The AFRY Future Stars career path program is the perfect springboard from studies to working life
I love the sense of belonging in our intern group
Filip Engström is studying in a master's program called Biomass refining for his second master's year at Aalto University. Filip gets to delve into current issues in wood processing and industry in his studies that appropriately combine theory and practice.
In addition to his studies, Filip Engström participates in the AFRY Future Stars career path program, which he considers the perfect springboard from study to working life. In Filip's opinion, an intern should take the initiative and take responsibility for learning new things so that the year is as useful as possible for oneself.
Why did you want to apply for the Future Stars program?
I have worked several summers in the paper and energy industries and felt that now is a good opportunity to learn more about process design. In addition, the Future Stars program seemed like a good opportunity to develop my skills and create valuable contacts for the future.
How have you experienced the Stars program?
I love the sense of belonging that we have created together with other Stars interns. We help and support each other. The training days have been rewarding, and I've learned a lot about presentation techniques, resilience, and practical challenges I've faced at work. The discussions we've had during the training days have been interesting, and participation has never felt difficult.
I've experienced the program as very professional and I've had the opportunity to work on client projects from the first week of work. I feel that I've been given a lot of responsibility and I've got a good understanding of the project structure and its ways of working. Fortunately, I already had some experience with the software used in process design, and I found it quite easy to start working on client projects right away.
What kind of support have you received from your work community?
Each Star is assigned a mentor at first. You can discuss anything work-related with your mentor. There are many young people in our team and we have been in good contact, and asking for help has felt easy and natural. We organized regular after-works and meetings outside of work during the summer, which has strengthened group dynamics among the interns in our department.
How has it being to combine studies and internship?
Combining studies and internship has been surprisingly easy. This academic year, despite part-time work, I have accumulated a record number of study credits. Every month, my boss and I go through the workdays for the next month. He understands very well that schoolwork sometimes has to be prioritized and he says that I shouldn't work if schoolwork suffers. During heavy weeks, like exam week, I'm not at work, but on easier weeks, I can work several days.
What Star moment do you particularly remember?
I especially enjoyed the presentation technique training. I decided to join the English-speaking group because I wanted to challenge myself to introduce myself in a language that I have not yet used much in working life. Everyone in the group gave a presentation about their work, after which we received personal feedback from the whole group and the trainer. It was both instructive and quite fun, we laughed a lot together that day.
