Conferences, meetings, entrepreneurship : When more than 100 innovative companies meet future EPITA’s engineers

Twice a year, students from the EPITA Parisian campus enjoy a week-long event focused on innovation and the professional world with FEMII, the Business Forum for companies in the engineering and IT sectors. In addition to numerous lectures on current topics given by experts, future engineers and young graduates have the possibility of meeting with representatives from more than 70 companies in all IT fields with the goal of securing an internship or first job. The most recent (and 38th!) edition was held from Monday October 8 to Friday October 12, 2018, drawing in a large number of professionals and students.

A complete panorama of new technologies

Thirty-some conferences were held by experts, covering topics such as automation, home automation, facial recognition, blockchain and even cyber security: this new edition of FEMII delivered on its promise to share knowledge. “We had a great panel this year, said Laurent Trébulle, director of career services at EPITA. Certain companies that were unable to participate in the previous editions came back, including Cisco, which spoke about challenges facing infrastructures. There was also a lecture given by Marc Darmon, executive vice-president of secure communications and information systems at Thales, and sponsor of the class of 2019. Other firms came for the first time to speak with students, such as BCG (Boston Consulting Group) which presented its new entity specialized in artificial intelligence (AI), BCG Gamma, and to meet with future data scientists.”

An international focus was placed on the conferences as well as the job and internship forum. “Google and Facebook were present. Google presented its AI work carried out on image processing while Facebook spoke about the recruitment policy implemented in its London offices”, explained Laurent Trébulle. Alex Hamelin (EPITA class of 2011) was also at the event to speak about his company Nvidia which, for three years, has been the leading employer of EPITA graduates outside of France. Each year, five or six 5th year students complete their end-of-studies internship at Nvidia, where they often stay on as full-time employees.” This is a great way for EPITA to respond to its students’ growing interest in other cultures, as many of them begin their professional careers abroad. “Last year, for example, 30% of our graduates found employment outside of France. Although the United States represents half of all positions filled, our IT graduates are also highly in demand by other countries, such as Benelux and Canada. Based in Vancouver and Dublin, Arista Networks hires many young engineers from EPITA. Other firms specialized in finance and consulting, such as Deloitte and KPMG, have also participated in the Forum over the past several years in order to recruit young professionals for their offices in Luxembourg. In terms of the United Kingdom, the situation remains quite favorable for our students despite the discussions about Brexit. Hence, London-based companies like Bloomberg and Expedia were also present at the event!”

What does FEMII represent? “An enormous advantage”

Not only do French and foreign companies show a great deal of interest in FEMII, so do EPITA students. Many would not miss the event for anything in the world. “I mainly went to learn more about the companies, what they offer and see what types of jobs the different EPITA majors lead to, explained Lisa, a 1st year student in the engineering cycle, as she was coming out of the large tent covering the entire campus courtyard. As I am still unsure about what I’d like to do later in life, everything looked interesting to me. For example, I had never thought of becoming a consultant, but now, after having met with several specialized companies, I think I might enjoy this field. In fact, the forum allows us to discover things that we would not have thought about looking into ourselves!” This opinion was also shared by Guillaume who, like Lisa, has just started the engineering cycle. We spend so much time at school that it is not always easy to find companies, so it is a huge advantage having them all here together. There are so many of them here, available and open to discussion, with some represented by Alumni… this event is really a great way to discover new concepts and find good ideas for internships!”

New this year: a morning entirely dedicated to EPITA-style entrepreneurship. “So that our Alumni, who have created their own companies, can meet with students and young graduates, we have set aside a special time on Friday morning with stands and conferences showcasing twenty-some success stories, such as Algolia, Realytics and even Estimeo, emphasized Laurent Trébulle. The idea is to allow these entrepreneurs to present their products and services, and more particularly to propose internship offers to our students and give them a taste for taking up enterprising projects.” According to Guillaume, this type of event leads to highly enriching discussions. “I came back specifically for this: to discover new companies and brand-new projects. And, speaking with Alumni is always very constructive. They were in our shoes a few years back, so they are aware of all the questions we may have!”

Organizing this first meeting was by no means taken lightly, and also reflects a real trend developing in engineering schools. “Although many of our students may be tempted to start their own business, it is best to assist them in this endeavor, said the director of career services. This is why EPITA and more generally, the IONIS Education Group, have created a new dynamic strategy to promote these projects launched by the students and Alumni. Moreover, certain EPITA students can do their internship in their own structure and others may choose to work on an open source project during their last year of studies, which may lead to the creation of a start-up. The school has also recently launched the EPITA StartUpLab Studio program that will enable students to take their entrepreneurial projects a step further!”

Accenture, AccorHotels, Advans Group, AirLiquide, Algofi, Alten, Anevia, Assystem Technologies, Aubay, Ausy, Axa, Backelite, Beijaflore, BearingPoint, Bentley, Bloomberg, BNP Paribas, Bouygues Telecom, Calypso, Canal+, Capfi, Capgemini, Criteo Labs, CGI, CNP, Dassault Systèmes, Deloitte, Digital.Secutiry Econocom, Devoteam, Doctolib, DXC.Technology, Expedia Group, Hewlett Packard Entreprise, IBM, Informatique CDC, Invivoo, IT Link, I-Tracing, Keyrus, KPMG, Linkvalue, LiptonFit, Margo, MC2I Groupe, MeilleursAgents, Metanext, Murex, Natixis, Netatmo, NetXP, Nexworld, Numberly, Nvidia, Octo Technology, Oracle, Orange, PWC, QuantMetry, Sagemco, SAP, Shadow, Smile, Société Générale, SoftBank, Softeam Group, Sogeti, Sopra Steria, Thales, VadeSecure, Viseo, Wavestone, Winamax.

1000Mercis Group, Accenture, BCG, Bouygues Telecom, Capfi, Capgemini, Cisco, Criteo, Dassault Systemes, Deloitte, Devoteam, Euronext, Facebook, Fontaine Consultants, Google, Hewlett Packard Entreprise, Idemia, Intel, Invivoo, Keyrus, Orange Cyberdefense, PaloAlto, Netatmo, Nvidia, Ubisoft, Smile, Squad, Systemis, Thales and Versusmind.

The following firms participated in the special EPITA entrepreneur forum at FEMII 2018:

Adikteev, Algolia, Alsid, Commanders Act, Crafty.im, Estimeo, Faveod, Hexaglobe, InnOpen, Jump, KawanTech, KeenEye, NeoVAD, Make Me Reach, Muzeek, Network Finances, NConcepts, iPaidThat, Portality, Qarnot, Realytics, Reworld Media, Seraphin Legal, Tiller, Usercube and XBTO.