Behind the Scenes: Interview With Trainer Jelmer

A couple years ago, Jelmer van Nuss joined the Aurai team to provide training to Data Engineers trainees and to help coordinate the content of guest lectors. Read all about Jelmer’s first years experiences at Aurai.

What were you doing before you joined Aurai?

During the “emerging hype of Data Science” Jelmer started his study Artificial Intelligence and Informatics, after which he worked as a Data Engineer for six years. “Last year was my first year as a trainer at Aurai. At first I was excited and a little nervous to take on the challenge, but within an hour of my arrival I knew that Aurai was the right choice for me. A great company with colleagues and the capacity to challenge me every day since.”

How did you end up at Aurai?

The fact that he now fills his days with training is no surprise to Jelmer. “I’ve basically been teaching my whole life. From tutoring, providing netball training to teaching my dog tricks. I’ve always loved being a trainer.” So when Aurai asked him to provide a few guest trainings in Data Engineering, he did not hesitate for a moment. “During those first training days I got to know Aurai. From the first moment it turned out to be a great collaboration and I was excited about the great interaction I had with participants. I felt like becoming a trainer for the Data Engineering program of Aurai was a logical next step for me.”

What does the Data Engineering traineeship entail?

The traineeship is about much more than just learning programming, “because most junior Data Engineers can already do that anyway.” In addition to programming, the trainees are introduced to various software programs and tools, “such as Docker, Hadoop, Spark, NoSQL, Kubernetes and more. We also discuss theory about how databases work and what considerations need to be made when choosing tools and architecture patterns.”

Here, Jelmer refers to both technical considerations “such as the reliability, availability and simplicity of maintenance of the system”, and also to the business side: should non-programmers also be able to use the system? How much money does it cost monthly to run a cluster in a cloud environment? And how much time would it take to build everything yourself? “This way trainees learn to find out and weigh which considerations are the most important for the company or client.”

How do your trainings help future Data Engineers?

During their traineeship, the Data Engineers will be presented with a large number of tools. Jelmer: “It is my job to provide all this information in a structured way. I make sure that the engineers are well prepared when they start working for customers, so that they utilize the company’s tools. And if they are unfamiliar with a specific tool, the theoretical knowledge they acquired throughout the traineeship will help them master the new tool.”

He continues: “As a future Data Engineer it is important that you are not just able to build architectures, but also know what considerations precede this build, and how to deal with the wishes and demands of your clients. At Aurai we provide trainees with all the technical and strategic knowledge they need to jump start their careers.”

Interested in our Data Engineering traineeship? Sign up here!