Did you know that the Belgian railway grid contains more than 8,800 km of tracks and over 11,800 railroad switches? All of these assets need to be entered correctly into a well-organized database. A meticulous task that is performed by Kapernikov consultant and self-declared data geek Vincent Goffin.
Digging deep into the world of data
As a Kapernikov consultant, Vincent is working full-time at Belgian railway infrastructure manager Infrabel. His job is to transfer data describing all of Infrabel’s assets from a legacy system to SAP.
“It’s a job where no day is the same,” says Vincent. “For me, it’s an opportunity and a challenge to work with different software programs, on a variety of problems. And of course, I need to find creative solutions for those problems. You learn a lot while doing that!”
From mining to data mining
Vincent is a geology and mining engineer by degree. Not quite the most typical schooling to land an IT job. And yet, for Vincent, it was written in the stars that his future was in the world of data.
“I love science, which is why I studied geology, but it was already during my university years that I got fascinated about data, and about how data can be turned into information,” Vincent says. “Since then, I steeped myself into the science of data, learning algorithms and techniques in my own free time. I learned Python, QGIS and other data related packages.”
The freedom to learn
When Vincent got a call from the people at Kapernikov about an open position for data consultant, he didn’t need much time to think. Vincent got on board and has been working for Infrabel since February 2017. In the end, for Kapernikov, it was not Vincent’s degree that was the decisive factor, but the passion and willingness to learn.
At Kapernikov, you have the freedom to learn at your own pace.
“Kapernikov has been a great coach for me, because I have been able to develop my programming skills along the way. This is exactly what I like about this company,” Vincent says. “At Kapernikov, you have the freedom to learn at your own pace. As an employee, you are continuously encouraged to be autonomous and find your own way. And last but not least, Kapernikov has a stimulating environment with open and friendly people, so you always feel good at work and ready to give it your best.”