Robin Vanden Ecker has a KULeuven master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Artificial Intelligence. He has been working as a data scientist at Devoteam for two years. Robin talks about his career in the interview below.
How has your career path been up until now?
Devoteam was the beginning of my career in 2017. I started working as data engineer in a big data project within one of the largest telecom companies in Belgium. This way, I learned a lot about data processing and after a couple of months I transitioned to data science. Currently, I’m still working on this project, but now as lead data scientist.
Already during my first week, I knew that a data science project perfectly aligned with my interests. I got a ‘crash course’ in the big data technologies used and broadened my domain knowledge of the telecom sector, which was necessary in order to be able to work efficiently with the data.
What have you learned up until now?
I started with the processing part of big data to get to know these technologies. Thanks to transitioning to data science, I can apply the knowledge I gathered during my studies to big data. I learned a lot about optimisation and choosing algorithms. On top of that, I made myself familiar with the agile development process and learned how to explain the technical aspect of data science to top management with no technical background.
Recently, I got the opportunity to tap into this knowledge for technical sales activities like making new customers aware of Devoteam’s expertise. I’m also responsible for sharing my knowledge with two juniors.
What do you want to achieve in the future?
Now that Hortonworks has merged with Cloudera, I want to become Cloudera certified for data science as quickly as possible.
Moreover, there is a new and exciting data science project within the telecom sector with a focus on streaming analytics in order to gain insights into the data ‘in real time’.
Why do you like working at Devoteam and why would you recommend the company?
Despite of the fact that consultants are spread across many different projects, there is still a lot of contact between everyone, thanks to the numerous initiatives. As a result, we keep learning about technologies and algorithms that are used at other projects.
My general interest in the subject also strongly motivates me. I love doing my job and finding solutions for complex data problems is very fulfilling.
Already after a short period of time, I became the contact point at the customer’s company for everything that has to do with big data and data science.
What is the most interesting aspect of working at Devoteam? And what are three advantages?
We are represented at a lot of large companies and because each corporation has its own way of working, we are able to compare, look at the advantages and disadvantages and exchange ideas.
What I find especially interesting about my job in particular, is the fact that I keep learning about new algorithms and methods that are applicable to my work.
Three advantages of working at Devoteam that I have discovered are:
- Our customers are mainly large companiesin Belgium
- Devoteam is a Cloudera partner
- The cooperation between Devoteam colleaguesis very good despite the fact that everyone is working at different projects