Ruoqing Sun
Adventurous and ambitious Ruoqing has discovered her destination at ING
Ruoqing Sun has always been adventurous. Born and raised in China, when it came to choosing a university she decided to get as far away from home as she could. Hong Kong was her first destination, followed by the US and the UK. She liked Europe so much that she decided to stay and explore it further. She ended up in the Dutch city of Delft to do a master’s in software engineering. Five years later, there is still plenty of Europe for Ruoqing to explore, but she has discovered her destination at ING, as a Tech trainee.
An appealing opportunity
Ruoqing: “I had expected to join a tech company after graduating, but then I was approached by ING during a recruitment day in Delft. The chance to do several rotations in different parts of the bank really appealed to me, because it’s the perfect way to find out which domain you’re most suited to. That, and the opportunity to go abroad for an assignment, were two key reasons for me to have a serious try at applying for this traineeship.”
Now, two and a half years later, Ruoqing is working in her first permanent role. Before that, she completed two assignments: the first as a data scientist in the Wholesale Banking advanced analytics team, and the second as a data engineer at ING Spain in Madrid. “They were two completely different assignments but I enjoyed both of them equally. I was lucky enough to work with super-smart colleagues who had innovative ideas about data analysis and data engineering, plus working with the local people in Spain was wonderful.”
Build your network
“My internal network was of great use when looking for my current position. If I had to give new trainees a piece of advice, it would be to start building a network right away! And the kick-off event – where you meet all trainees from all over the world and all different tracks – is a perfect starting point.”
“My network led me to a position as a feature engineer for Group Services. My department, global data services, builds the foundation of data lakes for ING in 16 countries and locations. A feature engineer is responsible for the relationship between the business and Tech and helps the two sides to understand each other. This involves frequent and close contact with the users in the 16 locations, and translating their wishes into user cases for our developers.”
New challenges
“Having worked with many different teams, depending on what feature we were developing, I am now a product owner in my own team. We’re working on a data anonymization platform for the whole of ING. In this role, I can put the knowledge and experience I’ve gained so far to good use. At the same time, it’s exciting as it presents me with whole new challenges like setting up proofs of concept, aligning the work with other teams and working with new software suppliers. I love solving complex puzzles, and I’m grateful that I get the chance to do all this as a trainee!”
Interested?
Find out more about the Tech traineeship.
About Ruoqing
Ruoqing did a double degree in computer science and management in Hong Kong. Travelling is her favourite pastime – from hiking trips in Austria to skiing in France. Her primary goal is to learn Dutch, and her boyfriend is trying to learn Chinese.