice my German (mostly at restaurants) and try the local cuisine. I am so grateful for every single other person on this program, as we have already bonded and spent a lot of time together. It has been great to grow in a personal way by making new friends with people that I normally wouldn’t cross paths with back in Pittsburgh! Berlin as a city is so much fun as well. I love walking down the street and just seeing what the buildings look like. If I take a moment to just stand on the sidewalk, look around and listen, honestly it feels like a dream. Honestly, there is no other place I would rather spend most of my summer.
Speaking of Berlin, it happens to be the center of business in the heart of Europe. Is it the same as the United States or is it completely different? While I haven’t necessarily started working at my internship quite yet, I am able to identify a couple of differences. The first is definitely the dress code. Here in Germany, I have noticed a more relaxed tone. In the United States, when you think of business wear, I bet you would imagine someone in business professional – suit and tie, etc. Here in Germany, people prefer to wear what we could consider business casual or smart casual attire – khakis or jeans and a polo shirt, etc. Germans, when it comes to working, feel that there should be a balance between work and life. You won’t find too many people overworking themselves. When the clock hits 5 pm (or whenever they are done for the day), they are OUT of there. I would consider this balance a successful indicator. I believe that if you get fulfillment in your work and can still have a healthy balance, that indicates success. Is that necessarily specific to Germany? Of course not. However, I do feel it is easier to achieve here, as opposed to the United States.
When it comes to succeeding in specific industries, I believe you need a few key competencies. This summer, I will be working in the medical/legal artificial intelligence field. While I know absolutely nothing about how artificial intelligence works or how the EU legal processes go, I will be able to utilize the knowledge I have gained from the business world to help FormlyAI succeed. I feel that the AI field in medical certification process is very niche and requires a vast knowledge base in order to be successful. The two founders of FormlyAI have these competencies. Dr. Spencer Todd, the CEO and founder is trained in the medical device field and the CTO and co-founder Severin Högl is trained in the technology side of things. In order to be successful, especially in the tech industry, you need to be innovative and ahead of everyone else. I believe that FormlyAI is in fact ahead because I have not yet seen any other companies working on an intelligence for the purposes that they are. You also need to have a high level of trust in this industry since other companies rely on your product to help efficiently obtain legal certifications.
When it comes specifically to the German tech industry, it is difficult to say what exactly is needed to succeed here, as opposed to other countries. I believe that the most critical competency for success in Germany is the ability to adapt the AI to be able to work in different countries, where there may be slightly different requirements. The only difficult aspect with that is since most countries are a part of the EU, most will already have the same requirements, which could also be viewed as positive.
I am very excited to get to work this week and find out more about the industry and the German business environment in general! I hope I am able to learn what makes the business tick and what I can do to add the most value. I am extremely grateful to be working for a company in an industry that I know nothing about, so I can add to my store of knowledge.
Until next week,
Tschüss!