We have recently had two of our very first interns from the Australian National University complete an internship program with us. It was a mutually fantastic experience worth highlighting due to the learnings and contributions made. Both Ming and Manuwai made such an impression on us that they have officially become part of the Castlepoint Systems team, and we are so pleased to have them.
As a relatively new company ourselves, we can see the value in emerging professional talent. We believe in innovation and opportunity, and our team reflects this. Diversity, various professional expertise, and a range of perspectives inspire innovation and meaningful team collaboration. Castlepoint is eager to provide opportunities to university students and graduates with skills and interest in data science, AI, and regulatory systems, with hopes of building long-lasting and enriching professional relationships.
The best people to tell the story of the internships are the interns themselves. Firstly, let us introduce Ming Liu. Ming is currently completing his Masters of Computing at ANU, specialising in machine Learning.
What have you found most interesting whilst at Castlepoint?
My experience at the Castlepoint company is not like a traditional developer of IT industry, but a job at the laboratory doing practical experiments. I have strong passion in discovering Machine learning techniques, so I am quite interested in testing and evaluating different models and approaches that could improve the current Castlepoint application.
What are some skills or learnings you’ve gained at Castlepoint?
The experiments we did at Castlepoint have significantly helped me integrate my theoretical knowledge on machine learning into real industry problems. My own professional skills were notably improved with using Python libraries, Docker, Git and other tools. Despite our different professional backgrounds Manuwai and I were able to work together, discussing and exchanging information frequently. We experimented on different directions of document analysis due to the minimal crossover rule. This gave us both further understanding of each other’s fields.
Castlepoint is a very collaborative work environment which provided a lot of support. We had weekly catch-up meetings with the team, an open plan workspace, and office lunches on a regular basis. Additionally, the interview process and internship presentations were conducted in a friendly yet formal manner. I found all of these experiences have significantly improved my communication skills in the workplace and I feel far more confident in a professional environment. I must particularly thank Gavin (co-founder and CTO) and Enming (Junior Data Analyst) for their warm support as they helped me stay grounded and assisted me through several challenges.
What was your favourite thing about being part of the Castlepoint team?
As a second-year Masters student, I am so lucky to have joined such a lovely team and have a great time with everyone at Castlepoint. It’s hard to pick only one favourite thing as I love the work and how much I have improved but also really enjoyed the positive workplace culture. This experience has definitely encouraged me to have a clear vision of my future career and what kind of environment I want to work in.
What’s next for you?
I will insist on doing ML/NLP work for my future career and I am very happy to join Castlepoint and make our team stronger. Now that the official internship project has concluded, I will continue doing work at Castlepoint during summer break, following on what I have done so far.
Now let us introduce Manuwai Korber. Manuwai is currently studying a Bachelor of Advanced Computing (Honours) at the Australian National University. He specialises in Machine Learning (ML) with interests in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Computer Vision (CV).
What have you found most interesting whilst at Castlepoint?
I really enjoyed learning how a software solution is architected and built-in production. The concept of a Microservice Architecture was new to me but really captured my interest. Utilising technology such as Docker containers allows separate modules to be built and maintained by different teams, who may use different languages and libraries, whilst easily slotting into the broader system through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). It also provides easy scaling and fault tolerance.
What are some skills or learnings you’ve gained at Castlepoint?
A major learning for me was the whole process of taking a problem, such as document understanding/summarisation, researching possible solutions and models by performing comparisons and then coding it up into a solution that can be used in the final product.
What was your favourite thing about being part of the Castlepoint team?
I really enjoyed the warm and welcoming office environment with a diverse range of people. As well the freedom to choose a problem that interests you and to solve it how you best see fit. There was lots of flexibility with choosing what hours I wanted to work which allowed me to work my internship schedule around my university assignments and exam schedules.
What’s next for you? (future career plans, internships, further study, etc):
Next year is my final year in my undergraduate degree, this involves writing an individual research project on a chosen topic which will most likely be in the ML/NLP/CV area. In the future, I hope to work in the realm of machine learning and implementing solutions at large scales. Over the summer I am undertaking an internship with Amazon Web Services as a Solutions Architect so the cloud computing area interests me as well. I am also lucky to be continuing to work with Castlepoint! Overall, I am interested in the ability of technology to solve complex problems, remove repetitive tasks, and provide previously unimagined functionalities.
If you are interested in completing an internship with Castlepoint Systems make sure you follow our social media accounts. This is where we will post announcements about any exciting future opportunities.
Linked In: @Castlepoint Systems
Twitter: @CastlepointSys2
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