An Interview with Lobke Navigating Work and Studies

Navigating Work and Studies

An Interview with Lobke

Balancing work and studies can be challenging, but rewarding, offering valuable experience and essential skills before graduating. Lobke, former Chairman and Marketing Officer of the VSAE, played a key role in shaping the association’s long-term vision and supporting the board two years ago . Now a Trainee Consultant at NextHuman, shares her journey of working while studying and the lessons she has learned.
 

Nice to meet you, Lobke. Can you give a short introduction about yourself and your academic background?

“I’m Lobke, 21 years old, and currently finishing my bachelor’s in Econometrics and Data Science! Besides that, I’m a Trainee Consultant at a start-up called NextHuman.”
 

Can you tell us more about NextHuman as well as your position?

“NextHuman is an AI consultancy dedicated to helping social and civil organisations introduce and scale AI technologies. We aim to unlock the power of people through technology, by helping them explore the value of AI and implement this technology sustainably. Our three founders started NextHuman in 2024, and we’re currently with 20 employees - and growing every month!
 

I started at NextHuman at the beginning of December 2024, so I have not been there for that long actually - even though it feels like I’ve worked there for way longer. I’m a Trainee Consultant, which means that I work on a client project along with someone else from our team for 2-3 days a week. My responsibilities actually range over the full project: I get to go on client meetings, dig into the data to perform analyses, help think out the strategy for the project etc. The other day we even gave a workshop at the client’s office, which was a lot of fun!”
 

What motivated you to take on a job in addition to your studies?

“I’ve always been a busy bee, doing things alongside high school/studies. Whether it was sports, a side job, VSAE, or volunteering; I’ve never been one to sit still. Because of all that, I’m also the self-proclaimed queen of study delay, but I strongly believe that’s not a bad thing, as long as you gain other experiences in return. As my studies progressed and I got older, I got a little tired of my “regular” side hustle. Since I really wanted to gain some experience in the field that I’m actually going to work in later, I decided to apply for a working student position.”
 

How do you balance your studies and work responsibilities effectively?

“I currently work two days a week, sometimes three if there’s something I really have to finish. This period was quite busy study-wise, so it was actually hard to balance sometimes, especially since my uni schedule was spread out over the week. Luckily, my work is incredibly flexible with when I come and go, so this period I just work two half days and one full day.”
 

To what extent do the skills and knowledge you have learnt throughout your education complement your work? 

“I think 50% of what I do is things that I learned at uni, and 50% is new things that I’m learning day by day. Everything you learn at uni is really useful, especially my programming minor is coming in handier than I thought it would. But putting it to practise at a company in the “real world” requires some additional skills. That’s exactly what makes a working student position so valuable: you learn all this before you graduate!”
 

Are there skills you have picked up at work that have helped you in your studies? 

“Definitely! You just improve on all your soft skills in more of a work setting. I used to think soft skills were quite boring, but they are actually so useful.”
 

Do you see yourself continuing in this field after graduation? 

“I think so! Even though I like classic Econometrics as well, I’ve realised here that I’m really passionate about using data and AI to make a positive societal impact.”
 

Have you found any mentors or supervisors during your work experience, and what’s the most valuable advice you’ve received from them?

“The project I’m currently working on, I work on together with one of our founders, and she really guides me. She also studied Econometrics at the UvA, so she has the same background as myself. She’s really experienced and I really get to learn a lot from her, which is great.”
 

What are some tips you would give to other students who are seeking part-time jobs related to their field of study?

“Even if you can’t find any jobs for you: just scour the internet. Depending on the time of year, it can be difficult for bachelor students to find a working student position, as most well-known companies require master’s students. I had never heard of NextHuman, but I just stumbled across a LinkedIn vacancy one day - after not finding any vacancies I liked for two months - because I changed my query. It turns out that that one vacancy I found was enough to hit the jackpot, because I cannot imagine working somewhere better suited for me. "