My Study Abroad in Melbourne

Almost six months have passed since I first arrived in Melbourne to start my study abroad semester in down under. It is amazing how much has already happened during that time. I studied at Swinburne University of Technology and simultaneously worked at Fenwick Software part-time. Fenwick Software has been a partner of tegos for many years and has implemented various enwis projects with multiple big waste companies in Australia.

Arriving in Melbourne

The first surprise awaited me right after landing at the Melbourne Tullamarine airport: There is actually a Winter in Australia. In fact, it was freezing cold in Melbourne the first few weeks after my arrival. Did you know that it is even possible to ski in Australia?

I spent my first two weeks in a backpacker hostel which was an interesting experience to meet like-minded people in the same situation as myself. This turned out to be very helpful to get some initial advice and get started with my life in Melbourne.

After the two weeks at the hostel, I then moved into the on-campus residences of the Swinburne University of Technology.

I quickly came to understand why Melbourne is called the “Sporting capital of Australia”. There is always some sports event going on no matter what time of the year it is. I am particularly glad that I got to experience the “Grand Final” at the end of September. Australia has its very own version of Football called “Australian Rules Football” or simply “Footy”. It is very different from Soccer or American Football and I had never heard of it before I arrived here. The “Grand Final” is the final match of the “Footy” league and Melbournians take it very seriously so they even decided to create a public holiday for the match.

Studying at Swinburne

It was not an easy choice to decide at which university I wanted to study at since Melbourne is home to a total of seven different universities. Eventually, I decided to do my study abroad at the Swinburne University of Technology. I chose Swinburne because Fenwick Software maintains a good relationship with Swinburne and employs many of its graduates. Fenwick Software even sponsors a course at Swinburne.

The teaching style is very different from German universities and much more focused on practical experience. In most courses, you have to do weekly graded assignments. Hence, to my disappointment, it is impossible to procrastinate until the end of the semester. Furthermore, I did not have real exams in any of my courses. Instead, I had to do a practical project which got graded at the end of the semester. Finally, I had to present my project to the professor and answer a few related questions. Then, the final mark gets calculated using the weekly assignments as well as the practical project.

All in all, I really like the practical teaching style and I am glad that I decided to study at Swinburne University.

Working at Fenwick Software

Fenwick Software has been a partner of tegos for many years and they have implemented enwis solutions for many big customers in Australia. They have even developed a few granules on top of enwis called enwis) Gold that enhance the functionality even further.  Fenwick Software is the second largest Microsoft Dynamics NAV partner in Australia with over 40 years of experience in the system implementation space. Fenwick Software is a great partner with amazing people and I was surprised how quickly they integrated me into their daily work.

My role at Fenwick Software is mainly focused on development. With the introduction of Microsoft Business Central providing the new modern development environment as well as extensions, my main responsibility is to develop small apps that are published and sold through the AppSource, the new marketplace of Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. For example, I developed an App called “Advanced Default Dimensions” which improves the usability and features of Dimensions. It enables you to use Dimensions directly on master data, filter by Dimensions inside of Lists and also define relationships between Dimensions.

I really enjoyed working at Fenwick Software and I am looking forward to seeing the Apps being published on the Microsoft Business Central AppSource.

What’s next

Now that the semester is over, I am working full-time at Fenwick Software until the mid of January. During the Christmas and New Years holidays I travelled to Sydney and enjoyed the amazing fireworks on New Years Eve. After finishing work in the mid of January, I will fly to Cairns in the North of Australia and rent a car so that I can make my way back to Melbourne driving down the beautiful east coast. Back in Melbourne, my adventure will finally come to an end and it is time to head back home to Germany in February.

I already had an amazing time here in Melbourne and I am looking forward to even more great experiences!