Author: Katrina Schollum

Endace 2024/25 Internship Program Wraps Up

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, HR Manager, Endace

Our 12-week summer internship program at our R&D centre in Hamilton recently wrapped up for another successful year.  Four interns from different universities joined us, working on individual projects, gaining industry experience, and seeing the commercial relevance of their achievements.

Showcasing Success

The last day of the program is Presentations Day. Our interns presented the results of their projects to a live audience in Hamilton, NZ, and the presentations were also streamed live to the global Endace team.

Endace 2024/2025 Interns

Despite a few well-hidden nerves, our interns did a fantastic job—providing insight into their individual journeys, outlining the objectives of their projects, talking about some of the challenges they faced and overcame, and demonstrating the solutions they built. Each presentation concluded with suggestions from the interns on how their projects could be further enhanced to provide additional benefits to the business. There was also a live Q&A session where the interns did a great job fielding a variety of questions from the audience.

Program Highlights

It is rewarding to see the growth of our interns as they build on their technical skills in a professional setting. Endace’s Intern Program gives them invaluable insight into how a global tech business operates. It’s a great opportunity to put their university knowledge into practice, further develop their technical skills, and learn about teamwork in a collaborative environment. They also gain exposure to all areas of our business, from operations and finance to sales and marketing.

The benefits of the program flow in both directions. Each Intern is supported by a dedicated manager and mentor, who also benefits from sharing their knowledge and expertise to guide the projects and help interns transition from studying to the workplace.

“Being a mentor for the interns was a challenging but also incredibly rewarding journey. It was an honour to be allowed to help them grow from overwhelmed newcomers to developers competently progressing their project” said Norbert Abel, our mentor from the Firmware team.

Feedback from our interns at the end of the program was very positive. Our interns were motivated by the projects’ real-world implications. They learned a lot and felt well supported in achieving their project goals.

Equipped with new skills and hands-on experience, we look forward to following our interns’ future achievements. We are proud to continue our strong tradition of working closely with tertiary education providers to ensure Endace remains an employer of choice for IT and engineering graduates in New Zealand.

Endace 2024/25 Internship Program Begins

Original Entry by : Katrina Schollum

By Katrina Schollum, HR Manager, Endace

The Endace Summer Internship program has been a great success in previous years, and we are excited to announce its return for another year! This summer, we are delighted to welcome four talented interns to our R&D centre in Hamilton, NZ, after receiving an incredible amount of interest from students across New Zealand. We look forward to supporting our new interns as they progress through the program.

Induction Day

The first day of the program is all about introducing our interns to “Life at Endace” and how we work.

Our interns learned about Endace’s history and our innovative products and began building strong connections with their mentors and managers. The day included opportunities to engage with senior managers, gain insight into their roles and projects, and network with members of the engineering team over lunch. It’s safe to say our interns had plenty to absorb and are excited for the journey ahead.

As part of the induction, our interns participated in the team-building activities with their mentors. One of our new mentors, Joel Shepherd —himself a former intern — shared his enthusiasm for the program:

“Being an intern at Endace was a great way to start my career, providing an opportunity to experience what it is like to work in the industry. It helped extend my knowledge beyond what I could learn at university in a relatively short time. Now, as a mentor, I’m thrilled to provide the same opportunity I once received and to see how much our new interns will learn and achieve over the summer.”

It’s amazing to see the full cycle, as previous interns become employees and eventually become mentors themselves, creating a pipeline of talent development 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 sessions with Endace’s leadership team members about the broader business, presentation skills training, and professional development, creating a well-rounded experience. The program ends with the interns presenting their individual projects.

Endace is proud of our ties to tertiary education and is committed to developing talent for IT and Engineering students aspiring to join our industry positioning Endace as an employer of choice. By providing hands-on experience and intentional learning opportunities, we give students the chance to build technical capabilities while gaining insight into how a global tech organisation operates.

We’re excited to support our new interns as they continue to learn and develop, and look forward to celebrating their future achievements.

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 2023/24 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 Interns

The 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.