From Clueless to True Love: My Internship Experience
December 26, 2018
It’s already the end of 2018 and most of you would be finding internship programs fit for your interests and needs. Well here’s a post for you: for you who is confused on what career path to take, for you who has heard of Data Science and ML, for you who is very interested in data analysis.
Last June 2017, I was lucky to be part of the internship program of Thinking Machines. Here’s a brief intro on what the company is about:
Thinking Machines is a data science consultancy company based in Manila. They have helped clients all over the world become data-driven and to use data to make better decisions. They specialize in 4 areas: Data Strategy, Data Engineering, Machine Learning & AI, and Data Visualization.
But how did I end up here?
Well, let’s go back to December 2016. I was scrolling through my Twitter feed to pass my boredom when I came across this visualization of Hamilton by Shirley Wu. I was amazed. It’s like when you see someone and you instantly fall for that person. I was like that, but with data visualization. You see, I was a Computer Science student; so I thought software engineering or web development would be the only career paths that I could take. But I was wrong. There is a whole, new space called Data Science and Machine Learning that is just emerging especially here in the Philippines.
So when I saw that visualization, I was star-strucked. I said to myself, “This is what I want to do in the future.” And so on January 2017, I started looking for companies here in the Philippines that cater on Data Visualization and Data Analysis. But then I realized, there aren’t a lot of Data Science companies that are hiring interns. Heck, there aren’t a lot of Data Science companies in the Philippines.
And so I searched and searched through Google until I found Thinking Machines. I browsed their website, their stories, and I had that same feeling when I saw the interactive visualization of Hamilton: “I want to work here”.
And so, I went through the application process and I got lucky to be hired as an intern for the Data Storytelling team. Would you believe that my love for Data Viz happened in a snap of a finger and now I’m working under the same people who built really beautiful interactives? My 2017 self wouldn’t even!
Now, why am I telling you this?
You might have come upon this post because of three things:
- You’re looking of possible internship programs because you are unsure of you’re career path.
- You’ve heard of the buzz words “Data Science” and “Machine Learning” and you want to know how the industry works.
- You’re really looking for Data Science internship programs.
Well, you’re on the right page because I’m gonna show why you need to work in a Data Science company in this Artificial Intelligence era.
As a computer science student, I was mainly taught on software engineering and web development. But I didn’t want to be stuck on that career forever. I wanted something new that piqued my interest. And since I value design as well, I wanted to be able to nurture both my analytical and design skills.
And I’ve made the right decision.
Through my internship at Thinking Machines, I was able to apply my design and analytical skills. Now, this internship isn’t about making coffee or printing documents. I actually contributed on client projects. Thinking Machines is startup company, so we really move fast-paced. This means that every single resource should be used efficiently. So, even as an intern, I was pretty active on both internal and client projects.
By the end of my internship program, together with my co-interns, we were able to publish a blog post titled “Kailan ka ikakasal? Four data-driven comebacks to use at your next family reunion”.
Why Data Science? Well, there’s 4 areas you can excel on. If you’re more on the marketing and strategy side, if you want to help people understand their data and use it to their advantage, then this is the type of job you can pursue.
If you want to be involved in how data is being ingested, stored, and connected to various sources, then the role of data engineering may be fit for you.
If you are interested in creating Machine Learning models and analyzing data, the ML & AI track fits for you.
And if you’re like me who wants to dig into the data and find interesting patterns and present them in a beautiful visualization, then you can apply for Data Storytelling roles.
Thinking Machines excel on these areas but there are still a lot of space uncovered and you might have a hand on that. We are very welcome to have a chat with you.
You can check Thinking Machines’ stories and case studies to see how data has helped clients solve their business problems.
Fast-forward to the end of 2018. I graduated from college last June and now I’m currently working at the same company I was hired as an intern.
When people say “I want to get my dream job by the age of 30”, I can definitely say “I already got it.”
Thinking Machines is also hiring! If you’re interested on learning more about us, you can email me at bianca@thinkingmachin.es
You can also check the list of jobs we’re opening here.