- Electrical engineering, information technology and computer engineering M.Sc.
- The Netherlands, Eindhoven
- Stichting imec Nederland
- 02/2023 – 08/2023
The internship
I really enjoyed the internship at the company imec. Imec is a belgian company and founded the Holst research center in Eindhoven in 2005. Imec is an industry related research center in the field micro and nano-electronics and deals with technical projects in the areas of health & vitality, energy &climate, mobility & industry 5.0. The application was quite straightforward, and I already had feedback and the (digital) interview within a few days. Starting the internship, I noticed right away that the team is quite young and insanely nice and friendly. Everyone is super helpful, open and you feel right at home. There were always recreational after-work activities with the team that you could participate in if you wanted to. Since the team was also very international, it was no problem that I didn’t speak the language, because everyone spoke English anyway. The Holst center is located on the so-called High Tech Campus. On the High Tech campus, many different technical companies are located and there is an area with a supermarket, a few restaurants where you can eat something at lunchtime and a gym. Due to the many green spaces and a small lake, the High Tech campus is also suitable for a walk and therefore quite a nice location for an office.
My internship was part of the health department where an implantable stimulation electrode was developed. For me, that was the perfect project as it combined the electrical engineering and medical aspect in such an interesting way. I learned a lot and I felt very valued because my opinion and ideas were very well appreciated by the rest of the team. Beside the daily work I also had a weekly progress meeting with my supervisor and imec, where we discussed my latest work and the upcoming steps. I felt very well taken care of, as thoughts and ideas could be freely expressed and my questions were always answered.
Accomodation and living expenses
One of the more difficult aspects was to find a room to stay, since there are generally too few housing options for students in Eindhoven. I used the site kamernet.nl and was lucky to find a room. The site has a monthly fee in order to be able to contact the landlords, but I would advise everyone to invest this money. I wouldn’t recommend using Facebook groups, because there are many scammers. The rents are relatively expensive, and one must expect about 500 – 600 € for a room in a shared flat. In general, the Netherlands is a bit more expensive than Germany, both for food but also for going out.
Eindhoven and surrounding
Eindhoven is a modern city. The city center is quite large and there are many stores, restaurants and bars. In particular, there are also somewhat exotic restaurants such as Indonesian or Ethiopian. Due to the existing university, there are also many young people around. Especially in summer, the various parks are very well attended and are very nice to enjoy the weather and nature. It is advisable to get a bicycle for the time here, as this is the best way to get around. There are very good and safe bike paths and almost everything is optimized for cyclists. I took mine from Aachen, but otherwise there is also the possibility to rent a bike at Swapfiets. To travel to other cities on weekends, the trains are particularly suitable. I can only recommend at this point to visit the cities of Utrecht and The Hague, because they are both beautiful. The app “9292” shows all bus and train connections within the Netherlands and is therefore very useful.
Conclusion
All in all, it was a wonderful experience. I was able to learn a lot during the internship and also the working atmosphere was very friendly and welcoming. The company imec has a lot of different and very exciting projects and therefore I would recommend everyone to have a look around here if you are looking for an interesting internship.
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