This summer, 16 dedicated interns became part of our Population Data Science team. As their internships wrap up, we asked them to reflect on their time with us.
In this blog series, our interns will share the lessons they’ve learned, the skills they’ve honed, their accomplishments, and their goals for the future.
Name: Thomas Fricker
Line Manager & Mentor: Justin Biddle & Hazel Lockhart-Jones
Project title: Data Lifecycle Management – Tooling For Data Managers.
Looking back on your time with us, what are the key lessons and/or skills you have learned?
Resilience, Patience and Communication skills. I learnt how to program in C# better and how to use different frameworks, but I prefer to focus on the transferrable skills. Mainly, how to communicate as it is crucial in an environment like this to not only communicate your knowledge of the system and what work you have completed relative to the grand scheme of the project but also how to digest information. Moreover, it’s often not going to work first, second or third try, so being resilient became fundamental to producing good work.
Is there a specific accomplishment/moment from your internship you are especially proud of?
The RabbitMQ demo I created and the infrastructure to send messages to different exchanges work fluidly, and I am quite proud of it. It took me a while to understand both the project and what system to add to it. However, once I understood what to do it was nice to provide something that anybody working on the project in future can branch off of.
How has your understanding of Population Data Science changed during your internship?
I didn’t realise how much work goes into maintaining security. Working with the technical SERP team especially showed me that it’s taken very seriously and cannot be breached under any circumstance. I also think it’s interesting from a Software Dev perspective how we create software to handle such large volumes of data. It put my understanding of Big Data into perspective.
In what ways, if any, has this internship influenced your career plans?
I have learnt that I enjoy working over studying, for sure. I plan on looking into work in the data science field as I believe enabling research with quality tools through software is as important as the research itself; providing tools comes with a sense of purpose, which helps a lot in terms of drive to work.
What advice would you give to others thinking of applying to the internship programme?
Apply to many; it’s an amazing alternative to a year in industry (if not better, in my opinion) and an opportunity to really go for. Keep things simple but show that you are capable of further understanding, that you are adaptable and practice the skills that are listed in the job description.
Name: Toochukwu Ogbonna
Line Manager & Mentor: Sean Scully & Hywel Evans
Project title: Movement Across Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation and Evaluating Person-Time Years Across Quintile.
Looking back on your time with us, what are the key lessons and/or skills you have learned?
I have become better at writing SQL code and R code. I have also improved at differentiating situations where I need to take the initiative and those where I need to ask for help. As a result, my communication skills have improved.
Is there a specific accomplishment/moment from your internship you are especially proud of?
The presentation and being able to put it all together.
How has your understanding of Population Data Science changed during your internship?
I’ve been able to see the impact of work that goes on in SAIL and understand that the impact of the work is more important than just doing fancy work.
In what ways, if any, has this internship influenced your career plans?
It has made me more aware of the possibilities in this field. I think I have a more defined idea of what I’d like to do.
What advice would you give to others thinking of applying to the internship programme?
Many opportunities open up so apply to all that you think you can do. Tailor your applications to the particular position and include examples as much as possible. It is an incredible experience.
For more information on our Summer Intern Programme, visit https://popdatasci.swan.ac.uk/about-us/summer-internship-programme/