In 2019, Shenkar College decided to build a bridge between academia and industry, creating a new set of groundbreaking internship courses. This set of courses combined with practical experience in the industry (internships) received the approval of the Council for Higher Education and was launched under the brand name STEP (Shenkar's True Experience Program) under the academic direction of Roei Zerahia, entrepreneur and senior faculty member.

The STEP program contains several internship courses, which give students who choose to study them the same number of credits that they would receive for participating in an academic course, along with 120 hours of practical experience in leading companies (from start-ups to industrial companies to international public companies). The purpose of the internship is to open doors to industry for students while they are still completing their academic studies.

Four students from the Department of Software Engineering at Shenkar recently completed the first semester of the internship course and agreed to share their experiences with us.

“It was new and very challenging, because it's completely different from anything I've studied so far”

Itamar Yarden – Third Year

With the help of STEP, I started working at ParaGroup, a company that provides AI solutions for the design of engineering projects.

I spent my first few weeks in the company learning the technologies and the environment, which ParaGroup uses to produce its information, as well as all kinds of engineering software for 3D object modeling. It was new and very challenging, because it's completely different from anything I've studied so far.

Moreover, I had to learn a new programming language, C#. This kept me very busy, as I was doing this alongside my regular studies, but also made for an intriguing challenge. Once I started working on the project itself, it was very rewarding and interesting.

The knowledge I’ve gained from my studies in the Software Engineering Department at Shenkar was relevant at all stages of the project: I was able to pass on my personal knowledge to older and more experienced staff members, in addition to learning a lot from them. Beyond that, the classes in the course are also very interesting.

I would highly recommend this experience to any third-year student. It’s a great way to gain real work experience, enrich one’s resume, and meet new people in the high-tech industry.

“Where I would learn the most, where I could develop in directions I hadn't necessarily considered, which company works in the field that is of most interest to me”

Omri Gil – Fourth Year

When I first started the program, I tried to understand which of the companies offered at STEP seemed most suitable for me – where I would learn the most, where I could develop in directions I hadn't necessarily considered, which company works in the field that is of most interest to me, and so on.

I eventually chose Stay Labs, where I spent three months doing the internship. This was at the height of the pandemic, so although I didn’t meet face-to-face with my employers, we communicated frequently on a weekly basis to monitor tasks and stages of the work.

In this job, I was involved in web development and helped with the initial specification and development phase of a web page containing personal information for all the company's customers.

I worked with a team of very smart people. Working on the team was interesting and instructive, especially since I had not worked on a development team before. In addition, while working at the company, I used tools I had learned in web development courses and a cloud computing course at Shenkar.

“The assignments I was given touched on areas I wanted to work in for my first role in the industry and greatly improved my knowledge and professional abilities.”

Omer Ben Simon - 4th year

As part of the internship program at Shenkar, I was exposed to several start-ups in various fields. 

After job interviews at four different companies, I chose the one that interested me the most: Alteco, a company that provides energy optimization tools for companies and businesses. 

During the internship period I received guidance and support from my mentor at the company, including weekly meetings for presenting products and receiving assignments for the next week.

The assignments I was given touched on areas I wanted to work in for my first role in the industry and greatly improved my knowledge and professional abilities. In addition, my products have been integrated into the company's systems.

“Thanks to the internship and the programmers I worked with, I learned a lot and developed myself professionally – all in a very pleasant and patient atmosphere.”

Adi Yaari - 4th year

When I signed up for the internship program, I was asked to submit a resume that was sent to several companies. A few days later I was scheduled for several Zoom interviews, which were all successful.

The company I chose to intern at was Structure Pal. During the internship I worked with the company's development team. I used C# to program plugins for both the software that the company uses and the software that the company develops itself.

The programming courses in C, C ++, and Python, which I studied during my degree at Shenkar, helped me a lot with code language learning and proper code design.  

Thanks to the internship and the programmers I worked with, I learned a lot and developed myself professionally – all in a very pleasant and patient atmosphere. In addition, the internship course sessions with Mr. Roei Zerahia were enriching and enjoyable. Roei won us over with his charismatic personality and pushed us to improve in the areas we didn't feel comfortable in yet. I highly recommend that every student take advantage of this amazing and enriching experience.