"The combination of technology and finance suited me perfectly"

“When I started looking for a summer job, the fund seemed a very attractive option,” he says. “I value the fund’s important social role, and I noticed that it’s marketing itself as an employer for tech people too. I’m really inspired by how seriously they’re working on using technology and data.”

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Walid studied computer science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.When he was offered an internship at the fund, he was halfway through a Master’s degree in artificial intelligence at Oslo Metropolitan University.

His knowledge of artificial intelligence proved a perfect match for the project he was to work on.

“The project couldn’t have suited me better. We worked on machine learning for short-term equity price predictions. In a nutshell, we developed different models to calculate the probability of a stock gaining or losing against the market. We did a lot of research into what works and what doesn’t, and documented everything afterwards.”

Walid worked on the project alongside four other summer interns with backgrounds in computer technology, cybernetics and robotics, and physics and mathematics.

“It was a right mix of skills. All that was missing was someone who knew about economics. Luckily, they’re not too hard to find at the fund!”

Because the project was at the intersection of technology and finance, Walid was able to work with people from different departments and learn from them.

“Although it was defined as a tech project, we worked closely with the people who buy and sell equities.Many were curious about what we were doing and would pop in to find out more.You learn from the very best when working here –that was hugely motivating for me.”