Isabelle Data & Technology trainee

Isabelle

Data & Technology trainee

Finance & Technology

“Once I had obtained my International Business Administration Bachelor’s, I wasn’t sure what Master’s course to choose. It seemed like a good idea to do an internship at ABN Amro MeesPierson first, to gain some work experience. The decision to go for the Finance & Investments Master’s, followed naturally. That is where I learned about the increasingly important role of technology in the financial market. This fuelled the decision to follow up with a Business Information Management Master’s course.

When my university days were over, I wanted to keep learning and sought a position that would allow me to grow. I came across the Data & Technology trainee programme at DNB and my enthusiasm was triggered right away. I was still interested in joining a commercial financial institution, but the fact that you get to contribute to a better financial world here, is a big pro.

European data quality

I just completed my first assignment of 8 months. Having joined the Statistics division of our Data Services centre, I studied the data quality of various systems. In addition to our own data, we use external sources such as the ECB, Chamber of Commerce and CBS. My research question was: to what extent does the data in those databases align? I built a programme in SAS, drafted a report and presented it in European meetings with other central banks. Quite stressful at the time, but above all a lot of fun.

I have now joined Security, which is all about keeping our data safe. How do we keep hackers out, what are the requirements for our applications? I’m learning new things every day here. My latest assignment is with Development, where I will be co-developing those applications. The diversity of roles and tasks in this traineeship is proving a truly pleasant surprise.

A lot of freedom

Our trainee group is the first in this programme. This means we do quite a bit of pioneering, but we also get a lot of freedom and our experience of this programme is taken very seriously. The fact that we are all so close while being from vastly different backgrounds – from neurobiology and physics to quantitative finance and computer science & economy – is wonderful. In addition to the courses we all attend together, such as leadership, intervision and presenting, we also lunch together once a week and recently decided to organise a weekend trip with the group. You learn a lot: about IT and data, how DNB is organised, and what you’re like as a person.

My enthusiasm about DNB grew throughout the traineeship’s selection procedure. They employ extremely smart, thoughtful people who are truly committed to substance without being supernerds, as some may think. In addition, DNB is a very pleasant employer with good facilities and many options such as working 4 x 9 hours. You get to shape your own career, especially as a trainee. For example, when I’m required to code in C# or do data modelling, I can take a relevant course. I see a lot of opportunities for continued development here, even after this programme is over.”