My internship in Germany

I received the Migara Ratnatunga Trust Award for Best Undergraduate Project in Industrial Training - 2012 from the Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) for this presentation. I worked at KISTERS AG, Aachen, Germany for 7 months during the summer/autumn of 2012 as a Trainee Software Engineer. This presentation is about my internship experience.

Transcript

1. My Industrial Training Experience in Germany By Gayashan Amarasinghe Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Moratuwa On behalf of competing for The Migara Ratnatunga Trust Award for University Undergraduates for their Industrial Training Projects – 2013.
2. The company Company: KISTERS AG Place of business: Aachen, Germany Legal form: Joint stock company Capital stock: 2,695,490.00 EUR Number of employees: 400+ Operating locations: Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, United States, China, Australia and New Zealand
3. Products of KISTERS AG • Air quality management - AquisNet • Water resources management • Energy market • Control technology • Environment protection and safety • 2D/3D viewer
4. KISTERS AquisNet • Manage and process data related to air quality management • Software covers all tasks of the process chain from, ◦ Data acquisition ◦ Validation ◦ Mass storage ◦ Graphical and Numerical analysis ◦ Reporting • Used by both public authorities and private industrial companies.
5. My Projects 1. Implementation of MOD4 protocol driver for AquisNet system 2. Research and Implementation of Strip Chart Recording Tool for air quality
6. Implementation of MOD4 Protocol Driver
7. • Retrieve data from intelligent data analyzers, through the Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) to Data Centers • Enable the ability to remotely control data analyzers from data centers • Communicate with TCP/IP commands over RS232 interface Overview Intelligent Analyzer Intelligent Analyzer Intelligent Analyzer AquisNet DAS AquisNet Data Center TCP/IP RS232 RS232 RS232 Tools used: Visual Studio 2010 Version controlling system: CVS Language: C++ Libraries used: IPSerial library, winsock library Technologies used: TCP/IP communication over RS232 serial interface, C++ memory management
8. Approach 1. Study the existing protocol in terms of similarities between the commanding structure 2. Set up the dummy analyzer and data acquisition system as test environment 3. Test the existing protocol on the test environment 4. Prepare a document which compares the two protocols and present it to the team 5. Create a development plan and a timeline with goals 6. Development process 7. Test process 8. Final documentation 9. Deployment to client environment
9. Challenges Faced • Working on my first large scale C++ project ◦ Used my experience on small scale C++ projects that i have involved in the university • Working with TCP/IP connections and RS232 standards ◦ Used the networking knowledge that i have gained from the university ◦ Did some self-studying on RS232 protocol • Managing memory in order to increase performance of the driver ◦ Learnt mainly from my supervisor about memory management, pointers, memory manipulation and garbage collection • Language issue ◦ Asked for help from my supervisor and colleagues when needed ◦ Used an online dictionary
10. What did I gain?
11. Technical Experience • Solid C++, php, javascript and web development experience • Importance of version controlling and frequent logical commits • Agile software development process • Network management protocols • Implementing a protocol driver using low level components • Optimizing and memory management techniques • Importance of testing (integration tests, unit tests) • Bug reporting and bug fixing
12. Interpersonal skills • Working with people from different backgrounds/culture and knowledge levels • Presenting to a team of multidisciplinary colleagues • Proper time management • Problem solving skills • Properly writing an email • Paying attention to legal requirements of an organization • Some German language
13. For My Life • Proper financial management ◦ Lived 7 months only from the salary that i earned • Travelled to 6 different countries in Europe ◦ Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria and Switzerland • Many friends from all over the world • Living alone, far from my family and comfort zone • Learnt about German culture
14. Snaps from my trips through Europe
15. Learning how to cook
16. Thank you Q & A