My internship in the Data Science team at Agoda
In the summer of 2020, I’ve had a great opportunity to join Agoda as Data Scientist Intern. In case you don’t know what Agoda is, Agoda is an online travel booking platform. There are more than 4000 staffs in 30s countries you can see more detail at https://agoda.com
My name is Nut Chukamphaeng. I’m studying Data Science and Business Analytics in the Faculty of Information Technology at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) in Bangkok, Thailand.
Personalization Data Science Team
I was assigned to Personalization Data Science Team, where Mr. Shuki is the manager of other 3 data scientists: Philip, Shwet, and me. I’m the only Thai in this team. Our team is in charge of personalization in Agoda users’ experience, like giving them the hotels that they’re looking for. Our goal is to identify what people need and designing or producing services and products to meet customer’s individual requirements. We work together by having a meeting, discussing and solving problems for the best way for our customers.
During my internship, I owned a project about the Recommendation System. The goal is to predict hotels that the customer may have an interest in. I work as a researcher because I read a lot of papers and I try to apply Reinforcement Learning for Recommendation System.
The things that surprise me when I’m working on Data Science Team at Agoda. There are a lot of Data Scientists from other countries and most of them graduated Master Degree in Agoda.
Company Experience at Agoda
I also enjoyed the overall company experience here. Agoda has a lot of interesting internal tools that can help you to do your job. For example, Agoda customize Jupyter Notebook, which is Data Analytics tools, to be own. It has many functions to help works easily. It’s called “Zoidberg”. And everyone here is always learning. Each team/department in Agoda makes sure to hold knowledge sharing sessions every week/month, so you can learn about things like newest tech tools to new projects in other departments. Moreover, the company also offers free online courses for employees to learn what they need. In addition, Agoda’s staff come from around the world. You are not only learn about work but you are also learn about culture and language in here. I feel enthusiastic while I’m working here that because of their work intentions.
Internship Experience
During my internship, I have a chance to make good friends with Agoda. I have gained a lot of learning, skills throughout the internship period from many activities. One of the highlights was the pitch competition where I teamed up with 4 other interns to create a business pitch. I have learned a lot from this on how to cooperate with a team, how professionals do. I have met a lot of people who have various skills and learn from them.
If you’re looking for a good place to do an internship in Data Science, I recommend Agoda. Find more information about jobs and internship at https://careersatagoda.com/
