FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS
Besides the partnership programme for companies, we also offer individuals the opportunity to get involved with 42 Wolfsburg. For this purpose, we have set up two programmes, the Academic and the Industry Fellowship, to give our students access to potential mentors or exciting projects, and to further improve 42 together with the Fellows. How exactly we have designed the fellowship programmes, who we are looking for, what Fellows can expect from us and how to apply in just half an hour can be found in detail for each of the programmes below.
ACADEMIC FELLOWSHIP
This programme offers junior and senior researchers the opportunity to access the 42 learning environment and the students. Collaborative work may be defined very openly, from a research project on the didactic concept to regular teaching opportunities.
What to expect
We invite you as an academic fellow to conduct research, start a concrete project with a group of 42 students to help improve the 42 program as a mentor or expert. At 42 Wolfsburg we provide a dynamic and intellectually challenging environment for our fellows to pursue their research interests, work with students and staff, and actively shape their stay. Inclusion, internationality, and transparency constitute the core of our identity. Therefore, we offer the academic fellowship in a hybrid format with stays in Wolfsburg as well as full remote. As a learning organization, we are always interested in getting ourselves reviewed, challenging existing practices, and launching new initiatives. Here, we offer some opportunities to get involved. Roles you can take with us include, but are not limited to:
Mentor
- mentoring students
- organizing webinars and skill-sharing sessions
Researcher
- conducting qualitative or quantitative research
- holding presentations in one of our virtual talk series
Initiator
- starting and running an interest group
- engaging in joint projects with others at 42
Topics to work on
We consider applicants who intend to pursue research topics that fall within one of three fields of interest. Please read the information on each of the fields, and position yourself and/or your project within the field that best suits you.
Project-based and peer-to-peer learning
Our curriculum is made out of project work. It is set up as a game, with the ability to level up and gain achievements by completing specific projects. Everyone starts at the same place to ensure everyone has a strong programming foundation to build upon. From there, students learn to program anything from game engines to self-driving cars. Nobody tells them what road to take, it is up to them! There are no teachers, but peers: learning happens with and from each other. Also, no classes, but learning by doing – projects with increasing difficulty, carefully created by experts to challenge our students. This unique learning environment offers a broad range of questions and areas, our fellows can tackle, like:
- How do students organize to maximize the benefits of the program?
- What are potential structural interventions to promote group learning?
- How do students from minority groups flourish in the program?
Together with our strong partner Volkswagen AG, we strive towards building up competence in the area of automotive software in Germany. After our students have found their path and walked through the basics of software engineering, we offer specializations in the context of automotive and mobility ecosystems. On the one hand, the tasks and challenges should fit into the learning structure of the 42 library. On the other hand, we aim to contribute to a more open, inclusive, and future-oriented mobility ecosystem of the future by teaching state-of-the-art technologies, open architectures, and agile practices. Questions our fellows could help to answer are, among others:
- What are the specific technical architectures for automotive software students should master?
- How can the mobility revolution towards sustainability be fostered by software?
- How to set up a specialized and late-stage (regarding a student’s education path) coding module in general?
The good coder education
“Code is Law” writes Harvard professor Lawrence Lessing and thus expresses the impact digital technologies have in the Internet age. What do we learn from this? That every developer must also become a lawyer? That would probably go too far. Nevertheless, it is clear that there are elements from various disciplines, such as law, but also other humanities and hard science, which must be incorporated into the training of good software engineers according to the 42 Wolfsburg model in the 21st century. However, the broad field of software engineering education in itself is one, students can get lost in. We want to break this tension and our fellows can take ownership in the exploration of, among other things:
- How to integrate relevant aspects from the humanities, e.g. ethics as part of game-based learning?
- What kind of a formal software engineering curriculum has to be offered to the students and how?
- How to define and promote “good” practices in a project-based coding education?
How the program is structured
Imagine you secured a seat as an academic fellow on the rocketship called 42 Wolfsburg. What’s next? Let us first recapitulate what has already happened. You have found and read our program description (like right now), you have decided to apply (good choice!!), crafted a CV, and applied via the form. After a few nerve-wracking weeks of waiting you have received our acceptance and now the start date is approaching.
At the beginning of the program, we will together create an individual plan in which we agree on your and our commitment, as well as define your and our common goals. You will further get access to our communication tools, will receive a 42 Wolfsburg email address, and be invited to all (digital) events. Depending on the content of your project you will get further access to development environments and/or other resources.
We will arrange regular meetings with students or relevant 42 staff and involve you in international work with other 42 schools or partners as needed and desired. You will be encouraged to keep a fellowship-logbook, either in a blog, video, or podcast format, and to regularly share your experiences with the public beyond the scope of your academic work.
After the program ends you will receive a digital certificate (e.g. to put it in your LinkedIn), the opportunity of staying connected to the 42 network you built, and lifelong gratitude from us.
Logistics and how to apply
Financials: The fellowship is unpaid. Support with purchasing necessary software and further expenditures for carrying out the scientific work will be arranged individually. The need for support must be quantified in the application as part of the project description.
Time Frame: Fellowships may range from a minimum of 6 months to a maximum of 12 months. Successful fellowship projects can be extended.
Requirements
- Master’s degree, Ph.D. in the process (Junior Fellows) or
- post-doctoral researcher and professors (Senior Fellows)
- Fluency in English
- Research experience and a research or learning project of your own that you plan to pursue
- Ability to invest time in our cooperative project work
- Interest in project-based peer-to-peer learning and in promoting our mission
We actively seek applications from underrepresented groups to increase the diversity of our fellows with a focus on improved gender balance, greater representation of minority groups, and wider German institutional reach.
