Author: Katrina Schollum

Endace 2023/24 Internship Program concludes another successful year

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, HR Manager, Endace

Our six interns for the Summer 2021/22 Internship Program joined us in our R&D centre in Hamilton, and recently concluded their 12-week program. Our Internship Program saw them working on individual, commercially relevant projects with the support of their managers and mentors. We are pleased to say it was another highly successful year!

Project Showcase

The Internship Program concluded with each intern presenting their individual projects to an audience. This year, the audience included Endace team members from five countries: project managers and mentors as well as all the members of our Senior Leadership Team. We were also very happy to welcome faculty members from the University of Waikato, continuing our strong link with the Endace origin story.

Stuart Wilson CEO and 2023/24 Endace InternsThe interns gave an overview of their projects and the specific challenges they aimed to address. They discussed the design of their solutions, implementation challenges they had faced, and also demonstrated their solutions in action. They concluded by outlining how these projects could be applied – and potentially extended further – in the future. At the end of each presentation, audience members had an opportunity to ask questions and delve deeper into the outcomes of the projects.

Highlights of the Program

Throughout Endace’s structured Internship Program, interns hone their technical skills and practically apply their university knowledge. Beyond acquiring technical skills, our interns also have an opportunity to gain an understanding of all the different areas of Endace’s business – from sales and marketing, to finance and operations. They also get to develop their communication and organisational skills by interacting with members of the Endace team from all engineering departments.

The interns are supported throughout the Internship Program by individual managers and mentors. They observe how teams work together cohesively in an environment where ideas are respected and individuals are trusted to do excellent work. It was fantastic to see these learnings reflected in the intern’s final presentations.

Our managers and mentors also benefit hugely from the Internship Program – which provides a great opportunity to build leadership skills in their intern support roles and gives them the satisfaction of seeing the impact of sharing their expertise.

Following the presentations, Stuart Wilson, Endace’s CEO, summed up everybody’s thoughts when he said, “It constantly amazes me how much interns can achieve in a relatively short period of time!” He emphasised the importance of Endace’s determination that intern projects should be real, commercially-focused projects – and talked about how the intern projects have helped shape product improvement, automation, scaling our testing environments and enhancing customer experience for Endace.

Garima Bhatia, QA Manager, said “The Endace Internship Program helps us see university students grow into confident, professional engineers.  Not only do they learn industry standards, tools and security aspects of software development but the confidence and pride with which they showcase their work is really satisfying to watch.”

At Endace we are proud of our interns’ achievements thus far and look forward to following their future accomplishments in the industry. As we conclude another successful program we now look forward to the next round in Spring, bringing in further perspectives, learning and career development to Endace.

Endace 2023/24 Internship Program Kicks Off

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, HR Manager, Endace

The Endace Summer Internship Program has kicked off for another year, following a record amount of interest.  We recently welcomed six interns to our R&D centre in Hamilton, NZ, who will spend 12 weeks working on individual projects.

We look forward to seeing what this year’s interns can learn and achieve.

Induction Day

The first day of our internship program offers interns an opportunity to gain an understanding of what it’s like to be an Endace team member and to acquaint themselves with their individual mentors. From engaging in a conversation with our CEO, Stuart Wilson, to participating in a networking lunch and team-building activities, there was a lot to learn.

One of our new mentors, Al Edgar, IT Security Manager, said, “It’s awesome to be involved in our Intern program and to witness that we are providing young, talented individuals with a great opportunity to learn from the Endace team. You could practically sense the excitement radiating from our interns during the Induction day.”

By the end of the day, interns departed with a clear sense of their projects and an understanding of what will be required to accomplish them in our structured and supportive program.

Our Program

Over 13 weeks, the intern program focuses on commercially relevant individual projects and provides structured training, including lunch-and-learns to introduce interns to various areas of the business such as finance, HR, marketing, and operations, creating a well-rounded experience. The program culminates with interns delivering presentations at a shared learning session involving their mentors, members of the senior leadership team, and project managers.

The Endace Internship Program is an excellent way to assist computer science students and graduates in building talent and gaining experience to contribute to the industry. It also serves as a platform for showcasing Endace as an employer of choice for IT and engineering graduates in New Zealand, with our continued ties to tertiary education. Our intentional, hands-on learning approach with commercially relevant projects provides a fantastic opportunity for interns to kick-start their careers.

Dressing for Success

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, People Partner, Endace

Endace has partnered with Dress for Success, a nonprofit organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.

“Our own views are absolutely in line with Dress for Success’ worldwide mission for self-determination and raising women’s confidence in themselves,” said Stuart Wilson, CEO Endace. “We support Dress for Success through annual financial and clothes contributions.”

