(written by Lise De Deyne - element61 Trainee in 2023)
Who are you and what are your educational goals?
My name is Lise De Deyne and I’m pursuing a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research – Transport and Mobility Engineering complemented with a minor in AI at Ghent University. During the summer between my two master's years, I wanted to gain some extra experience in the area of AI and realised an internship at element61 would be a great way to achieve this.
What did your internship look like? What did you do exactly?
My internship consisted of a comparative study on generative AI tools, and helping to develop an HR chatbot for the company. This entailed working with some cutting-edge AI technologies like LangChain and OpenAI, while also working with some Azure tools like Databricks. During the second part of the internship, I worked together intensely with another intern who was focusing on the same subject. This helped me to improve my teamwork & planning skills.
How did you experience the contact with the team of element61?
Everyone at the office was very welcoming and helped me out with any questions I had. Whenever I got stuck on something, I could always ask the people around me for help and I had a great experience working together with some of the team members of element61 who all seemed genuinely interested in what I was doing. The positive working environment served as a great source of motivation throughout my internship.
What is your biggest takeaway from the internship?
The most significant takeaway from this internship was how to deal with new and emerging technologies in the data science domain. Following tutorials for technologies that had only launched days or weeks earlier was definitely a challenge, but doing it has helped me greatly to improve my problem-solving skills.
What do you want to share with any future students considering an internship at element61?
If you’re considering doing an internship in the field of data science, element61 is a great option. Not only do they offer numerous interesting internships with various topics, but the team will help you in any way they can and make sure you learn as much as possible. In conclusion, I’m really glad I decided to do this internship, and will always be grateful for the valuable skills I learned.