In the Levi9 office in Zrenjanin, winter is reserved for knowledge sharing and teamwork. This year’s .NET Winter Workshop once again brought together students and young IT enthusiasts eager to gain hands-on experience in software development. Through an intensive, multi-week internship, participants worked on real-world tasks with the mentorship and support of our experienced colleagues.
Behind the Scenes: Tools, Tech, and Techniques
The focus of this year’s workshop was on advancing object-oriented programming skills using SOLID principles, solving logic and algorithmic challenges, and designing relational databases by applying normalization principles. Through practical examples, participants developed Web APIs using ASP.NET Core and mastered the integration of various services via MS Azure technologies.
They worked with C# (.NET 8 and 9), PostgreSQL, Azure Functions, Table and Queue Storage, as well as several useful libraries such as FluentValidation, FluentAssertions, MediatR, and AutoMapper. Naturally, the entire process followed a modern development workflow: from SCRUM/Agile methodology, through functionality implementation, refactoring, QA tasks, and application deployment to Azure — publicly available as a concrete result of their internship.
What the Mentors and Participants Had to Say
As Milan Kojadinović, one of the Levi9 mentors who worked with the participants, explains:
“.NET Winter Workshop has become a recognized brand within Levi9 as part of our commitment to social responsibility. Through this program, we offer young IT talents the opportunity to gain practical, industry-based knowledge. The long-standing continuity of this workshop ensures the quality of content, carefully selected topics, and concrete challenges that allow participants to grow their skills and stand out in the job market.”
In addition to Milan, the mentors included Srđan Matić, Ivana Sovilj, Bogoljub Šojić, Stefan Milankov, Milan Despotov, and Marko Tatić.
“.NET Winter Workshop is an excellent simulation model of a professional development environment. The students independently designed and implemented complete solutions with expert support from mentors. This approach fosters the development not only of technical skills but also of professional and teamwork habits essential for success in the IT industry,” said Marko.
Of course, the feedback wouldn’t be complete without the participants’ perspective.
“I would recommend this workshop to everyone, even to those who think they don’t know C#, .NET, or any of the topics covered,” said Milica Đisalov, one of the participants. “The mentors really made an effort to explain everything in the best possible way. In a relatively short period of time, we covered big and important topics, making this workshop a valuable addition to any CV.
The mentors and other employees I had the chance to meet were professional, ready to help, but also very pleasant to talk to, joke around with — or even play a game of billiards!”
When asked about the biggest benefits of attending this workshop, participant Marija Kuručki shared:
“The biggest advantages were the practical application, mentorship support, and the focus on developing skills beyond just coding. Everything was adapted to a real-world environment — working in pairs and simulating client work, such as tasks involving APIs and Azure, helped prepare us better for the challenges we’ll face in real work settings.”
At the closing event of the .NET Winter Workshop, held in April at our Zrenjanin office, we had the opportunity to hear presentations of the participants’ solutions and celebrate our shared success. For students, this internship was their first real step into the world of professional software development. For us at Levi9, it’s yet another way to share knowledge with young IT talents and prepare the next generation of developers for the challenges ahead.
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