To commemorate International Women’s Day 2023, Endace donated $15,000 to Dress for Success Auckland, and a clothes drive organized by Endace was provided to Dress for Success Hamilton.

Our role at Dress for Success is to help break down significant barriers for women, through our collective vision of providing workforce development services to our clients; this includes appropriate interview attire, career coaching and job readiness skills, upskilling and reskilling in technical and soft skills, and creating networks and communities where our women can connect and thrive,” said Andrea Hardy, Dress for Success Auckland. “Thank you, Endace, for your contributions to help us empower women towards self-sufficiency.

Another Successful Intern Program Concludes

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, People Partner, Endace

February saw the end of our 22/23 Summer Intern Program, with our four interns finishing their 12-week structured placements with our Engineering team.  It was a great success, with all four interns completing their projects and achieving the goals that had been set.

The Big Reveal

The last day of the program is Presentations Day. Our interns presented the results of their projects to a live audience at our R&D centre in Hamilton NZ, with presentations also streamed live to the Global Endace team.

Intern Presentations Day 2023 - Endace

Despite a few (well-hidden) nerves, our interns did a fantastic job – providing insight into their individual journeys, outlining the objectives of their project, talking about some of the challenges they met and overcame, and demonstrating the solutions they had built.

Each presentation concluded with suggestions from the intern about where the projects could be further enhanced to provide additional benefits to the business in the future. There was also a live Q&A session where the interns did a great job of fielding a variety of questions from the audience

Reflecting on the Success of the Intern Program

It was really rewarding to see the growth in confidence of our interns as they saw how much their contributions were valued by the wider organisation and the obvious pride that they (rightfully) showed in the projects they completed.

Stuart Wilson, Endace CEO, summed it up when he said “.. it’s always such a pleasure to see the extraordinary contributions of our interns. What they manage to achieve, in such a short time, is remarkable. It makes us proud to be part of shaping the future of tech talent in New Zealand.”

Endace’s Intern Program gives interns invaluable insight into how a global tech business operates.  It is a great opportunity to put their university knowledge into practice, further develop their technical skills, and learn about team work in a collaborative environment. They also gain insight into all areas of our business, from operations and finance to sales and marketing.

The benefits of the intern program are very definitely in both directions. Interns are supported by an individual manager and mentor, who also benefits from sharing their knowledge and expertise to guide the projects and help prepare interns to transition from studying to the workplace.

Feedback from our interns at the close of the program was very positive.  They mentioned a strong sense of fulfillment from being able to contribute to direction of their projects, having the opportunity to solve rewarding problems and develop their creativity and professional communication skills.  They also mentioned how much they enjoyed being part of a fun team, with colleagues who were approachable and who valued their opinions and suggestions during team discussions.

Where to Next for our Interns?

Equipped with some new skills and hands-on experience, one of our interns is returning to continue their studies and we look forward to seeing their future industry accomplishments. We are delighted that our other three interns will join the Endace team and continue to grow their talent with us.

And we are proud to continue our strong tradition of working closely with tertiary education providers to ensure Endace continues to be an employer of choice for IT and engineering graduates in New Zealand.

Endace 2022/23 Internship Program Kicks Off

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, People Partner, Endace

The Endace Summer Internship program has been a great success in previous years, and we are happy to say it’s back for another year!  We are very happy to have welcomed four interns to join us in our R&D centre in Hamilton, NZ for the summer, after a fantastic amount of interest from students around New Zealand.  We look forward to supporting the success of our new interns as they progress through the program

Induction Day

The first day of the program is an introduction to our interns on “life at Endace” and how we work.

Our interns learnt about Endace’s history and products and develop relationships with their mentors and managers.  From an opportunity to speak with our CEO, Stuart Wilson, to learning about the details of what to expect, and a delicious lunch networking with engineering team members, it’s safe to say our interns had a lot to absorb and feel excited about what’s to come.

 

Our interns also had the opportunity to engage in gameplaying in order to get to know their mentors.  One of our new mentors, Scott Yearbury, is one of many previous interns at Endace who have volunteered to mentor future interns.

Scott noted “being an intern at Endace was a great way to start my career. It was a challenge, but that challenge and the support provided to me allowed me to push myself to learn a lot and develop my skills a huge amount in a relatively short period of time. I’m excited to be on the other side of this program now and to be able to help provide our new interns with the great opportunity I got.”

It’s amazing to see the full cycle as previous interns become employees – and ultimately become mentors themselves – with the end result being that our talent continues to develop at all levels.

Our Program

Over the course of 13 weeks, the  intern program focuses on commercially relevant, individual projects and provides structured training – including lunch-and-learns to introduce other areas of the business such as Finance, HR, Marketing and Operations – to create a well-rounded experience.  The intern program culminates with our interns delivering a presentation at a shared learning session involving interns and their mentors, members of the senior leadership team and project managers.

