“I actually knew pretty quickly that I wanted to study Artificial Intelligence. On a forum that I visited regularly at the time, I read about someone who was following this degree programme. After that, I looked into it more. Computer Science was also high on my list, though I knew it wasn’t a perfect fit for me—too hardware technical—whereas AI is a broad mix. The balance of technical and less technical courses was perfect for me.
“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with AI; for me, the most important thing was that I was enthusiastic about the study programme. Although, I admit that it was a nice thought that the job prospects for AI were already considered to be excellent at the time. I sometimes dreamt of a job at Google, but I never acted on it.
“I really enjoyed the courses where we had to do a lot of programming. Programming suited me well and I already had experience with it. Looking back, I also place a lot of value in the ‘dry’ subjects like logic and mathematics. They helped to lay a good foundation, which you can then use in many other courses.
“I really enjoyed my time at university. As a freshman from the 'Achterhoek', it took a while to get used to the big city, but you quickly integrate here. For me, joining the student volleyball club SVU helped a lot.
“After I finished my Master's degree, I realised that I still liked making cool things on the internet. I had many side jobs as a web developer. The fact that this was technically not directly related to my studies was not a problem for me. I quickly found a job at a web development agency.
“Now, I’m working at Tesla as a full-stack developer on the website. I mainly work on the publicly accessible site. This includes, for example, the part where you configure and purchase cars. I also work on internal systems. We are primarily there to support the European branch, but we function within the global company as a flexible team that knows many systems and can help out where necessary. As enthusiastic as I was about my studies at the time, I’m just as enthusiastic now about working for Tesla. The company operates at the intersection of three things that are close to my heart—IT, sustainability and beautiful cars.
“It may be cliché, but I can recommend experience abroad to everyone. In my time, this was not at all common in AI and Exact Sciences, but with the Erasmus programme, you can quickly and easily go abroad for six months. Simply seeing the world outside the Netherlands broadens your horizon enormously.
“Furthermore, when it comes to choosing a study programme, it is very important that you really feel enthusiastic about the curriculum. This ensures that you always make time for your studies, in addition to all those other activities that you have.”
