My name is Jochem Widdershoven and I work as a working student Data & AI Engineer at Beeminds. I am also following the master Data Science for Food and Health at Wageningen University & Research. My studies revolve a lot around modeling, making predictions and programming in Python. This fits nicely at Beeminds, but there the focus is more on data engineering and improving processes.
I came in contact with Beeminds through my friend Max, who also works at Beeminds. I previously had a side job as a data engineer at the university and when that ended, Max told me that my work was actually very similar to what they do at Beeminds. After talking to Richard and Marco, it turned out to be a good match.
Right now I’m working on deletion vectors. That sounds complicated, but the bottom line is that I am researching how to process certain data smarter so that processes become faster.
The day begins with coffee
Around 8:30 a.m. I wake up in my studio in Wageningen. The first thing I do? Make coffee. I have a coffee maker that allows me to grind my own beans and I enjoy doing that. Then I have breakfast with yogurt, oatmeal and fruit. Then I shower quickly and start my work day for Beeminds.
I start the day with the daily stand-up with all my colleagues. There I hear what others are working on and I can tell them myself what I’m working on. I like that because it keeps me well connected to the team, even though I work flexibly alongside my studies.
Working towards a faster Intelligentive®
My work usually starts with an internal ticket. I often get those from Marco or Axel. Right now I’m working on deletion vectors. That sounds complicated, but the bottom line is that I am researching how we can process certain data smarter so that processes become faster.
I do tests, compare results and report back what I found. If it turns out that something works faster, I look at how we can apply that within Intelligentive®. Ultimately, much of my work revolves around making the platform more efficient. So that clients will soon be able to work faster with their data.
What I really like is that Marco and Axel really take the time to explain things. I am still a student and had not worked with programs like Microsoft Fabric before, for example. In the beginning it was a bit of a search, but they really helped me understand why we do things in a certain way. This helps me learn a lot.
What I really like is that Marco and Axel really take the time to explain things. As a result, I learn a lot.
Eight sandwiches and a quick trip to the gym
Around noon, it’s time for lunch. My lunch is simple: I usually eat eight cheese sandwiches. That may sound like a lot, but I also exercise a lot and just need a lot of fuel. Besides, it fits perfectly within a student budget. After that, I go to gym for a while.
From Beeminds to college
At 2 p.m., my lecture begins. Right now I am starting the course Advanced Machine Learning. Among other things, it deals with reinforcement learning: algorithms that learn through rewards and punishments. Soon we will start a project on dynamic pricing. Then we will investigate how to predict the best price for a product, so that it sells as well as possible and as little food is wasted as possible.
Usually I have lecture first and then a practical, in which we apply the theory right away. Around 5:15 p.m. I finish at the university.
Studio night with friends
After college, my evening varies from day to day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to athletic training at Tartlétos. Here I mainly do running and train for races between five to ten kilometers and very occasionally I run a half marathon. Today, however, I am meeting up with friends from training. We all live in a studio and since we no longer have roommates, we organize our own studio night. Actually, that’s like a house night, but at someone’s studio.
We cook together, eat extensively and then have tea with something nice. The other day, for example, we made creamy tagliatelle with salmon. Sometimes we play a game, such as Ticket to Ride, but mostly we spend most of our time cooking, catching up and doing the dishes.
What makes my workday successful?
My day is successful when I can send Axel or Marco a message with: this is what I figured out, this is what I applied and this is the result. Especially when I notice that my work helps to make Intelligentive® another bit faster or more efficient. Then I have not only learned something, but also really contributed something. And that is what makes working at Beeminds so much fun for me.
share post
