How can students help out a high-technology company? The answer might surprise you. As a small company with few full-time employees, RTC4Water knows that it is not always easy to find the time to mentor and train someone still in school. But once or twice a year, students from different universities or high schools help the company in important ways - whether it is to help them improve their software or complete some other significant task. The company has seen first-hand how students can help them become more efficient in their day-to-day efforts. This article will take a look at the work of past RTC4Water students: Chloé, Florian, Colin, Ilker, Philippe, Michelle, Thomas, Elian and Lara. All of them completed an internship at RTC4Water and learned a lot in the process.

Chloé 
Even though RTC4Water’s system is fully autonomous, the founders of the company realized that they, as well as clients, needed a better way to "see" how their software was actually optimising a network. Having a visual "dashboard" builds confidence in a product like the Global Predictive Controller. Chloé created a graphic interface which helps our clients rapidly view vital statistics and easy-to-understand graphics.   

Florian 
For one of our larger clients, RTC4Water needed to expand its current capabilities and modify its solution so that more than one GPC could work together to solve complex optimistion problems. Florian developed a synchronised simulation environment where the development team could test algorithms and programming logic. This project was important as RTC4Water could verify its work and complete production of a hierarchical, multiple GPC framework for an important client.

Colin
Climate change is an important factor in the future management of drinking water. Colin helped us with a mathematical analysis and worked with an artificial intelligence tool called Keras/TensorFlow. He also helped us further work on our leak detection program and contributed to our operational task monitoring. It is students like Colin who can provide valuable assistance to a small company by continuously exploring new tools and more efficient ways of programming.

Ilker
Students help RTC4Water in many different ways. Ilker helped us create part of a network model for one of our larger clients. He was tasked with using the EPANET software to help us understand the behaviour of the water distribution network, find inconsistences in a very large network model and to simulate how it is currently controlled. This greatly helped the team save time as well as verify all of the physical components (such as basins and pumps) in that part of the network.

Philippe 
Many of our students learn new programming languages and software tools during their time with us. Philippe helped us visualise the volume of water available in different tanks via a software called Node-Red. He also tested and helped with programming in a language called Python. This saved the development team a lot of time and contributed to future visualisation projects.

Michelle 
Michelle helped the company in a very interesting way. RTC4Water needed help to convert a wastewater network model from one type of software to another. Michelle did the analysis to confirm that the new models worked properly which included the behaviour of basins that had not yet been build. This helped us greatly as the team was not very familiar with the new SWMM software and helped them prepare for future projects.

Thomas & Elian 
As a software company the quality of code is of critical importance. Thomas and Elian helped the software development team integrate a new continuous integration software called BuildBot which helped to automatically test new code and identify potential bugs faster. These types of tools save time and ensure that our customer’s custom designed software works exactly as it should.

Lara 
RTC4Water understands that it is important that students receive recognition for the work they do. My name is Lara and the team asked me to help them document all of the important work that past students have done for the company. I began my internship learning about the importance of water in day-to-day life. As I am interested in environmental and economic issues, the water industry is an interesting area for exploration. As part of my work, I also learned about communications and marketing and how important it is to a small company innovating in a conservative industry. Thereafter, it was possible for me to understand the value of these students' work as well as write this blog post. I also had the chance to participate at a number of meetings with clients and therefore receive additional insight into the business world of an SME in Luxembourg. Even in a such short period of time, I was still able to work on tasks that the team would not have had time to do.

Whether it is programming, modelling or general IT support, every single one of these students was able to contribute to RTC4Water and help create something that had value for the company. Of course, a company must commit to developing a plan for the student and provide oversight. All small companies should realize that internships are not only an opportunity to educate tomorrow’s workforce but help introduce new tools and ways of thinking into a hectic and fast-paced environment. 

So, as a company is there anything left holding you back from bringing students into your office? 

If you are a student interested in environmental issues, technology or both, you can send us an This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..