Frederik, Working Student Product Management

Hi, I'm Freddy, I'm currently studying software engineering and have been working at CHECK24 in Berlin for the "Profis" product since October 2023. There I support the product management team as a working student.

After completing my business degree in Nuremberg, I took a full-time job as a product manager at a startup. To be honest, I didn't know exactly what this meant or what to expect at the time. However, I quickly realized that I found the combination of the many different fields you come into contact with as a product manager super exciting and varied, and I wanted to pursue this professionally. So when I moved to Berlin for my second degree, I looked for a working student job in this field. With CHECK24, I am now at a much larger company that has definitely retained its startup-like character.

My day usually starts with coffee and muesli before I check the news and emails from the last few days. After that, I typically test features until it's time for our daily standup. During this meeting, we briefly discuss and agree on the current topics of the individual team members. I'm usually responsible for two features simultaneously, each in different phases of our product management cycle. I work on them throughout the rest of the day. Consequently, I test new features and develop concepts for planned improvements concurrently. This combination makes the work here incredibly exciting; there are often only a few minutes between writing tickets, providing feedback, documenting, and brainstorming, requiring quick thinking - so it never gets boring.

What's great about the working hours is that I can determine them flexibly myself. This really helps me combine my studies with my job and work up to 20 hours a week.

Because the 'Profis' product is still relatively young, some very fundamental features are still in development and being introduced. This is fascinating, as it allows for clear visibility of significant steps in the product's development. One of the most exciting projects for me was the creation of a page where our customers can directly calculate the approximate costs of their painting and wallpapering work. The best part of this was, of course, providing customers with new added value and a helpful tool. From a product management perspective, creating the logic, ensuring the right communication and design, and implementing it operationally together with the developers were the most interesting aspects for me and were a lot of fun.

I highly recommend students who want to work with a energetic team with very flat hierarchies, learn a lot in a short time, and quickly take on responsibility to apply for the working student positions or internships in product management at CHECK24. The resulting steep learning curve, combined with flexible working hours, makes this job perfect for gaining initial experience in this area during your studies.