At Millennium, we support young talents and their development. In line with this, we opened our doors to Tomáš and Michal, third-year students at the C. S. Lewis Lyceum in Bratislava. The boys are part of the school's founding class, which allows them to participate in shaping the study process and provide feedback. As part of their education, they also take part in internships. With us, under the guidance of our AI expert Lukáš Mikulič, they focus on the field of artificial intelligence.
Tomáš: My studies focus on connecting technical skills with business. We gain a foundation in entrepreneurship while also learning programming. I chose this path because I’m interested in technology. Programming gives me a technical base, while the business part brings dynamism and variety – it’s not monotonous work.
Michal: It’s very similar for me. In the first two years, all students have the same focus, and after the second year, everyone picks a specialisation. I believe that the combination of technical and business knowledge has great potential in practice.
Both: Last semester was our first internship. We were both in tech-oriented companies where we got to know the corporate environment. It was more theoretical, called “job shadowing,” where we sort of followed the company in the background and observed how things work in practice.
Lukáš (mentor): The boys are doing research comparing commercially available AI models, analysing which is most suitable for various types of problems based on specific industry segments. We plan to use their findings in the further development of our AI solution – Millada.
Tomáš: It’s great to work directly in a real work environment. I have a manager who gives me specific tasks, and we focus on an assignment that has a clear goal and outcome. We also receive feedback while working, which helps us a lot.
Michal: I agree with Tomáš. It’s a big difference compared to school assignments. Here we get a chance to experience a real workday, we’re among colleagues, and we’re working on a real company project. It’s a great experience.
Michal: We had a workshop about studying abroad. I always wanted to study abroad. But after learning what it really involves – finding housing, part-time jobs, integrating into a new environment, making new friends – I started thinking more about it. I’m not so sure anymore if it’s the right path for me. If I decide not to go to university, I’d definitely like to work in IT.
Tomáš: I’m really looking forward to studying abroad. I’d like to go somewhere in the north – maybe Finland or Denmark. I like places where not that many people go to study, and that’s why I’m most drawn to Finland. I want to improve my English and continue developing in computer science.
Lukáš (mentor): University can help a young person become more responsible and independent. On the other hand, I think if someone is already active and driven in high school, they don’t necessarily need university. In job interviews, the main thing is the entrance test and applicants´ skills. New hires are often treated as juniors whether they finished high school or university. What matters is how skilled, motivated, and willing to grow they are. Both paths – university or straight into work – have their pros and cons. Everyone chooses their own journey.
Tomáš: I think it will have a huge impact. AI will be everywhere in the programming world. It can speed up processes – we no longer have to write code for simple and repetitive tasks ourselves, AI can do it in seconds. That’s a big help and efficiency boost. But even so, the outputs always need to be checked.
Tomáš: AI can do a lot – mimic voices, recognise sounds, generate texts. The only thing it still struggles with is the most up-to-date information or very rare, niche data.
Lukáš (mentor): I see a risk in the growing reliance on AI, because its outputs are getting better. For example, a programmer trusting AI-generated code might not notice if there’s a “backdoor” hidden in it for someone outside the company. That could be a major risk.
Young people also miss out on learning how to code properly because AI is being used even during the learning process. Students use AI to assemble code, but they skip the step of learning to build it from scratch. That’s a problem – a junior programmer might miss code details that a senior who learned to write code would catch. When you write your own code, you understand it better and can review it more thoroughly. That’s a big advantage.
Michal: Exactly, that’s true. Even school projects are so fast-paced now that there’s no time to go deep. With shorter codes it’s manageable, but with larger projects, there just isn’t enough time.
Tomáš: There are fewer girls at our school overall. In the first year, there were 40 boys and only 10 girls. Only one girl chose programming, about 20 boys did. The rest went the business route.
Michal: I think it has to do with how society is set up. Girls aren’t exposed to technical or mechanical things as much. The stereotype still prevails that IT is more of a “guys’ thing.”
We are keeping our fingers crossed for Tomáš and Michal in their studies and decisions about what direction they will take after graduating from high school.
