Future Facts, part of Conclusion NL—a leading group specializing in Data & AI—was founded in 2016 as an innovator in Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics. With a passionate team of approximately 50 Data Scientists, Data Engineers, and Machine Learning experts, Future Facts continually explores cutting-edge technologies and solutions.
We recently spoke with Ramses Kools, a Data Engineer at Future Facts, about his experience mentoring SpikeUp.AI students during their internships. For the past two years, Future Facts has actively collaborated with SpikeUp.AI by providing internship opportunities and training support, contributing significantly to the professional growth of SpikeUp.AI graduates.
Why Future Facts Chose SpikeUp.AI Students for Internships
According to Ramses, the initial decision to collaborate with SpikeUp AI began at the foundation’s annual career fair, held in the third quarter each year. Jimmy Vlekke and Caoimhe Ni Mhaonaigh from Future Facts attended the fair, where they immediately noticed SpikeUp.AI students’ enthusiasm, eagerness to learn, and motivation to kickstart their careers.
Given the competitive job market for junior-level AI and data analytics professionals in the Netherlands, Future Facts decided to offer internships to help these talented individuals gain valuable practical experience. They selected three promising SpikeUp AI students, Amal Shareef Aldeen, Imad Abou Dehn and Ozan Kaya to participate in a structured internship from December 2024 to March 2025.
Hands-on Experience in Cutting-Edge AI Technologies
During the internship, the students were tasked with developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for a chatbot using generative AI technologies on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Ramses highlighted that this project was a new and exciting challenge for Future Facts, as the company had not had the opportunity to build something using the latest AWS GenAI services.
“Our goal was to immerse the interns in real-world challenges, allowing them to experience agile working practices firsthand,” Ramses explained. Throughout the project, the interns faced practical hurdles such as choosing the optimal databases, coding efficiently, and creating comprehensive documentation.
Teamwork and Leadership
The internship was designed to mirror authentic professional dynamics, complete with agile methodologies and teamwork structures. Ramses noted that each intern naturally adopted roles suited to their strengths and backgrounds. Ozan, for example, demonstrated exceptional leadership and soft skills, effectively serving as the Scrum Master and team captain, overseeing project planning and ensuring team coordination. Amal and Imad focused more on the technical aspects of the project.
Amal’s previous experience gave her an edge with the front-end of the project, but she also helped greatly on the other parts of the project such as the actual Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) part of the chatbot. Imad’s extensive experience and drive helped push the project to new technical heights; he created the deployment pipeline, all the infrastructure and most of the backend of the project.
“The results surpassed our expectations,” Ramses remarked proudly. “We ended up with a valuable product that we intend to reuse and refine further. More importantly, our interns gained practical skills and professional confidence that will undoubtedly aid them in their future careers.”
A Message to Other Companies
Ramses strongly encourages other organizations to follow Future Facts’ example and offer opportunities to SpikeUp.AI graduates. “These individuals possess exceptional intelligence, motivation, and resilience,” he emphasized. “It’s genuinely a loss not to harness their talents. Internships are the perfect way for these skilled students to gain practical experience, enhance their employability, and ultimately secure meaningful employment.”
Ramses pointed to a successful case from the previous year, where SpikeUp.AI graduate Zana secured an internship with NWB through the connection of Ramses and Future Facts. The experience he gained through this internship subsequently secured a full-time position as a Data Engineer at Hot ITem. “Everyone deserves an opportunity to prove themselves and to launch their careers,” he concluded. “Offering internships not only benefits the interns but enriches your own company with fresh perspectives and new skills.” Through this impactful partnership, Future Facts and SpikeUp.AI continue to demonstrate the immense potential and value of inclusive, collaborative training initiatives.More about FutureFacts, go to: futurefacts.nl
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