Endace is proud of our ties to tertiary education and we see huge value in helping develop talent for IT and Engineering students seeking to join our industry as we showcase Endace as an employer of choice.

The experience provided to our interns is hands-on with intentional learning, which helps in building technical capability and giving insight into how a global tech organisation operates.  We look forward to supporting our interns as they continue to learn and develop, and to celebrating their future achievements.

Diversity and Inclusion: measuring our success

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, People Partner, Endace

We have been progressively working on a culture of belonging through building awareness of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in our organization.  Led by our D&I Committee, our series of initiatives in our four focus areas of gender, ability, ethnicity and generational diversity have been implemented over time and we are proud of what we have achieved.

As part of our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, we have taken steps to measure and report on what we have accomplished so far.  As part of the measurement, we conduct online surveys to ensure we are delivering initiatives that have a positive and constructive impact at Endace.  We recently completed a short survey that was sent to all of our team members and completed anonymously.  The results were collated and shared internally.

What was measured?

We asked about past initiatives and their efficacy to identify what changes, if any, were observed – from the level of understanding of D&I issues, to increased discussion about D&I.  We also wanted to gauge the feeling of comfort and belonging at Endace and measure whether there was any change since introducing our D&I initiatives.

One of the sets of questions was the same as a previous survey conducted 18 months ago.  These questions had a scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree.  This meant we could compare and contrast results and see what, if any, shift had occurred.

Our hardworking Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

What did we find?

We found that interactive and personal initiatives have been the most popular with our team.  Our most popular activity was our Diwali Decoration Competition, followed by our name pronunciation video featuring members of our global team.  At Endace, we like to learn by doing. So having interactive initiatives is a great way for us to build awareness.

A majority of our participants felt they have a greater understanding of D&I at Endace and have seen positive change, with 66% being able to say a definitive yes a fantastic result!  Participants also agreed that our initiatives broke down barriers to creating a stronger feeling of belonging.  The majority of our people at 74% feel comfortable openly talking about diversity at Endace. More conversation on the topic outside of direct communication and activities from the D&I Committee will enhance our progress so we continue to track and measure change on this point.

From our comparison questions, there was a higher percentage of ‘strongly agree’ answers for all questions in this set and 91% of respondents felt Endace respects its individuals and values their differences.  The results overall showed a positive trend in feelings on managerial commitment, fair treatment and a level of comfort speaking up – a great result!  This is shown through a positive uplift in results moving from agree to strongly agree from 18-23%.

While we are delighted with the results, we always can do more with our initiatives to build awareness and break down barriers.  We have a lot in plan at Endace for the coming months and we look forward to sharing in our next update.

Successful Endace 2021/22 Internship Program concludes for another year

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

Our six interns for our Summer 2021/22 Internship Program joined us in our R&D centre in Hamilton, NZ from the Universities of Auckland and Waikato. Their 13 week R.E.A.L (Remarkable, Enjoyable, Authentic, Learning) Internship Program  saw them working individually on commercially relevant, meaningful projects with the support of their managers and mentors.  We are pleased to say it was another highly successful year!

2021/22 Endace Interns working in the Hamilton, NZ office

Presentations Day

Because of Covid lockdowns, the interns’ introduction to Endace was virtual this year – and so too were their final presentations.

The Internship Program concluded with each of the interns presenting their individual projects to an audience.  This year the audience included Endace team members from five countries: project managers and mentors as well as all the members of our Senior Leadership Team.  We were also very happy to welcome faculty members from the University of Waikato, continuing our strong link with the original birthplace of Endace – very appropriate in our 20th year!

The interns gave an overview of their projects and the specific challenges they were trying to address. They discussed the design of their solutions, implementation challenges they had faced, and also demonstrated their solutions in action. They concluded by outlining how these projects could be applied – and potentially extended further – in the future. At the end of each presentation, audience members had an opportunity to ask questions and delve deeper into the outcomes of the project.

Elements of Success

Throughout Endace’s structured Internship Program, interns get to hone their technical skills and put their university knowledge into practice.  But beyond just acquiring technical skills, interns also have an opportunity to gain an understanding of all the different areas of Endace’s business – from sales and marketing, to finance and operations. They also get to develop their communication and organisational skills by interacting with members of the Endace team from many departments.

The interns are supported throughout the Internship Program by individual managers and mentors. They get to observe how teams work together cohesively – in an environment where ideas are respected and individuals are trusted to do their best work. It was fantastic to see these learnings reflected in the intern’s final presentations.

