Finding a job can be a challenge, especially when converting to a completely new career path. Many DA students face the problem of lacking relevant information in their CVs and having a hard time in interviews when it comes to sharing their previous work experience. Internship is a great way for recent graduates to obtain valuable tools and get prepared for entering the high-tech market confidently.

Practicum100 is an intensive online program built by Practicum by Yandex, designed to train 100 talented individuals to be successful tech professionals in Israel. After Data Analysts training there is a career acceleration program and one of its goals is to provide internships that will increase the chances of the graduates to find a job in the market.

Mert Topcu and Yulia Sheveleva made their way through the internship application process and were accepted to Taboola, the world’s leading discovery platform. Together with Mor Markovich, a Sales Growth Analytics Team Lead at Taboola, they set the expectations and goals to make sure that both of the parties will benefit from this experience.

Mert and Yulia came to work in the team on specific goals and issues we have in the process. They set their ideas and needs in advance and it helped us approve that we can provide the right support and needs for them. In the last 2 months Mert and Yulia helped the team explore new data abilities and improve our automation with new solutions and fresh minds’ ideas. Indeed, we helped the interns with experience, knowledge, access, research, but, Mert and Yulia continue to prove again and again that their contribution is highly valued, even more than expected

We talked to Mert and Yulia, the graduates of the 1st cohort of Practicum100 in Israel, to find out what are the benefits of such experience and how it feels to be an intern in one of the leading tech companies in the world.

Why did you decide to apply for the internship in Taboola?

Yulia: We had an amazing webinar that Mor held for all the Practicum100 students, where she told us about the company, the project and the internship itself. I was very interested in the project so once the webinar was over, I sent my CV and applied for the internship straight away.

Mert: I’ve been looking for a job for a while in Israeli High-tech industry as a data analyst. And I think, it is hard to get into the High-tech bubble, especially as a foreigner who does not have connections in the industry and does not speak the language, even though it is considered that in working English is sufficient enough. I think it is hard, because I was most often declined at the resume screening stage when applying, it being the first phase of the hiring process. Therefore, I thought this internship would become an important gateway to the bubble of High-tech and the first step in my career in Israel.

What did you do to get in?

Mert: Several steps need to be covered to get in. The first one was preparing an interesting and a matching CV and giving confident but still real answers in the application. Then an exam in SQL, Python and analytic skills and then two interviews. I was ready for all these steps both technically and mentally because I had just graduated from Yandex Practicum course and was still working at my own job so that my knowledge was fresh as it is now, and I was looking for a job so that I was very much in the spirit of being alert in the interviews. I had covered all the bases on my side and didn’t really need to put in extra work but to make an appearance to get in.

Yulia: I chose two projects out of 4 and briefly described how I would like to participate in them. Later I was invited for an interview with Mor, where we talked about the projects and our possible input. Some time later, I met the head of BI and signed the internship contract.

What are your tasks in the current position?

Yulia: While preparing a long term solution I was able to give immediate fixes that automated several parts instead of manual screening that had been done beforehand. My solutions saved a lot of “man hours” for the team, streamlining the segmentation process.

Mert: The project I am working on officially differs officially from the project that Yulia works on, even though fundamentally the projects are related. My main task in the project is to improve the KPI’s of the existing rule-based model by building a ML model for predicting potential leads. Eventually I managed to increase the precision rate around 20% and decreased the type 2 error around 3%.

What can you say about the company and its team? How do you feel being an intern there?

Mert: When it comes to the company, the whole starting process was very welcoming, friendly and as generous as towards an employee of the company. The company provided all the necessary physical facilities for me to perform my job. In regards to the team, I can say the same things and also add that they were quite helpful. The two members of the team I am most in touch with are my team leader Mor and my mentor in the project Or, and they were very helpful, kind and friendly during the internship. Mor is a great role model for a team leader. She is passionate, productive and has broad sense of what’s going on. I learned very important business sights from her. Despite everything I’ve mentioned, it is an unpaid internship, so it requires some degree of personal courage. I personally have that courage and I feel that I am part of the team/company.

Yulia: Taboola is a very heartwarming company, I feel very comfortable and in the right place there. Mert and I joined three other analysts in Mor’s team. The vibe there is really amazing. Everyone is very sociable and passionate about data. Mor is a great leader, she is excited about her work and very enthusiastic about the constant search of system improvements and at the same time she’s a perfect example of a person with a clear global thinking. This is what attracted me from the beginning: Mor has a global picture of which processes require change, she divides it into projects and sets specific goals so that each of us knows which problem to solve.

Is there anything that you learnt at Practicum that helped you get this internship?

Mert: A lot of coding practice in Python for biweekly projects and the subjects we discussed in the Career Accelerator were quite helpful for getting the internship.

Yulia: Yandex and Masterschool really helped me get back into the swing of things and ride the wave again. So I really hope that soon I’ll be successfully employed in a good company!

Do you feel like this internship helps you understand what exactly you would like to do in DA?

Mert: I have a very specific task in the project, so I cannot say that I am having the full experience of a data analyst in the company.

Yulia: I see a lot of benefits in being an intern. First of all, it gives me specific practice and knowledge that HRs and employers love to ask about at job interviews.

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Is it more clear for you now how things work in companies like Taboola? Do you think it can help you with your future employment?

Yulia: This internship reminds me of how leading high-tech companies work, what systems they usually have, it also gives me access to a lot of data. It helps me refresh my skills in working in a team and practice various corporate software.

Mert: In a sense, yes, it is clearer for me that employees of companies like Taboola have more clear cut responsibilities and this leads to a better specialization and more professional outcomes. It really motivates me in a sense that I should always improve myself to the best of my ability, in the precise thing I am doing, rather than trying to learn a little bit of everything. I think this is a very important approach that may crucially help me for my future employment.

Do you think it will be easier for you to find employment having completed this internship?

Mert: I know that in Israel, assuming one has the necessary skills, connection is the main key to employment. And I think through the internship I made more direct connections that I hope will help me find a job and make the whole thing easier than the way it was before 😊