Danube river crossing The Great Romanian Flood Plain. Image acquired by Sentinel-2A on the 3rd December 2015. Data courtesy of ESA.
‘On the road, you will face many stumbling blocks, twists, and turns… You may never know how far the road will take you.’ **
In my case, the road brought me to Plymouth, a city on the south coast of Devon, England, a magical place with great history and outstanding views.
What I am doing here? Well, I am pursuing my dream of becoming a GIS and Remote Sensing Specialist by doing an internship through the Erasmus + programme at a local company called Pixalytics. My mentor is Dr. Samantha Lavender, is a great professional with vast experience in this field, She is also the Chairman of the British Association of Remote Sensing Companies and former Chairman of the Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Society. For me, this is about more than just getting a grade, earning credit, or making money; this is an opportunity to learn, ask questions, and impress with my eagerness.
Finding this internship was easy for me. With a short search on Google I found this Pixalytics blog, where a previous student here had posted her impressions and thoughts on the company. I immediately said “This worth trying!” In the next moment I opened my email started writing, I sent wrote emails to multiple addresses, to make sure my message reached the target. After just two days, I received an answer from Mr. Andrew Lavender and it was positive!
I was very happy and because I knew the departure papers would take over a month to be completed, I immediately started doing them. All of this happened at the end of September. After my papers were done, I bought my flight ticket to Luton Airport, then a bus to London and then onto Plymouth. I arrived on December 5th and so, like the previous student, here I am posting my own impressions and thoughts on the Pixalytics blog page.
My first day at Pixalytics started pretty badly, I got lost and arrived a little late. I now remind myself each morning to turn left, not right, when I get off the bus. I got a short introduction to the building where the company is located, and my office for the next three months, which by the way looks very good. The office has a professional, but relaxed, atmosphere and I soon started working, one of my first tasks being the downloading of Sentinel-2A data, which proved a very difficult one due to slow data speeds and functionality of the ESA Data Hub.
Over the next three months, I am expecting to assist Pixalytics in developing their agritech products, explore the potential of Sentinel-2A data and I will be doing my own research into Urban Sprawl in Romania. I am hoping to have the opportunity to present my research at a conference during my placement.
It has been over a week now since I came to Plymouth and I feel great, working at Pixalytics is a great opportunity for my career and I will take full advantage of this. I strongly recommend all students who want to burst their work experience and who want to see what it is like to be in a professional business environment, to search for Erasmus+ placement offers as I did. You will not regret it!
Blog written by Catalin Cimpianu
** Quote is by Tony Hassini, from ‘The Road To Success’