Where do you work now and what does your job entail?
I currently work at Itility in Eindhoven, an IT consultancy firm. As a Data Engineer, I get to work on different projects for clients in the agrifood, energy and manufacturing industries. What my job exactly entails highly depends on the project, which allows me to keep challenging myself by learning about new fields of work while unlocking new technical and functional skills.
Why did you choose to work in this field?
Although I find research very interesting, I always knew that on the long run I would prefer to work in the industry. As a tech-savvy individual, it was really important for me to work hands-on with the new technologies and tools that are being developed. Consultancy was not a path that I specifically wanted to pursue, but Itility sparked my interest with a "consigneer" role, which stands for consultant engineer. Every employee has two hats: the engineer hat, working on solving a given technology problem and the consultant hat, working with and for a customer to bring value to them. Moreover, consultancy was appealing to me for a first job as I get to work on very different project, thereby discovering diverse industries and technical tools and broadening my horizons.
What did you learn during your studies that you now use in your work?
On a technical aspect, I am currently working on a GenAI project, creating a company chatbot. Thus, all of the programming, AI foundations and NLP principles that I am using have all been covered in my educational journey. Ethics for AI is always omnipresent in every step of an AI project.
On a non-technical aspect, my studies taught me way more than I realised at the time. First and foremost, working in a team is an essential skill that we learned at University. Communication, critical thinking, time management, presenting and writing are other skills fostered at University and are essential in my work, or in any other work.
How did you experience this programme at Radboud University? In your opinion, what made this programme special?
What I appreciated the most in the Cognitive Computing Master's specialisation is the flexibility that we, as students, have to shape our course programme as desired. As a curious person, I chose many courses from different Master's and genuinely enjoyed learning more about diverse topics.
Furthermore, every University employee that I have worked with was always very kind and helpful, as they all seemed to have the students' best interest at heart.
What advice do you have for students choosing a Master's programme?
Follow your instincts and go for what you believe to be the best path for you. Also, don't be afraid to change directions if you notice that after all this Master's was not made for you. No matter which programme you go for, use this time to experiment new things to figure out what you would like your future career to be, and also to discover yourself better. Most importantly, make sure to prioritise yourself and your mental health.