Interview with Florian LE SOMMIER, the story of an intern who signed a permanent contract

Discover the interview of Florian LE SOMMIER, DATA Engineer

 What is your student background? How did you end up at Colas Digital Solutions?

After graduating from high school with a degree in science, I decided to pursue a degree in physical measurement in order to continue in the scientific field. However, I quickly realized that I wanted to work in IT. After my DUT, I applied to the school of engineering in Computer Science (CyTech and formerly EISTI) and I was lucky enough to be admitted directly into the 3rd year. For the record, Alain MOUSTARD (Director of Digital Transformation at Colas) also studied at this school.

During my first year, I joined Colas Digital Solutions to do a 3-month internship with the Data team. Thanks to this internship, I was contacted again by the Colas Digital Solutions team, in particular by Pierre CANU, in order to finalize my last year of engineering in embedded computing, for a 6-month internship.

At the end, I was offered a permanent contract…in view of my last experience, and it was natural that I should have accepted! I am very happy to have completely changed my path because today I have a double hat (IOT and DATA).

What were your missions during your internship? What did it bring you?

This experience allowed me to really know my way!

This internship was very complete because I was given a multitude of missions. The main ones were:

– An on IOT which marked me a lot and which made me progress a lot:

       o The parameterization of automatons for Colas Environnement in order to allow a collection of the measured data and to send them on an Azure cloud.

       o Setting up a network architecture on these automatons to allow remote access from a device.

– One on a data subject which concerned the data processing of the automatons of this project but also of an application gathering other measurements. The objective was to link the data of the automatons and the application by processing them to allow an analysis via Power BI for example.

– During the last two months of my internship, I had the opportunity to be a Project Manager. Under the responsibility of another person, I was able to pilot the creation of an application for Colas Environnement for the Dunkerque site. A film is currently being made.

That’s great! You had a lot of responsibilities during this internship… what did you like the most?

I was really lucky because Colas Digital Solutions gave me a lot of assignments and I was completely independent. I think there is a real sense of trust between the interns and the teams. All my ideas have always been taken into account, even if data is not my original training. I was always listened to and it’s very pleasant.

About my work, I’ve been exposed to a lot of new technologies and resources and I’ve been able to work on different areas, which has made my work very rich and rewarding. I was always given the tools I needed to be competent. Working at Colas Digital Solutions means working in IT and having the opportunity to visit construction sites. I enjoyed these encounters, which gave me a better understanding of the business and enabled me to be more effective in my work.

It seems to me that after this internship Colas Digital Solutions offered you a permanent contract, congratulations! Why did you accept? What do you appreciate the most?

Thank you very much, I was really happy when I heard the news!

To be honest, the atmosphere at Colas Digital Solutions is great and it’s very important to me to have a good working atmosphere. I think it really affects the quality of the work we produce. It’s always a pleasure to come at work! I know that during this permanent contract, Colas Digital Solutions will let me broaden my horizons and I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to develop other skills as much as possible. The training courses here are always very interesting because the training policy is to educate employees as much as possible to always be up to date in our business . We are in an environment that is constantly evolving day after day.                      Moreover, the projects are always very varied, it’s like a new job every time and we always learn about current technologies.

I have done other internships in other companies but I always came back to Colas Digital Solutions because the missions and the atmosphere corresponded perfectly to my professional ambitions.

Could you explain us more in details what exactly is your job ?

Yes, of course! As a data engineer, my work is based on the recovery, processing and preparation of data. The objective of these different steps is to obtain data in such a way that it can be used, for example, in a Power BI.

I don’t really have a typical day because I’m usually on a project one day and then the next day on another one. For example, I am currently working on 2 projects at the same time and soon on 3. I really like this way of working because it allows me to have several missions at the same time: I never get bored!

 What have you learned the most from Colas Digital Solutions?

My experience here has definitely been and is very formative!

Obviously, on the professional side, I’ve had excellent and thorough training. Within the team, I am really allowed to apply what I learned at school but in a less academic way, I learn the good practices of the company. The way of communicating with the stakeholders is very important, you have to adapt your language and this is something that you learn maybe less at school.

The personal side was very valuable for me because I learned to be less shy, to go more towards people, because I was afraid to bother my colleagues with questions. I really gained confidence on this point thanks to my colleagues who always reassured me and gave me confidence.

According to you, what are the qualities required for this job?

I think that the essential quality to work in this field is curiosity! It is essential because it allows you to be open to the world, to be always aware of the latest technologies which is crucial to evolve in this field. It is not complicated because when you are passionate, it is natural and obvious.

It is important to have a good communication with the customer in order to understand their needs and meet their requirements. You really need to not hesitate when you don’t understand something because without the right information, the work will be badly done.

Afterwards, rigor and teamwork remain the predominant qualities that allow you to be fully fulfilled and to succeed in your projects.

 As an employee of Colas Digital Solutions, what are your next challenges?

First of all, I really want to develop my skills in data, naturally by following training courses, but also in IoT, as there is a real IoT challenge at Colas Digital Solutions.

I know that Colas Digital Solutions will allow me to achieve these goals!

Do you have anything else to add?

Thank you for this interview!

I’d like to point out that during my training, I worked in a fast-food company to pay for my studies. Even if sometimes it was not easy, this experience allowed me to acquire a certain autonomy and dynamism which can be felt in my projects at Colas Digital Solutions. This experience helped me understand that sometimes in life, you have to get out of your comfort zone, maybe going through tougher times than others, in order to move forward and accomplish great things.

Thank you Florian !

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