Participant Stories
Toni Haufe
AIPT Participant Discovers His Own Culture…Abroad
From Spring 2006
In 2004, through an IAESTE exchange, Toni Haufe left his German homeland to spend nine months at AIPT as a J-1 trainee. His training plan was designed to allow him to have a broad range of experiences that included technical support for the IT system administrator and marketing director.
International exchange was an important career step for Toni. “I knew that German companies were looking through CVs for experience abroad, especially in English speaking countries. I wanted to improve my language skills, because in technical fields it's no longer an advantage to speak English; it's a disadvantage to not speak and understand the language. All important publications are provided in English. And, secondly, I was curious to get to know different attitudes and methods of working,” he says. “After all, that gives me the competitive edge when I apply for a job.”
His experience, he says, was positive from the start with a warm welcome at AIPT. He notes, “I felt great from the beginning. The people at AIPT are very open-minded.”
Haufe was involved in a myriad of projects at AIPT. He was a part of software development, and even “programmed a system leading to [a] paperless office with a document scanning and retrieval tool,” he notes.
Network administration was also an important part of his training. He set up and supported new network devices and was given a lead role in the technical implementation of a third party job board on AIPT’s Web site.
While developing enduring skills to add value to his CV, Haufe discovered surprising new information about his own culture.
“To discover another culture opened up my horizon,” he says, but he also found he learned a lot about his own German culture. “I had to think about trivial situations where Americans respond different to Germans,” he says. “For instance, Germans are very direct when it comes to talking about mistakes. I noticed that Americans tend to wrap unpleasant things in a ‘bubble of nice words.’” Identifying this, and other differences, has given Toni new-found confidence in working with other cultures. “You have to understand those differences if you want to work internationally without offending your partners,” he says. “Even if you don't mean to be rude. The exchange program gave me the sense for handling and understanding that issue.”Haufe is back in Germany working on his thesis for his master’s degree that he defends in spring 2006. Recently, Haufe got an appointment for a job interview with an international company.
“I would never have received this invitation without my international experience,” he says. “I would resolutely encourage [anyone considering an international exchange] to take the next step. It may be not easy all the time, but it's definitely worth all efforts.” Toni adds, “I am really more than grateful that I got the chance of this exchange experience.”
