Meet the talent: Julia Schmieder
Trust the process.
Dear growth hacking candidates,
My name is Julia, I am from Germany but have been living in Finland for almost six years. Currently, I'm doing a Master's degree at Tampere University while working part-time as a growth hacker. In my free time, I love to be outside in nature, I enjoy travelling, baking and meeting friends and I play the violin.
In my search for adventures and new experiences, I came to Finland in 2016 after finishing my high school diploma in Germany. At that time I planned to work here as an au pair for one year, but I quickly realised that I wanted to stay longer.
For this reason, I started studying International Business at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences. I received my bachelor's degree in the spring of 2020, which was probably the worst possible time to find a job as a foreigner in Finland. For months, I actively applied to any open position without success. Finally, I gave myself an ultimatum to move back to Germany if I didn't find anything in Finland by Christmas. And then, I saw that one of my LinkedIn contacts had liked a post by Mari, where she was promoting the Icebreaker growth hacking internship and inviting me to apply. So, I applied! And I was overjoyed when I got the message that I could start the internship in September.
First of all, the internship kept me from giving up my dream of living in Finland. After a long, hopeless search for work, this internship gave me a meaningful occupation in my life again.Second, I became part of a new community, learnt new things and gain valuable experiences. Amazingly, I was lucky to meet my employer during this internship, because after the two months internship I was offered a contract as a full-time growth hacker.
From the beginning, the Slack community was an important companion to exchange ideas and insights about various growth hacking matters. Here I found like-minded people and we support each other with different challenges. I'm glad to still be part of this community today and to watch how it keeps growing.
As mentioned above, I have started a Master's program in Leadership for Change in the fall of 2021. Right now, I am in the process of planning my topic for the master's thesis and my goal is to graduate next year and then return to work full-time. In any case, I want to stay in Finland and the growth hacking universe!
Once again I would like to thank Mari for her efforts, I believe that with her vision she has created new perspectives and opportunities for many. There are ups and downs when moving to another country, but as we were always reminded during the internship: trust the process. Trust the growth hacking process, but above all, trust yourself, and your personal growth. Have a good one,
Julia Schmieder
GH intern Keto Software Sept-Oct/2020
Growth Hacker Nov/2020 - Ongoing
