Did you know there are about 7,000 languages in the world and most of them are spoken in Asia and Africa? Did you also know that that one language dies about every 14 days? This was news to me before I started working at KantanMT.
Now that I have your attention, I’ll introduce myself. My name is Faith Isichei and I am a student going into my third year of a four-year B.Sc honours degree in Enterprise Computing at Dublin City University.
During my second year of college, I knew I really wanted to get an internship in an organisation that would nurture and bolster my ambition of gaining knowledge about the different areas of computing.
With hopes of doing my Masters straight after my undergraduate degree, I wanted to know more about the diverse IT sectors available. I sought to find an Internship!
Soon, I started spending countless hours researching all sorts of IT companies; Ireland is an IT hub so the options were endless. I knew what areas of IT interested me – Cloud Computing, Data Analytics, Information Systems and IT Support and lastly, Machine Translation.
However, after endless emails and countless rejections based on my age and lack of experience, I was ready to give up. Also, with summer exams around the corner and the never-ending continuous assessments, my hope of having a summer internship was starting to become nothing but a mere fantasy.
KantanMT – a miracle that ticked IT boxes
Nonetheless, when I was ready to give up I received what I deemed to be a miracle – an email from Tony O’Dowd, the Founder and Chief Architect of KantanMT.com. Not only was he offering me the opportunity to go for an interview, but also his business ticked several of the boxes of IT sectors where my interests lay. KantanMT offered me the chance of working in a small but rapidly growing company, where I felt I could make a big difference as an intern. For the following couple of days I lived and breathed everything that was Machine Translation.
Success! That email and interview brought about the birth of my summer internship at KantanMT where my role focused on three key areas, Quality Assessment (Q.A), Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Customer Support. I couldn’t have been any happier. To give you some background on what the company does, KantanMT.com is a cloud-based implementation of Moses Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) technology. The platform leverages the power and flexibility of the cloud, effortlessly scaling to generate a high quality, low-cost Machine Translation solution.
Internship takeaways
I really don’t know where to start. Do I talk about the lovely staff or the feeling of being part of a team that helps and cares for one another like a family? Or, the fact that the job came with a considerate and thoughtful boss who motivates and carries everyone along effortlessly? Or, the serenity of the flexible working environment?
My Internship at Xcelerator Machine Translations Ltd. a.k.a KantanMT came with various benefits. Benefits in the form of skills and life experience that I will take back to the classroom/computer lab.
Time management & communication skills
Two very important skills for working in a team and with clients. When clients need technical support at KantanMT, they need the problem fixed, immediately! Communication with my team was vital for ensuring I could get clients’ problems fixed quickly. Needless to say, this experience did wonders for my time management and communication skills.
Industry and subject matter expertise
The internship opened my eyes and mind to the subject of cloud computing and Statistical Machine Translation. I’m delighted to say that over the last three months I’ve become more preserving, versatile, efficient and competent in these areas.
Celebrating major milestones
As each day went by the company grew and changed, so too did my skills, my knowledge and my circle of friends. In a short few months, I saw new team members come on board and major company milestones surpassed.
In one month, the KantanMT community translated more than half a billion words and nothing can compare to the excitement and happiness that comes from knowing I was a part of that achievement.
Now I can look back at my summer and say, I really made the most of it.
Whatever you are looking for, be it a workplace where you can put your existing skills and knowledge into action, a place to learn new skills to improve yourself in any way possible. Or, somewhere there is a “we are all in this together” or “there’s no I in team” sort of spirit, you will find these things readily available for you at KantanMT. Today is my last day and I think I can honestly say my internship at KantanMT has set the bar high for what I want in my future professional career.
About Faith
Faith Isichei is studying for a BSc degree in Enterprise Computing at Dublin City University. Her internship at KantanMT focuses on Quality Assessment (Q.A), Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Customer Support.
Faith selected KantanMT for her summer internship, so she could increase her knowledge and understanding of ‘Machine Translation’ while gaining experience in a new, but high-growth, start-up company. Faith’s background in Enterprise Computing will help in her technical support role for KantanMT.com. You can contact Faith at FaithIsichei@hotmail.com or at FaithIsichei1995@gmail.com .