Today, we spotlight Denys Fedorchuk for our latest #LifeOfAnIntern, our series that captures interns working across various industries around the world.
Denys is currently an intern working at EastBanc Technologies, a platform-agnostic, full-lifecycle software development company delivering flexible technology solutions. Based in Georgetown, this is a dream internship opportunity for any student interested in pursuing a future in tech.
As a part of Denys’ internship program, he’s had some great learning experiences with ownership of many of his projects. We are thrilled to share his story with the Symba community and show the world how interns are doing some valuable work for companies. Take a look at what Dennis is up to.
Hi Denys, thanks for joining us! Could you tell us what your role at EastBanc is and how you got your internship?
I'm a Data Science Research intern at EastBanc. I found this internship through a friend who knows EastBanc Chairman Wolf Ruzicka. This friend reached out to Wolf and asked if there were any opportunities for me. Wolf then passed on the word to EastBanc employees that I was looking for an internship and this opportunity was found!
Referrals are a great way to find internships! How would you describe a typical day at your internship?
Work starts at 10am. The day begins with writing code for a particular assignment. For instance, I might have to parse a giant Excel spreadsheet (millions of cells) and make sense of it all. Excel cannot handle this kind of workload, so a programming framework such as Spark has to be used to manipulate the data. After the manipulation program is ready, I run it on the giant spreadsheet (which can take hours), and in the end I get a smaller spreadsheet with all the data organized. Then, using that data, I have to train the prediction models, which takes hours as well. While the code is running, I might either work on another assignment or find something else to do while I wait. There are also meetings in the middle of the day where we discuss projects and next assignments.
Describe a unique experience your internship has provided you.
The internship gave me the ability to learn Data Science from scratch. I observed and learned actual methods for data research, data manipulation, and future predictions based on random data.
My favorite experience was the neural vision project, where I had train a machine to recognize objects in images live from a webcam. It was hard to do, but it was also very rewarding when I figured something out. Eventually this project was used to pitch a product to a potential customer. This experience makes me feel like my work is actually pretty useful to the company.
That sounds cool! So what would you say is the top thing you've learned during your internship so far?
You learn everything only when you struggle. I completed assignments which I have never thought I could do. The internship challenged my knowledge and made me complete tasks with no clue on how to even begin. I always thought that there would be more hand-holding when you intern, but I was wrong, and it's helped me to grow.
How has your intern manager helped to make your internship experience better?
My intern manager kept giving me interesting tasks to complete. In that way, instead of doing boring temp work, I actually did useful and fun things.
How have you tried to make the most out of your internship experience?
There have been a lot of times where I put in more hours that I was supposed to, but it was all worth it in the end and I had fun.
Last but not least, what advice would you give to future interns?
It is the usual advice that every intern gives to another intern. First, do not give up after an hour of trying. Nobody will hold your hand while you complete an assignment. Do what has to be done and you will learn so much. Google is your God. Second, ask a lot of questions but don't be annoying. If you have been stuck doing something for a whole day, maybe it is better to ask someone who is more knowledgeable in that field. People love to help. Lastly, go out for company gatherings, they are fun and you get to know people. Plus, you might get free drinks.
Check out the other interns we've featured for #LifeOfAnIntern here.
By Ahva Sadeghi
