The NETCONOMY Talent Lab: How We Train Our Next Generation of IT Professionals

The Talent Lab is a three-month, full-time, and paid traineeship. Last year, it took place in our Belgrade office and mainly focused on backend development, but the location and available roles can vary from year to year. Over those three months, trainees learn our tech stack, work alongside colleagues they could soon call teammates, and get an honest look at day-to-day life at NETCONOMY.

The exact setup — where it takes place and which areas we offer, for example consulting, quality management, or software engineering — depends on our internal needs and team capacity, since it is a tailored program that requires dedicated time from everyone involved. As the Talent Lab has primarily focused on software engineering over the last few years, this blog post centers on the software engineering curriculum.

A Program Built Around Our Projects

The Talent Lab is not a generic bootcamp. Our colleagues designed it around the technologies, tools, and ways of working that our project teams actually use – which is why the mix of theory and practice fits so closely to what trainees will do afterwards.

Every iteration combines three elements:

• a curriculum tailored to our tech stack and project reality
• hands-on workshops with experienced engineers
• one-on-one mentoring throughout the entire program

A dedicated team of technical trainers with a software engineering background guides trainees from onboarding all the way to their final project. They also maintain an internal knowledge base, including an online library on the technical topics of the program, so everyone can go deeper at their own pace.

Next to the trainers, every trainee has an assigned mentor – the go-to person for questions of any size. In regular one-on-one meetings, mentors follow up on assignments and give concrete feedback on how the trainee is progressing.

Here is a quick insight from Tatjana. As a Software Engineer, she is involved in organizing the program and shares what makes the Talent Lab so special:

How Does It Work?

The software engineering traineeship is designed for students and recent graduates in IT, Business Informatics, or Business Administration with an IT focus. Our Software Engineering Trainees choose between two specializations:

• Backend starting with Git fundamentals, then moving on to Spring, SAP Commerce, and an overview of how we build and deploy our services.
• Frontend starting with Git fundamentals, then React, Redux, and the surrounding tooling our project teams rely on.

Everyone starts together. The first week is about people rather than code: getting to know each other, the company, our teams, and our way of working. After that, trainees move into their specialization and work through the area-specific learning program.

The final four weeks are the part most trainees remember best: a project simulation across two sprints, run as one agile team. They work with the same tools our project teams use every day, and the tasks are derived from real customer projects. Our trainers take on the customer role, asking questions, shifting priorities and dropping in sudden changes. That makes the whole thing a close simulation of day-to-day project work. Everything from the previous two months comes together here and just as importantly, it happens in a protected learning environment. Trainees can take real ownership, get stuck and get things wrong without the consequences a live customer project would carry. Working through those mistakes is exactly the point.

Throughout the program, mentors and leads hold regular check-ins with their trainees, so feedback arrives while it can still make a difference.

Looking back at the 2025 Talent Lab, Nikolina shares what her experience was like:

The Selection Process

For many of our candidates, this is the first real application process of their lives. We have adapted our four steps accordingly:

• Online Application
  Candidates upload their application documents online and choose the role they are most interested in.
• First-round Interview
  In a 30-minute conversation, our recruiter and the candidate get to know each other and talk about career preferences, previous experience, and education. We keep the questions straightforward and focus on the eagerness to learn and grow with us.
• Technical Task
  Next, candidates work on a task that challenges their programming skills and their solution orientation. Interviewers from the respective department will guide you through the process and are available to answer any questions or clarify any uncertainties.
• Solution Presentation
  Finally, candidates present their solution to a technical lead.

The first three steps happen remotely – only for the last one do we invite candidates to the office. And if both sides feel it is a match, there is nothing left standing in the way of coming on board.

Our Talent Lab 2025 at a Glance

• 3-month traineeship in Belgrade, full-time and paid
• Specialization 2025: backend engineering
• On-site encouraged, with the possibility of home office
• A mixture of lectures by experienced colleagues, practical insights into projects, and self-study time
• Full integration into the team from day one, including team building events and company gatherings
• A real chance of a permanent position after completing the program

In the 2025 iteration, three out of four trainees joined our team permanently. With the skill set built up during the Talent Lab, they are not only well prepared to start their career with us – they also grow into more senior roles remarkably fast.

Supporting young talents in their desire to learn is something we genuinely enjoy, and the Talent Lab has proven to be one of the best ways to do it.

You Are Eager to Learn and Grow?

Great, we are looking forward to receiving your application! Applications for the Talent Lab usually open in spring. To stay up to date on the next application deadline, follow us on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, and we will let you know as soon as applications are open again.

In the meantime, feel free to check out our other open positions and see if there is something interesting for you. We look forward to hearing from you!