Valentin Hennart, A2I Course (control and computer engineering), Université Technologique de Troyes
How did you first come into contact with Codra?
I’d heard about Codra from students at UTT and I met the Codra teams at the UTT-Enterprise Forum which takes place every year in October.
What made you want to do your internship here?
Codra was very responsive both in organizing an interview and in the follow up afterwards. I heard good things from previous trainees, too, so that made me want to go and see even more. Also, the internship was on a real project and a pretty high level one at that – not at all a second-rate subject – so I knew I would have to take one some responsibility and that’s what finally convinced me.
So, what did you work on during your internship?
The actual title of the internship was “Plasma Diagnostics Optical Analyzer”. I was involved in developing the code for the command-and-control of a state-of-the-art camera and the equipment connected to it.
I took part in all the steps, starting with the wrapper for using the code provided by the OEM, then the driver to control the equipment, and finally the simulator to test the program’s responses and the HMI which had to give future users a vision adapted to their needs.
My work was part of a larger project, so I also used tools developed in-house.
What did you get out of it? What did you learn?
Lot’s!
From a technical point of view it was very instructive, especially because I used many different technologies and not necessarily ones that we had studied in class. Secondly, I had to associate different languages with one another, which was a real personal challenge.
From a methodological point of view, I learned good teamwork practices, how to structure my code and how to prioritize. I have become more disciplined in the way I organize my work today.
On a more personal level, it was my first professional experience, so it gave me a clearer vision of the industrial IT professions and particularly that of engineer.
How did your induction go and how were you supported at Codra?
I arrived at the same time as another trainee who also came from UTT and we followed the induction process together. That was reassuring because we could share what we were learning.
At first it was difficult to remember all the names and faces! But it didn’t take long, we integrated well into the company. It must be said that the little office celebrations and events organized help you get to know your colleagues!
During the first two weeks I followed training courses on in-house tools, including one week of training on the Panorama E2 SCADA software developed by Codra. That was a bonus because it’s a recognized training course, so I have a formal certificate to add to my CV.
Then I started working on my project with my tutor, Aurélien. What I appreciated was that he started the learning process with the simplest tasks, then raised the level of difficulty gradually over time.
Aurélien was always very easy to approach and took the time to explain the different stages of the project, the reasons for certain technical choices, how it all works …. It really gave meaning to what I was doing and I learned a lot from him.
He also involved me a lot. For instance, I got the opportunity to go to the customer’s site to conduct the tests.
Would you recommend Codra to other students?
Of course. In fact, I’m even thinking of applying for a job once I graduate!