2021/22 Endace Interns working in the Hamilton, NZ office

Our managers and mentors also benefit hugely from the Internship program – which provides a great opportunity to build leadership skills in their intern support roles and gives them the satisfaction of seeing the impact of sharing their expertise.

Following the presentations, Stuart Wilson, Endace’s CEO, summed up everybody’s thoughts when he said “it constantly amazes me how much interns can achieve in a relatively short period of time!”  He emphasised the importance of Endace’s determination that intern projects should be real, commercially-focused projects – and talked about how the intern projects have helped shape product improvement, automation, being able to scale our testing environments and customer experience for Endace.

Endace’s CTO, Stephen Donnelly, commented that an important outcome of the Endace Internship Program is that it supports the wider R&D sector and helps New Zealand prepare future engineers with exposure to cutting edge cybersecurity technology.  Cybersecurity is an increasingly important industry world-wide, and increasing students familiarity with key challenges, tools and technologies is vital in upskilling the NZ sector.

At Endace we are proud of our interns’ achievements thus far and look forward to following their future accomplishments in the industry.  As we conclude another successful program we will now look forward to the next round in Spring, bringing in further perspectives, learning and career development to Endace.

Diversity and Inclusion at Endace

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, People Partner, Endace

Since we established our Diversity and Inclusion Committee earlier this year, we have been busy working to cement the importance of our Diversity and Inclusion program at Endace.

As a group, we have held regular discussions across our four focus areas; gender, ethnicity, generations and people with different abilities, to establish how we can achieve positive outcomes for people and the business, increase awareness and break down barriers. We are committed to community-led objectives that support and celebrate individuality and foster a sense of belonging for everyone. In this blog post we are pleased to share some of our progress.

Establishing Who We Are

It was important to us to understand who we are at Endace, and what is important to us as we shape our path forward.

We created anonymous reporting on gender, nationality and cultural ethnicity and were able to share the statistical data visually with the whole organisation, which we will continue to do as we track our changes over time. We can report we have at least 24 different nationalities within Endace and we are extremely proud of our very culturally diverse workplace.
One of our biggest pieces of work was an internal survey that sought specific input across our four key areas. The Committee invested a lot of effort into asking the right questions so we could understand where there was lack of clarity, what areas we are doing well and what areas need improvement to focus on. As a result, we were able to clarify our key messages and share these across the organization via various channels including workshops, promotional activity such as email newsletters and posters, and team meetings.

Diwali Decoration Competition - Endace
Winning Diwali entry

We were also able to meet a popular requests to celebrate key cultural celebrations throughout the year – such as sharing Māori themed food at our New Zealand offices to celebrate Matariki (which marks the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar). In addition, we celebrated Diwali with a global team competition to learn more about this festival of lights. We plan to promote and celebrate many more of these occasions on an ongoing basis – giving everyone at Endace an opportunity to learn more about other cultures represented in the team.

These activities are all great examples of the success of our community-led approach. By seeking input from the entire team we better understand what’s important and where we can add value to our diversity and inclusion initiatives. Sometimes it is relatively simple things that can make a big difference.

Community Led Initiatives
Marjo Montejo - Endace - reflects on Women in Technology Day
Marjo Montejo reflects on women in technology on International Women’s Day

Our Committee has put together a plan of strategic, measurable objectives from our group discussions. Some of the activities that have already been delivered including calendar events such as World Autism Awareness Day. We also highlighted International Women’s Day by sharing photos and personal stories about what the day meant to our team, and about what it means to be a woman in the tech industry.

We also recently held Cultural Intelligence workshops that were attended by 79.5% of our organisation. The workshops gave us tools to improve on the understanding of cultures other than our own and break down barriers to support greater participation, integration and increase the sense of belonging.

Recently, for Transgender Awareness Week, a member of our transgender community at Endace shared his story in a powerful interview with Sasha Blair, VP People & Legal, to answer some questions about the trans community and his experiences. The recording was shared internally and some fantastic feedback was received. Our ongoing conversations around gender have made a noticeable difference in using gender-neutral and inclusive language.

What’s Next?

Looking ahead, we have planned some thought-provoking activities to celebrate and support individuals. The immediate focus will be educating ourselves on Neurodiversity and understanding how it adds value to our business.

Neurodiversity in the tech sector has at times been overlooked but major tech organisations are making great strides in this area and we are keen to see how we can contribute to these initiatives too.

While change takes time, we will continue to celebrate what makes Endace unique and keep taking steps to ensure our team can strengthen their feeling of belonging, and feel their individual voices are heard, valued and respected. We anticipate the more initiatives we implement in our organisation, the more positive outcomes we will observe. Our agenda will support our achieving an increasingly inclusive environment and we look forward to sharing our progress.