Intern Talk: Dries Vereecken

At Tobania, we are passionate about providing people with the opportunity to grow and improve themselves. Including Young Potentials and students, who are about to start their professional journey. Divided over different business units and departments, they are taught the ins and outs of the professional workplace. And they are eager to share their first experiences with you! Featured in this issue: Dries Vereecken, Intern at Tobania.Data (Python Predictions).  

Can you briefly introduce yourself, Dries?  

Hello, my name is Dries Vereecken and I am currently studying Business Administration (Management and IT) at UGent, as I have always been interested in the intersection of IT and business. 

In which unit did you work and what was your role exactly? 

I have just finished my 11-week internship at the Tobania.Data (Python Predictions) business unit. Within the team, I worked as a Data Scientist on a project for a non-profit organisation that is a partner in the field of integration for people with a migration background. 

Why did you choose Tobania? 

I was particularly inspired by the success stories on the Python Predictions website. Since I am intrigued by data science, the customer cases of the data team really appealed to me. Therefore, there is nothing more fun than being able to start your own first project in this field. 

If you could rate your internship out of 10, how much would it be?  

I find it hard to think of reasons to rate my internship lower than a 10. The cliché expectation that students often seem to carry, that they have to perform all the tasks nobody else wants to do, Python Predictions completely overrode. I was given my own project in which I was offered plenty of opportunities to grow and improve my skills. 

What did your usual workday look like? 

My regular working day consisted mainly of attending meetings with my mentor Samuel Franssens, the customer or the entire data team. I then incorporated the insights from those meetings into the coding of my project. 

Could you rely on a mentor during your internship?  

For my project, I was able to call on the experience and expertise of my colleague Sam. He has guided me in various matters, from analysing the project’s technical aspects and statistics to presenting the results and maintaining customer relations. 

What learning tools did you get from us in order to grow?  

The monthly Share 2 Know sessions were definitely something to look forward to. They were the perfect opportunity to gain new knowledge by listening to the expertise of the rest of the team. This combined with the guidance of my mentor Sam, the lectures of Geert (Co-founder & Managing Partner Python Predictions), and other interesting talks like the Data Stories sessions, resulted in a very insightful internship. 

How would you describe our Tobian community in three words? 

The three words I would choose are ‘open’, ‘welcoming’ and ‘inspiring’.