EP 2: Almost graduated and ready for your first job as a data professional?

Listen to the second episode of the Data Choice cast!

Podcast
Working at
Data Analytics

Stijn van Geene

Graduation intern

2 min

08 Jun 2022

How do you find out what you want, and what do you look for in job vacancies? Will you opt for a big or small company, consultancy firm or something else? These are some of the questions that our graduation intern Stijn had to face. He entered into discussions with his colleagues to find answers to these questions. The result? The Data Choice Cast! In this podcast, Stijn asks all his pressing questions and receives tips that help him (and hopefully you, too) to make the right choice for a job in the data world.

Did you miss Episode 1? You can listen to it here >

Episode 2: Niels Bosmans

This second episode features Niels, employed by Digital Power as a data analyst since September 2021. In June 2021, he completed his Master's in Digital Business, where he came into contact with Analytics. This blog provides an overview of several important insights and tips from the conversation.

Listen to the (Dutch) podcast or scroll down to read the article.

Personal Branding

During his studies, Niels has already been consciously working on a bit of personal branding and building a LinkedIn profile. "You have to present yourself properly if you are going to sell yourself in the job market," Niels said. It is also important to keep this up to date throughout your career. "It's something you take with you for the rest of your life." For example, Niels always checks a new person's LinkedIn profile when talking to them. This way, he gets a picture of this person and his/her background.

Make a choice

My first real contact with a recruiter was with a recruiter from Digital Power. Three interviews later, he was hired. The choice had to be made quickly. Difficult, but according to Niels, you always have doubts when you have to make big choices like these; always a certain degree of uncertainty. By asking a lot during the conversations, he had all the information he needed to make a choice: "I was able to make the right choice based on this information. In the end, you just have to take the plunge." If I may offer a tip, it would be: to determine in advance which questions you want answers to so that you can make the best choice.

Ask questions

During the conversations, Niels quickly asked for a consultant to join in, someone from the shop floor who occupies the same position. There he asked questions "that had to be answered", especially about the more abstract things such as culture and atmosphere within the company. By asking concrete questions about the latest team outings and social gatherings, you find out what it is really like at the company.

Big vs.small company

A recurring theme in the podcast is the difference and choice between big and small companies. After an internship at a company of 120,000 people, Niels noticed that this didn't quite suit him. A lot of bureaucracy and constant pressure to create internal support. Ultimately, he still works for large companies such as ING and ANWB via Digital Power, but this way, the size of the company is less noticeable. "I experience the disadvantages of a big company much less now because Digital Power is my home base."

Tips from Niels

Do personal branding via LinkedIn
Talk to people who are already working in the same field
Be cheeky in conversations: ask what you want to ask
Make a choice: once you have all the answers you need, don't hesitate too long
Think ahead when choosing your Minor

Are you curious about what it's like to work as a data consultant at Digital Power?

Discover more about working at Digital Power or view our job vacancies.

This is a podcast with Stijn van Geene

Stijn is a Data Scientist/Engineer graduate who wrote his Masters thesis with Digital Power's data engineering team. He is broadly interested in the fields of data, business and entrepreneurship, which is also how a passion for making podcasts was born.

Stijn van Geene