“My favourite moment was when my managers trusted me to run a solo project”
Welcome to #humansofcodam — the internship special!
In these interview series, the students share successes and losses, memorable and learning moments, and everything in between!
Meet Flint (25) @ TomTom International B.V. 🙌
Tomtom is a big international company, that nowadays is focussed on self-driving cars, data and navigation devices in cars and apps.
Looking back over the past 6 months: what skills did you gain?
“I came to TomTom as a machine learning intern with no knowledge of machine learning at all. At the end of my internship I have learnt to work a lot with python, using libraries as keras, tensorflow, scikit and more. I have also learnt a lot about neural networks, especially Convolutional Neural Networks and other machine learning algorithms like SVM and decision tree.”
What was your favourite moment during your internship?
“My favourite moment was when my managers trusted me to run a solo project for them, using everything I had learnt in the months prior about machine learning that could actually be used by TomTom. I had to work with different teams in TomTom which helped me learn to communicate in a big company and not be afraid to ask questions.”
How have you changed during your internship?
“I became a lot more confident in my programming skills.”
What was the toughest challenge during your internship?
“I started my internship a week before the corona lockdown. Working from home was very tough on me at the start. There are a lot of distractions, and you don’t meet new people at the office to connect with. Also communication can be difficult especially as a learning intern when you have questions.”
What surprised you the most, either about yourself or about the internship?
“How relaxed my managers were about me learning, and giving me all the time to learn and find my place. I didn’t feel any pressure which was really nice.”
If your internship coordinator would describe you in one sentence, what would he/she say?
“I hope a smiling intern that isn’t afraid to ask questions, but sometimes worries about the details too much.”
What are your next steps?
“I have been asked to be a part of a small start up/learning project using my knowledge of Neural Networks that I have learnt at TomTom.”
Codam Coding College is the only peer-to-peer coding institution in the Netherlands, with a world-class curriculum empowering the next leading generation of tech talent. Through our educational model, students are trained to become qualified software engineers and design inclusive solutions for the challenges of today and tomorrow! At Codam, students build technical expertise and grow adaptability, autonomy, and empathy, in close collaboration with private and public partners. We believe Codam students are ready to #writethefuture!