Application documents
- Up-to-date curriculum vitae
- Letter of interest explaining your motivation to join 42 Wolfsburg as a Fellow, the roles you intend to take, and your expectations
- Short project description1 including
- A) the work you propose to conduct during your time as a fellow;
- B) your past or current scientific work, and how it responds to one of the named topics;
- C) deliverables, products, or outcomes you aim to produce
Please submit your application via this application form. The only separate document you need is your CV as a pdf. For the other parts, please directly follow and answer the questions in the form. If you have any questions, please send an email to philipmeier@42wolfsburg.de.
1 Our students are already very busy with learning and other activities in the 42-context. Please take this into account when developing project ideas.
INDUSTRY FELLOWSHIP
This programme offers practitioners from fields such as computer science, engineering or design the opportunity to access the 42, the learning environment and the students. Collaborative work may be defined very openly, from mentoring for students to regular knowledge transfer formats.
What to expect
We invite curious corporate scientists, designers, tinkerers and engineers from broad industry sectors to foster an exchange of knowledge, stimulate collaborations, and established personal links with our 42 Wolfsburg community. At 42 Wolfsburg we provide a dynamic and intellectually challenging environment for our industry fellows to mentor students, share knowledge, and establish a lasting connection between 42 and industry. Inclusion, internationality and transparency constitute the core of our identity. Therefore, we offer the industry fellowship in a hybrid format with stays in Wolfsburg as well as fully remote. As a learning organization, we are always interested in getting ourselves reviewed, challenging existing practices and launching new initiatives.The 42 Wolfsburg industry fellowship is open to corporate employees, freelancers or founders from early to senior career stages based in Germany. A shared love for technology, building things and learning unites us! The roles our industry fellows can own during a tenure with us are e.g.:
Mentor
- mentoring students
- organizing webinars and skill-sharing sessions
Learner
- supporting the exchange of knowledge, experience, and ideas
- challenging current and planned projects
Initiator
- developing and establishing collaborative links between 42 Wolfsburg and related organizations
- participating actively in regular community events
Topics to work on
We look for applicants with valuable experience in the action fields of software engineering, automotive, mobility ecosystem design, enterprise IT and/or digital manufacture technologies.
By automotive software engineering we refer to everything related to connectivity and automatic driving, i.e. advanced software in the vehicle, as well as the development of new products and services at the customer interface, for example infotainment systems.
Our understanding of mobility ecosystems transcends the limits of automotive mobility towards open platforms and also includes 3-dimensional transportation in the air, water or underground. Through the education of students at 42 Wolfsburg we intend to bring a fresh mindset to existing and new companies promoting a holistic, inclusive and sustainable understanding of mobility.
To make new mobility a reality, we believe it is crucial to rethink rigid supply chains in order to build up an ecosystem for value creation. This rethinking must be accompanied by the use of new technologies such as 3D printing, Internet-of-Things, or virtual reality. We have these technologies tangible and usable in the 42 Wolfsburg Fablab and want to use them together with our students and fellows
How the program is structured
Imagine you secured a seat as an industry fellow on the rocketship called 42 Wolfsburg. What’s next? Let us first recapitulate what has already happened. You have found and read our program description (like right now), you have decided to apply (good choice!!), crafted a CV and applied via the form. After a few nerve-wracking weeks of waiting you have received our acceptance and now the start date is approaching.
At the beginning of the program, we will together create an individual plan in which we agree on your and our commitment, as well as define your and our common goals. You will further get access to our communication tools, will receive a 42 Wolfsburg email address and be invited to all (digital) events. Depending on the content of your project you will get further access to development environments and/or other resources.
Bi-direction knowledge transfer stands at heart for our time together. You will be encouraged to share your experiences within your company and/or industry network to support our mission for a world with more good code and more good coders.
After the program ends you will receive a digital certificate (e.g. to put it in your LinkedIn), the opportunity of staying connected to the 42 network you built, and lifelong gratitude from us.
Logistics and how to apply
Financials: The industrial fellowship is unpaid.
Timeframe: Industry fellowships may range from a minimum of 6 months to a maximum of 12 months. Successful fellowship arrangements can be extended.
Requirements
- In-depth expertise in one of the above-mentioned fields of action
- Permanent position or an “open-ended contract” in a technology company or a proven track record as a freelancer with a professional focus on new mobility or a related field in Germany
- A stage in your career when you would particularly benefit from establishing or strengthening personal or corporate links between 42 Wolfsburg as a leading coding school and the mobility industry as a foundation for long-term collaboration and development
- Ability to invest time in fellowship-related activities
- Interest in project-based peer-to-peer learning and in promoting our mission to make coding education more accessible
We actively seek applications from underrepresented groups to increase the diversity of our fellows with a focus on improved gender balance, greater representation from minority groups, and wider German institutional reach.
Application documents
- Up-to-date curriculum vitae
- Letter of interest explaining your motivation to become Industry Fellow, professional background, and your expectations
- A short description of the role2 you want to take with us and the mutual benefit you aim to achieve for you, your organization and 42 Wolfsburg.
Please submit your application via this application form. The only separate document you need is your CV as a pdf. For the other parts, please directly follow and answer the questions in the form. If you have any questions, please send an email to philipmeier@42wolfsburg.de. Please submit your application until January 31, 2021.
2 It should be mentioned that our students are already very busy with learning and other activities in the 42-context. Please take this into account when developing ideas for your fellowship with us.
