In this month’s Employee Spotlight feature, we warmly welcome Mouna Kacimi, our Senior Data Scientist turned Head of Data Science and Linguistics. In honor of her recent promotion, we want to again congratulate Mouna and get to know her a bit more, especially how she has helped enabled the team’s success.
Mouna studied Computer Engineering at the National School of Computer Science in Algeria. Curious about the world of research, she decided to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Bourgogne in France after that. Then, she moved to Germany for a postdoc at the Max-Planck Institute in Saarbrücken. Her last stop before joining Wonderflow was the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, where she spent 12 years as a researcher.
Throughout 18 years, Mouna developed expertise in information retrieval models, sentiment analysis, and information extraction of unstructured text. Even more so, she gained teaching experience in different subjects, including Data Mining and Machine Learning. As an educator, she had the opportunity to work with excellent researchers, publish papers for first-class conferences, become part of European and Interdisciplinary projects, and build meaningful connections with both academic scholars and industry professionals.
Yet, despite her passion for research and teaching, Mouna always held more interest in developing new skills and knowledge in other fields like business. Additionally, she loves traveling and discovering new cultures while holding a musical passion like Zumba in her free time.
Read on to learn more about our amazing colleague!
1. Congrats, first and foremost, on recently becoming our Head of Data Science and Linguistics! Can you describe a bit about your new role and its impact on our clients’ successes?
Thank you! I am happy about this position, which is a great opportunity for me. My role is to bridge the gap between the Data Science team and Linguistics team, making sure they communicate effectively and have a common understanding of the upcoming changes in the company.
Also, like any Team Head, I take care of people to guarantee that each member is working productively, following the company’s roadmap, and that the client’s needs are met.
My other responsibilities include supervising internal research projects where I analyze data, write some code, and run experiments. I also prepare and organize training sessions for Linguists to teach them about Data Science principles and tools. These research and training activities are key to successfully meeting the evolving needs of our clients.
2. What makes you interested in big data and the like? Any advice for those new in the IT career field?
Data is a source of knowledge, and knowledge is what makes any business grow successfully. Of course, when data gets big, it comes with more challenges but also more insights and more value. So, my interest in big data is driven by the fact that it opens up many opportunities for exploring various types of information sources, which offer a richer experience for our clients.
My advice for anyone new in this field is to start small. In this way, rewarding results follow and can be obtained quickly while reducing any form of frustration. Once confidence is gained, complex steps can be gradually added to dive deeper into the data and achieve ambitious goals.
3. What made you smile recently?
I organized a meeting to discuss a well-established problem in the company where I thought people would naturally converge on the same idea. However, I was surprised that each participant had a completely different viewpoint on the situation due to their diversity and varying backgrounds.
Although it was unexpected, I found the raised points extremely interesting. And yet, I feared that we would not reach an agreement. In the end, it made me smile seeing all my colleagues’ viewpoints converging into a unique and versatile solution! For me, it was a very enriching experience!
4. What are some of the challenges and opportunities that come with your role and things you look forward to as the company grows tremendously this year?
The main challenge I can see is to find the right balance between the two teams of Data Science and Linguists. In other words, making sure that they collaborate in a complementary way to offer scalable data science solutions while still exploiting the Linguistics expertise to reach high-quality levels.
As the company grows, I see many opportunities for expanding our services and handling a large number of projects. I am looking forward to seeing how our solutions can dynamically and efficiently adapt to new clients’ requests and new domains.
5. With the popularity of remote working nowadays, how do you get work done daily? Like what motivates you?
Working from home can sometimes be convenient, but generally, I like to work from the office so I can talk to people and share with them moments that go beyond the planned meetings. I firmly believe that non-verbal communication is everything and cannot be correctly transmitted through the screen.
To get things done, I tend to set deadlines, even for minor tasks. It often happens that I organize a meeting with other team members before I even have the material ready for it. In this way, I commit myself to deliver the expected results.
6. What do you like most about your team, and what kind of new teammates do you generally hire for?
Diversity is what I like most about my team. We have people of different backgrounds and cultures, which makes our source of knowledge richer. I am eager to maintain this diversity while always looking for highly motivated and creative people, so we keep learning and having new sources of inspiration.
7. What’s something most people don’t know about you?
Most people do not know that I am a high sensation seeker. I am highly attracted to new, complex, and even dangerous experiences. They match my philosophy of life, where I believe that nothing is impossible once we overcome our fears and limits.
Mouna in Auckland, New Zealand
8. What fictional place would you like to visit/work?
The Pokemon world
9. If you could have an unlimited supply of one thing, what would it be?
Time
10. Would you rather be the funniest or smarter person in the room? Why?
This is a difficult question, but if I had to choose, I would be the funniest person because connecting with people is much easier through emotions rather than through thoughts.
11. If you could give your past self advice what would it be?
Be careful what you ask or wish for, you might get it!
Want to know more about Wonderflow, or are you interested in joining our team? Check out our Careers page for the latest opportunities or email us at [email protected] for any questions!
