I can't go far away without talking you about the company where I am realizing my internship. This company is SES and before applying for this internship position, I didn't know it at all...
SES Satellite is the world's leading provider of satellite telecommunications services and the headquarters of the company are in a small village called "Betzdorf", lost in the Luxembourg's countryside. To be honest, I was very surprised that I had never heard of this company before!
SES's Antennas park
SES BY THE NUMBERS
Created in 1985 under the name of SES (European Satellite Society)
First satellite (ASTRA 1A) launched in 1988
SES's fleet of satellites: 73 (GEO (Geostationary Orbit) and MEO (Medium Earth Orbit))
Coverage of 99% of the world
8,500+ TV and radio channels broadcasted by SES's satellites
2 billions euros revenue
2,300+ employees working for SES worldwide
85 different nationalities worlwide
30+ working locations worldwide
650+ employees in Luxembourg
51 different nationalities in Luxembourg
Key partners: ESA, Boeing, Airbus, SpaceX, Microsoft...
I am going to conclude this section by the SES's slogan: "We Do the Extraordinary in Space to Deliver Amazing Experiences Everywhere On Earth"
SES'S CAMPUS
For my first day at SES, I discovered the campus where I was going to work for a few months and I was impressed (and a bit intimidated too)! Let me explain. The first thing I have to mention is about security. You cannot enter the campus without a badge and pin code because it is surrounded by gates, monitored by cameras and to enter (and exit) you have to pass in front of the guard post. But once inside, you feel like you're in paradise! Indeed, the SES campus is made up of several buildings, an antenna park, three offices buildings, a fitness center and Betzdorf Castle. Yes! There is a private castle inside my campus and the Grand Duke and his family lived there. Now the castle (which looks more like a large mansion) is used as the main reception, offices, museum and also to accommodate clients or other important people.
Betzdorf's castle
There are also ATF (Antenna Technical Facilities), DTF (Digital Technical Facilities) and ABC buildings in the campus. For my side, I am working in the ABC building (ABC stands for Astra Business Center) and in my opinion it's the best building. First, it hosts the canteen for employees so I don't have to cross the campus to go for lunch (some people working in other buildings have to do it). Secondly, (according to me) the building looks like the "Colisée" in Italy beacuse it has the same shape but instead of an arena in the middle, you have the canteen and offices around. Finally, it's here where the big majority of interns work thus it's very easy to meet them!
AN INTERNATIONAL COMPANY
The main language at SES is English. So I read and write in this language every day. So far no surprises... What is surprising are the employees who work at SES. Indeed, they come from all over the world! And, until now, I have never met an employee coming from Luxembourg... Crazy?! Here is an overview of the countries of origin of the employees I had the chance to meet: India, Romania, Netherlands, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, United States, Vietnam, Turkey, Portugal, Germany, Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria and so on !
Another thing I want to mention is the SES intern community. Like the employees, they come from everywhere and there are nearly a hundred of us working on the Betzdorf campus! And when some trainees leave, others are already there to replace them. This means that every week, we have one or more trainees who join our community... So, to help trainees meet each other, several events are organized by Human Resources. For example, sports tournaments, interns' breakfast, coffee chat, afterworks... There is at least one event per week and it's a real opportunity to expand our network of course! For my part, I met Alice from France (she's in my openspace!), Beatriz from Mexico, Rahul from India, Nona from Bulgaria, Ugne from Ireland, Austin from the US, Le Nhu Ngoc from Viet Nam... And , I'm sure I'll still have a lot of wonderful encounters to do and I am super impatient!
ABC building
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