Since its inception from a single Master of Big Data student in 2015, IE’s Big Data and AI club has grown to be the largest technologically driven Club on campus, bringing IEU even closer to the wonderful world of STEM. It exudes success through its motto: “Execute with Excellence.” Over the years, the Club has garnered the membership of over 3,500 students and captivated the attendance of a wide audience through the regular hosting of distinct events and activities.
Membership of the Club will not only arouse interest within big data through the involvement of tech experts, but also educate one on the topics of employability and real-world practicability. During the last year, the Club successfully held a distinct event every week. Members enjoy single speaker events through which world-renowned companies and related associations discuss the practical use of big data in their own companies and the path the industry is expected to take in the future.
During panel events, several speakers from the industry will explore and debate a particular facet of the big data & AI sector, cultivating a diverse environment from which members may learn and grow. Students may apply their learned knowledge in practical hands-on, hard skill workshops focused on Python, AWS (Amazon Webservices), Tableau, etc. If events cannot be attended, members will also benefit from reading the Club’s bi-weekly newsletter, written exclusively for the Club by industry experts. Collaborative partners include but are not limited to Amazon, Salesforce, the MBBs, Booking.com, and Novartis.
A resulting influx of learned knowledge and skill raises the issue of the competitive workforce: the current president of the Club, Jenefa Justin, sought to give the Club a competitive edge on the topic of career training through the release of its bi-weekly newsletter and the holding of employability workshops. The Club’s “Crack the Code” events series intends to assist novice coders and ensure that they are ready for the professional field. The workshop is held on Mondays and Wednesdays and focuses exclusively on SQL and Python.
As both a president and a student, Justin is very much familiar with the real-world challenges that loom with the eagerly anticipated graduation. “As a student, we are often lost. We are doing our degrees, but once we graduate, which career path do we follow?” She sought to answer this question with the Find Your Fit- Tech Functional Days Series, a product born out of this need to figure out one’s career path. In close coordination with the IE Talent & Careers team, this five-event series intended to help students streamline their job search by dissecting what common and relative professions and their job functions genuinely entail. The series was awarded a deserved 4.8/5 stars.
As the year comes to a close the Big Data and AI Club are not slowing its speed: it has the privilege of spearheading the annual TechIE Conference, the largest student-run tech conference in Spain, and IE’s flagship tech conference. TechIE will kick off during the first week of May and will include panels, talks, and activities around the year’s theme of “Defining the new normal”. The Big Data & AI Club has also initiated three competitions that will be a part of TechIE this year:
- The TechIE 2021 Debate Competition
- Quiznetic- A quiz competition and
- The IBM Cloud Challenge
These competitions aim to promote student participation and engagement in the conference when they are relegated to mere spectators. The Big Data and AI Club has held 27 events and co-hosted 24 since September. It retains its position as one of the most active clubs within the IE community. Although the Club’s president is set to graduate this July, during her tenure, she has greatly transformed the engaging and practical nature of the Club, and she has enjoyed priming her leadership team as she will pass on her role after graduation.
Are you interested in learning more about the Big Data and AI Club? Learn more about it on Campus Groups.
