Bram Baestaens is studying Applied Computer Science at the UCLL Proximus campus, specialising in AI. To obtain his bachelor’s degree, Bram was required to do an internship. After a long search and endless emails, he came across a message saying that DNS Belgium always has space for interns. He applied and that’s how he was able to start working with us.
What did you do during your internship?
Bram: ‘I worked on the batch implemention of version two of the Mercator web crawler, as well as on the wappalyzer, which is a feature that detects languages on a webpage, and on the classifier for low-content websites and fake webshops. These assignments tied in well with my specialist area as I am particularly interested in the data engineering aspect of AI.
Without high-quality data, you can’t start training models. And because I didn’t have much of my own experience with this – we only learned basic concepts in class – I was able to learn a lot at DNS Belgium.’
Does a student’s interest or knowledge play a role in the internship assignment?
Pieter (intern supervisor): ‘Bram demonstrated a keen interest in crawlers during the application process and already had some experience with them. His enthusiasm was the deciding factor in our decision to hire him and put him to work on our web crawler.’
‘Being part of a positive working environment with experienced coworkers who were always willing to help and share their knowledge made my internship an unforgettable experience.’
Did you see Bram grow during his internship?
Pieter: ‘You bet. Although Bram works very independently, at the outset he was a little hesitant to consult and check things with us. But as time went by, he started to become more willing to contribute to discussions about some of the decisions we had to make. All in all, he became more relaxed as his internship progressed.’
How did you find working in the team?
Bram: ‘Very positive. If I got stuck on something, I could always turn to one of my supervisors, who would then work with me to find a solution to the problem. The daily stand-up meetings also ensured that we always knew what everyone else on the team was working on so that we didn’t change each other’s code without anyone knowing about it.’
What impact did having an intern have on the way you work, or on your team dynamic?
Pieter: ‘It made us more aware of how we work together as a team and how things are not always clearly defined for newcomers. That is in no way a criticism of Bram, but rather a comment on ourselves. It meant that we also benefited as a team from the way the internship was viewed and supervised.
Personally, I would approach any future internships differently and set aside longer chunks of time to engage actively with the student. Even if it meant putting my own work on hold for a while.’
'As a team we also benefited from the way the internship was supervised.'
And, Bram, what did you learn during your internship?
Bram: ‘To be very specific: how to use DuckDB. I find it a very useful tool and will definitely continue to use it after my internship finishes. I also really like the way DNS Belgium works, because it makes code easier to read than the method we learned at school.’
Who would you recommend an internship at DNS Belgium to?
Bram: ‘Actually to anyone studying computer science. Working at DNS Belgium gives you the chance to gain hands-on experience with relevant technologies that you may not be familiar with yet. And you’ll be guided by experienced mentors and colleagues who always take the time to help you with any questions you may have. An internship at DNS Belgium is a unique opportunity to gain technical and business experience, as well as to develop skills that will help you in your future career.’
‘I was made to feel very welcome in the team right from the start. Yes, working in a positive environment with experienced people who were always willing to help and share their knowledge made my internship an unforgettable experience.’
Internship
Want to acquire a first work experience as an intern? That's possible at DNS Belgium. We welcome students from a wide range of disciplines: computer science, economics, communication and commercial engineering, to name a few.
Let's explore together how we can make it a successful internship.