I wouldn't have made it without my study team. Four years of keeping each other sharp — and that team is still going.
25 graduates on learning with AI, the study teams that proved essential, their personal growth — and the roles they hold today.
I wouldn't have made it without my study team. Four years of keeping each other sharp — and that team is still going.
The feedforward bot was my secret weapon. Every assignment went through it before I handed anything in. My first drafts got better month after month.
I started out as an application manager. Halfway through year three I moved into the role of AI and data analyst internally — my portfolio from the programme was my job interview.
These days I can sit at the executive table and say: this is what AI can do — and this is what you really shouldn't want. That confidence is something I built here.
I used to dread presenting. With the presentation bot I did dozens of dry runs — critical questions included. At my graduation presentation I was simply calm.
What I learned on Saturday was in my calendar on Monday. My employer saw every module translate directly into results — and gladly paid for years two through four.
Studying part-time alongside a full-time job is an elite sport. The study team was our locker room: a quick moan, then back to it. Essential, truly.
Two months after graduating I moved to an AI consultancy. Market demand is enormous — and I could show working implementations, not term papers.
I thought I "wasn't technical". Turns out I had simply never had a proper way in. Now I build agent workflows my colleagues use every day.
You learn AI by learning with it. Every bot in class was secretly also an example of what I was building myself.
Lecturers who spend their weekdays with clients can tell instantly when your case comes straight from a textbook. Everything had to be real. Which is why, after four years, my portfolio was real too.
There were five of us: a nurse, two IT people, someone from finance and me. That mix is exactly what made every assignment richer — five organisations' worth of examples.
The biggest change isn't on my CV but in how I look at things: I now automatically dissect every process I see. Where is the repetition, where is the decision, where can AI help?
The voice bot felt odd at first — talking out loud to a computer. Until I noticed that client conversations about AI suddenly came effortlessly. Practice makes perfect, digitally too.
My job didn't even exist when I started. Now I'm an AI service manager: I keep our models and agents healthy in production. The programme ran exactly one step ahead of what the market was asking for.
Classes on Friday and Saturday every other week, 15 to 20 hours a week. Tough? Yes. But I did every assignment right inside my own job — double the return on the same hours.
When I wanted to quit in year two — pressure at work, a young family — my study team dragged me through it. We redistributed the planning and pulled through together. I'll never forget that.
From service desk to generative AI engineer in four years. Same company, three salary scales higher.
I was always "the quiet one". By presenting every module — first to bots, then to the group — I can now stand in front of a room full of stakeholders without stress.
The lesson bot answered my questions at 11 p.m. — exactly when I did my studying as a part-time student. Learning faster mostly means learning at the moment that suits you.
My manager was my first "client" on every project assignment. After two years she asked whether I would lead our AI policy. The programme made me visible.
It sounds soft, but the study team is half the programme. Knowledge you can find anywhere — discipline, honest mirrors and support you get from each other.
Ethics seemed like a box-ticking exercise to me. It has since become my specialty: I assess AI applications for responsible use. The programme opened my eyes to it.
I went into the interview with my portfolio open on the table: a working agent solution, a data model, a compliance dashboard. The conversation never moved on to anything else.
Unlimited practice with the exam-practice bot took all the tension out of exams. I walked in already knowing I could do it — something I never had during my first degree.
Email or call the programme team — or view the full programmes on hu.nl.