Employee Spotlight: Jorrit van der Laan

Meet Jorrit van der Laan, Machine Learning Engineer at KickstartAI. With a background in mathematics and data science, he brings an analytical mindset and a passion for solving complex, real-world problems through AI.

Let’s dive into his journey into the field, what drives his work, and how he aims to create meaningful impact through technology.

What’s your role at KickstartAI? 

I’m a Machine Learning Engineer, working with our team to build AI applications for different companies. At the moment, I’m involved in two partner projects: one with ING and one with bol.com.

Can you share your journey into AI?

I did a bachelor’s in mathematics and only started coding during my master’s in data science, which I chose because I wanted to move towards technical applications. Since then, I’ve been working as a machine learning and data scientist in both startups and consulting companies.

​​What’s something in our projects that genuinely excites you?

I find it very exciting understanding companies from the inside and working on completely new problems in different industries. What I like about our project with ING, for instance, is that we’re working on a chatbot for financial health assistance, and we’re developing it completely from scratch. 

What drives you in your work? 

One part of me enjoys solving puzzles and finding patterns — and that’s what you do both in mathematics and machine learning. But another part of me really likes interacting with people from different backgrounds. And that’s what’s special about the AI field: you can be deeply technical and also collaborate with all kinds of people, understand their perspectives, and see how your work can have an actual impact. 

Focusing on both social and business impact is also what I really enjoy about working at KickstartAI. 

What are your go-to AI tools? 

I regularly use coding assistants, such as Codex, although I don’t have a strong preference for a specific provider, to be honest. I also use chat-based tools like ChatGPT. I really like how useful they are for learning. 

For example, I was recently working with a python package I hadn’t used before. I could just ask, “Can you explain the overall idea and why it was introduced?” and then follow up with questions like, “I don’t understand this, can you explain a bit more?” It’s a great method for that kind of step-by-step learning. You can keep asking questions until you fully understand. 

What’s your advice to people considering a career in AI? 

My advice would be: don’t get too attached to specific tools or ML techniques. 

The AI field is changing so quickly that a specific technique or framework you learn today might already be outdated five years from now. For example, locally training a language model used to be common, but with all the advanced pre-trained models available now, it’s not needed anymore. Although fine-tuning still happens, of course.

Looking back, I’m glad I studied mathematics. Math teaches you to think analytically: to break problems down into smaller pieces, to make assumptions, and reason your way to conclusions. These are skills you’ll always need. 

What part of the AI field interests/inspires you the most?

I really like both ends of the spectrum. On one hand, I’m interested in the theoretical side: using AI for fundamental research, such as supporting mathematical proofs. On the other hand, I’m drawn to applied AI, like predicting patient inflow in hospitals, or developing AI tools for wound detection. I think healthcare is a particularly interesting field.

Fun fact about you? 

Did you know that Beethoven wrote 32 piano sonatas? Well, if you show me a random page of any of them, I can tell you which sonata it is and which section of the piece the page comes from.

💡 Want to learn more about KickstartAI and our mission to accelerate AI adoption in the Netherlands? Check out our website, explore our open positions, or connect with Jorrit on LinkedIn!