SISY 2024 Conference was a thrilling experience for both students and their Codespring mentors! One of the most exciting moments of Codespring’s well established Mentoring Programme is when the projects that our enthusiastic teams have been working on for up to a year, reach professional audience outside our organization. We are proud that Codespring’s students and their mentors were selected to attend the 22th edition of IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Systems and Informatics (SISY 2024) held in Croatia this September.

Codespring Mentoring Programme, which has been running for almost fifteen years, has already attracted hundreds of Transylvanian students studying computer science and informatics. Our long-term mentoring programme involves a series of technical trainings and real team projects  that they cand further present at their university exams or at academic conferences. They are being guided by our software developers from the planning of the project to their actual delivery and presentation for the university degree or as part of a scientific paper.

SISY 2024: IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Systems and Informatics

Codespring’s most talented student teams use to attend each year the International Symposium on Intelligent Systems and Informatics, which reached its 22^nd edition and was organized by the Óbuda University in Budapest, the Technical University of Subotica, the Croatian University of Technology, the Juraj Dobrila University in Pula and the IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Computational Cybernetics. This year’s event took place in the city of Pula, Croatia.

The two-day symposium aimed to provide an opportunity for researchers in the field of intelligent systems to expand scientific networking. The organisers have sought to facilitate researchers and academics from different institutions to find common research areas and foster joint projects.

High Quality Research Papers Presented by Codespring Students

For SISY 2024, the jury selected 101 out of 150 presentations in the field of information technology and intelligent systems. During the 2 days of the conference, researchers and students from Croatia, Hungary, Australia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Japan, Romania, Iran, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Russia, England, Poland, Serbia, Lebanon, Iraq, Denmark, Spain, Bangladesh, Germany and Thailand presented their projects in English. Among the invited projects, Codespring|Softech counted 5 student projects to show to the international audience; our trainees presented their work in the Computer Science and Intelligent Robotics sections:

• Smart gloves – Dávid V. (Mentors: Katalin P., F. Ferenc, Csaba S.)
• IoT Thread Matter – Levente Sz., Elek-Ákos K. (Mentors: Csaba G., Zsolt Sz., Ákos S., Csaba S.)
• Parker – Tibor K., Péter M. (Mentors: Norbert N.-S., Ákos Zs., Csaba S.)
• Parking lot visualiser – F. Mátyás, G. Máté (Mentors: F. Lóránt, Z. Attila, S. Károly)
• Balance robot – Cs. Alex (Mentors: Zsolt K., Endre Gy.)

Broader Perspectives

“The 2024 SISY conference meant a great ending of our mentoring adventure, deployed alongside the university. During the professional presentations, which included our own summer internship project, we were able to learn about the work of other students and professionals, which helped us to put our own project in a broader perspective”, summarised one of our students, Péter.

“The positive feedback I received during the application process already confirmed that my research was relevant and valuable. As a student, I was particularly honoured to participate in such a high-calibre event, which is organized not only for students, but also for the wider professional community. The fact that they accepted our research has shown that the work we put in really counts, whether I am a student or an experienced professional”, stated Ákos. He added that he was proud that his project was one of the first in its technological field, and that it featured novel technology aspects even for his experienced mentors.

Former Trainees Grow Into Young Mentors

A really pleasant outcome of the Codespring Mentoring Programme is that IT students can perform their tasks under the professional guidance of mentors, who themselves started their careers with us as interns. This gives them valuable insight into the process that makes their mentoring even more effective. Their commitment was proven by the effort they put into preparing their students for these presentations and by the way they followed their actual delivery.

“The conference was especially important for me, as one of my mentees, who I have been working with for over a year, held his first international presentation. It was also the first time I was involved in publishing a scientific paper. SISY 2024 Conference had a lot of interesting presentations, but for me the most important moment was the presentation of the student I guided myself through the mentoring programme. We prepared a lot for it and I think that Alex managed to overcome the technical hurdles during the presentation and successfully presented his work” – that’s how Zsolt, a young mentor summed up his positive experience.

“More than a year passes between the start of the internship and the presentation of the projects at SISY. I think that this is the most streamlined way to sum up the work of an entire year”, Katalin pointed out. As a mentor, she feels it is very nice to guide the project from the brainstorming session until the presentation of the students’ work at an international conference. And after a job well done, a conference in Croatia can be considered as a rewarding trip for both students and mentors.

Uplifting Travel, Scenic Locations

As well as the opportunity to make professional contacts, the host city also offered unrivalled sights to the visitors. After the conference, Codespring team spent the afternoon relaxing on the beautiful Croatian coast – the most adventurous ones even took a dip in the sea, and explored the stunning towns of Pula and Rovinj. “On the last day we also visited Rovinj, which is one of the most beautiful coastal towns I’ve ever been to. We were immediately captivated by the charm of the town. The colourful houses of the old town, the cobbled streets and the smell of the sea created a special atmosphere. We went up to the Church of St Euphemia, which offered a beautiful view of the city and the Adriatic Sea. It was a perfect balance between work and relaxation”, said our colleagues, summing up their experience.