The Starting Point: Berlin's Tech Scene
At the beginning of this year, I started my internship at Spyke GmbH in Berlin. This opportunity opened the doors to the world of AI Agentics, where I worked with n8n for the first time.
Interestingly, n8n is a true Berlin success story: the company behind this rapidly growing automation platform was founded in 2019 right in the heart of the capital. Today, it is equally popular among experienced software developers and hobbyist automators alike.
Mastering the Workflow: The Learning Path
n8n provides a structured learning environment through written courses and practical tutorials. I completed two primary levels:
Beginner Level: Focuses on core elements, basic building blocks of automation, and navigating the user interface.
Advanced Level: Deep dives into complex data structures, data flow management, processing techniques, and error-handling workflows.
The Certification: To earn a badge on your n8n community profile, you must pass a theoretical and a practical quiz with a score of at least 80%. This ensures that you don't just understand the theory, but can actually build functional workflows.
How n8n Works: The "Lego" of Automation
The software utilizes a visual, node-based low-code editor, which makes operation extremely intuitive. Here is an overview of the core components:
The Building Blocks
Component | Description |
Nodes | The "Lego bricks" of your structure. Each node performs a specific task. |
Triggers | The starting point. They react to events, user actions, or specific conditions. |
Actions | Operations that modify data or interact with external systems. |
Core Nodes | Provide logic, workflow control, scheduling, and API calls. |
Integration & Security
Connecting to external apps (Email, Cloud Storage, LLMs) is handled via Credentials. Whether it’s API tokens, certificates, or classic logins—n8n makes it easy to link endpoints via drag-and-drop.
Key Highlights
Project Collaboration: You can assign specific roles to users within projects to manage access rights precisely.
Workflow Templates: A massive library of pre-built, mostly free templates from the community. Perfect for not having to start from scratch.
AI Troubleshooting: An integrated AI tool suggests solutions directly if a workflow encounters a snag during execution.
Conclusion & Outlook
This experience has shown me that AI automation is no longer a futuristic concept, but an essential business strategy for modern productivity.
Thanks to n8n's step-by-step courses, the entry was incredibly insightful and user-friendly. I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants to dive into the world of automation. I am excited to see where these new skills in the world of AI agents will take me next!
n8n: A journey into the world of AI agents & automation
February 5, 2026
Rachel Mah - Trainee Agentic Workflow n8n @spyke
