Pan-Pan Wu
Developing as a professional, but even more as a person
It’s in Pan-Pan’s nature to do things a little differently. Whereas ‘everyone around her’ went to the US to pursue their studies, Pan-Pan was determined to go to Europe. And after completing her master’s degree in neuroscience, she chose to do a second master’s programme in computational science. Recently, she made another original choice – this time during her traineeship at ING.
“I’ve always had a fascination for coding; that’s where my heart lies. I taught myself Python while studying neuroscience, and I then gathered the courage to enrol in a computational science master’s programme at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). lt was at a UvA job fair that I first came into contact with ING and the Analytics traineeship. It was like a new world opening up to me. A bank has a huge amount of data, and I imagined how fun and interesting it would be to work with it all. Plus, I saw the traineeship as a perfect opportunity to explore and experience all the different aspects of the bank’s tech.”
An assignment in London
“I’m currently doing the third and final rotation of my traineeship. It’s an assignment for ING in London lasting six months in total, including three months actually based over there. I made a bit of an atypical choice by opting for an assignment in IT instead of Analytics. I did my first two rotations in Analytics, working as a data scientist – first for our recommendation system which is used to facilitate customer interactions, and the second for the department that’s responsible for customers who have – or could potentially have – financial difficulties.”
Getting to grips with security
“I really enjoyed both of those rotations, but coding is my real passion. I’m now working in a DevOps team that is part of Wholesale Banking UK Tech and is responsible for various applications. We are rewriting one application from Java to C#. I’m particularly interested in the security side of it all; it’s a very important topic that I’m keen to get to grips with. C# is a new language for me, and I’m loving immersing myself in it. Learning new coding skills is like rewiring my brain. Kudos to my team by the way, who are all great and very supportive.”
“The first year of the traineeship really opened doors for me and allowed me to develop as a professional, but even more as a person. Sadly, even today, it’s not always easy to be one of the few women in tech, but in my experience ING provides a positive and welcoming work environment.”
Learning to speak up
“I’ve not only been able to find out what I like most, where I want to work and what kind of team suits me, but also how I can obtain feedback and what to do with it. I’ve overcome my reluctancy to ask for help and I’ve learned to speak up. It has been a great journey and luckily it hasn’t ended yet. I’m looking forward to what is still to come.”
Pan-Pan
- is originally from Taiwan, which is also where she did her bachelor’s degree
- obtained a master’s degree in neuroscience in Germany, then moved to Amsterdam to do a second master’s degree, this time in computational science
- started at ING as an Analytics trainee in April 2022
- is passionate about classical music; she has been playing the piano since the age of five and is currently learning to play the guitar
- enjoys both city life and the countryside.