Internships with impact – Spyrosoft’s summer experience in Szczecin
At our Szczecin office this summer, it’s all about curiosity, creativity and sharing knowledge. We have welcomed a group of talented students who are spending their break working on a real-world challenge, which is designing a smart home interface from scratch.
This initiative captures the essence of Spyrosoft Synergy – exploring new ideas together, collaborating openly, and staying close to the technologies that are driving the technological advances in the HMI domain. All of this is happening under the guidance of Anna Orecka, Line Manager in Szczecin, who has supported the programme from start to finish.
Meet our Spyrosoft’s mentors
- Rafal Andrusieczko, Lead HMI Software Engineer
- Pawel Lisiecki, Lead HMI Software Engineer
The people behind this programme made it possible. Key technical mentors Rafal Andrusieczko and Pawel Lisiecki were responsible for coordinating the internship, ensuring that every student had meaningful work and constant guidance. Thanks to their involvement, interns could transition from theory to practice with ease.
During the internship programme, we emphasised not only technical skills, but also the importance of strengthening communication and collaboration abilities, which are just as important as coding. As a result of this focus, they became more confident in sharing their challenges and asking for help and often progressed faster. By creating a safe and supportive environment, we were able to boost their confidence and improve their approach to problem resolution.
Rafal Andrusieczko, Lead HMI Software Engineer
Building a smart home HMI with Qt
From 4 July to 8 August, ten students from local schools and universities joined us in Szczecin for this year’s internship programme. They were tasked with designing and developing a Human-Machine Interface for a smart home system, an application capable of controlling lights, adjusting thermostats, monitoring energy consumption and proposing cost optimisations in a house.
To achieve this, the interns worked with Qt, QML and C++, which are widely used technologies across the industry. With the support of their mentors, the interns transformed Figma mockups into fully functioning interfaces, tackled technical challenges in real-time and learned how to collaborate effectively on a shared project.
What were the most common challenges that interns encountered, and how did our mentors help them to overcome them?
During the internship programme, we found that interns most often struggled with creating advanced graphical effects and ensuring that applications ran smoothly on target hardware. Although they were comfortable with standard UI elements, they needed support to deliver dynamic animations and transitions. We guided them in using Qt’s animation frameworks by providing examples, troubleshooting and encouragement until they achieved high-performance results. Another challenge was optimising applications for less powerful devices. We helped to profile performance issues and taught techniques such as asynchronous operations and resource management. With this support, the interns gained confidence, overcame real-world challenges and produced visually impressive and efficient applications.
Rafal Andrusieczko, Lead HMI Software Engineer
Mentors emphasise that interns made the most progress in two areas: teamwork and mastering the Qt framework. Working on different parts of the same application taught them how to integrate their contributions into a cohesive product. They also gained hands-on experience with advanced Qt modules such as Application Manager, Remote Objects and HTTP Server, moving beyond the basics to build a complex, multi-layered application from scratch.
Why students choose Spyrosoft
For many of the interns, choosing Spyrosoft was no coincidence. The feedback we received from our trainees suggests that, as a company, we already had a strong reputation. What stood out most was that the internship programme was carefully designed, with a clear plan, specific projects and dedicated mentors ready to guide the interns.
As Jakub Gaj, a Computer Science student, shared “Of all the offers I had, Spyrosoft looked much more interesting and developmental.”
Lukasz Strzelczyk, a final-year student of Computer Science said that “While searching for an internship, I heard from friends that Spyrosoft was offering opportunities. After reviewing the details, I decided it would be a good choice as it’s a place where I could learn a lot of interesting things!”.
For Mykhailo Halko, a programming technician, the decision came after his teacher introduced the opportunity “I thought it would be a great chance to learn new skills and gain experience in teamwork.”
What our interns really thought about their work
Let’s hear from our interns about their projects and the challenges they faced during this year’s summer programme. From grappling with brand-new technologies to solving unforeseen problems, they all experienced moments that were both thrilling and challenging, and which ultimately offered the best learning opportunities.
Piotr Wilczynski, a 4th-year technical high school student decided to share with us his opinion: “The assignments were very rewarding and engaging. I really enjoyed working with the Qt framework, especially QML. It was very straightforward and intuitive to write in, even in larger projects. The most challenging aspect was undoubtedly the newer, less well-documented modules, such as Remote Objects in Qt, for which there were few to no examples online. This forced me to delve deeply into the framework and solve problems independently. Working with the Raspberry Pi and resolving related issues was also very enjoyable.”
Magdalena Swiatowa, a computer science student said: “Working on this project was both enjoyable and a great learning experience. The most challenging, and at the same time most valuable, part for me was writing a shader that blurred only the background behind the widgets. It pushed me to learn a lot and gave me a deeper understanding of how these technologies work.”
For 18-year-old Kacper Kupczynski, who is currently studying at a technical school: “Working on the tasks was a really fun and engaging experience. I focused mainly on the front-end, which gave me the chance to explore the structure of QML and compare it with web technologies I was already familiar with. It was interesting to see both the similarities and the differences. Thanks to the support from our leaders, we never hit any major roadblocks along the way.”
This year, I was most impressed not just by the technical skills our interns developed, but also by the curiosity, resilience and creativity they displayed in the face of new challenges. They all stepped far outside their comfort zones, explored unfamiliar technologies, and came up with solutions they can truly be proud of. This spirit of learning and problem-solving is exactly what the programme is all about.
Paweł Lisiecki, Lead HMI Software Engineer
Explore Spyrosoft’s work experience programmes
These stories highlight not only the technical skills that our interns gained, but also the confidence and problem-solving mindset that comes from working alongside industry professionals, as well as the real experience that this provides.
At Spyrosoft, we nurture young talent by offering meaningful projects, hands-on mentoring and the freedom to explore new ideas. Our goal is to inspire and educate the next generation of engineers, designers, and innovators. We also go a step further by offering employment opportunities after internships, and several of our former interns have already continued their careers as part of the Spyrosoft team.
If you’re interested in building a career in technology, why not take the first step with us? Find out how our work experience programmes can help you develop your skills, expand your network, and contribute to real projects from day one.
Explore our latest opportunities, because your journey could start here!
About the author
Anna Zurek
Employer Branding Specialist
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