For over three decades, HT Consulting has been at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge technology solutions to banks, hospitals and the manufacturing sector. Evolving with the times, the company is now on a new trajectory of embedding Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our technology stack to augment the efficiency and relevance of our application solutions. This aligns with our vision to reimagine how things can be done better, and redefine tomorrow through the use of AI technologies.
In a strategic partnership with Heriot-Watt University, HT Consulting (HTC) recently concluded a three-month internship programme for two promising Year 2 Computer Science students — Akshay Roy Victor (Roy) and Lee Wei Qing (Wei Qing).
“I was afraid to start my internship at HT Consulting as I am inexperienced in AI. I also thought that I would be a burden to the AI team, but thank you to Vanessa for providing me with an internship opportunity at HT Consulting,” expressed Roy humbly to Vanessa Tan, CEO of HTC.
Our Interns’ Immersion Experience
The internship served as a bridge for Roy and Wei Qing to traverse the dynamic landscape of technology. In a meticulous 12-week programme, our interns delved into the fundamentals of computer science and applied them to solve industry problems. At the same time, they embarked on a new journey into AI — learning the nuances of image and text manipulation, data collection, and chart interpretation.
Closely guided by Lee Chee Wei — HTC AI team lead; and in partnership with our team’s Machine Learning Specialist, Roy and Wei Qing actively participated in current R&D efforts and made significant contributions to ongoing projects.
Regularly organised meetings and personalised guidance facilitated successful learning outcomes for our interns. The mentoring they received was instrumental in helping them transition from theoretical knowledge to practical application.
“During their time here, they learned to use certain AI tools such as Tensorflow, Pytorch and more. Besides, they also worked on assignments focused on data manipulation, labelling data, gathering data, and a few other areas which helped them to deepen their understanding,” shared Chee Wei.
Final Presentation to Showcase Learning
As our interns drew their three-month internship to a close recently, Dr. Rosalind Deena — the Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Industrial Training and Dr. John See Su Yung — the Associate Professor of the School of Mathematical and Computer Science, graced our office at Kelana Jaya to witness their final presentations.
The room buzzed with anticipation as Roy and Wei Qing detailed their learning process, tasks, assignments, and the transformative boot camp experience which sharpened their computer science applied knowledge.
“It is great to see HT Consulting incorporating a boot camp programme into the internship period to train them more as not many companies are keen to do so,” Dr John expressed.
He was also very pleased to find out that Roy and Wei Qing were highly encouraged by Chee Wei to set up their respective Github accounts, which inevitably will be a very valuable platform for them to showcase their skills and court the attention of future employers.
Dr. John acknowledged the challenges that the students faced at the beginning of their programme, which was brought about by the online learning mode due to COVID-19. As such, he is now very impressed to witness Roy and Wei Qing’s growth in their presentation and oratory skills.
Dr. Rosalind added to Dr. John’s observations by commending both of them for overcoming their silent personalities. She also expressed appreciation for HTC’s acceptance of Heriot-Watt’s first cohort of Computer Science students, as our interns.
“We are very particular that our students should learn the ropes when they go for an internship. In that sense, I should thank HT Consulting, as Roy and Wei Qing are familiar with AI now. Besides that, they are much more responsible in comparison to their initial days,” she said.
We hope that the AI exposure which Roy and Wei Qing received will provide them a stronger head start in their final year at Heriot-Watt Edinburgh, where they have chosen to specialise in Data Science.
Importance of University-Industry Initiatives
Our interns’ final presentations were concluded with a lunch session personally hosted by Vanessa. Being an advocate of the importance of university-industry collaboration, Vanessa is continuously looking out for avenues for HTC to invest in the lives of young talent.
“We want to sow whenever we can, in terms of our industry experience and knowledge onto good talented ground. Our hope is that there will be sufficient job-ready talent for the tech industry as well as for the advancement of our Malaysian economy.”
We wish Roy and Wei Qing the best as they continue their learning journey in Edinburgh! Click on this link to watch a video detailing their adventures at HTC.
HT Consulting runs various internship programmes every year from June to August. Start a conversation with us by writing to jobs@htasia.com if you are a student seeking industry-led learning opportunities.