Shaping Tomorrow’s Talent – Telefónica Tech’s Student Initiative

Every year, Telefónica Tech collaborates with Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria’s largest university, to mentor and guide aspiring engineers. Through workshops, real-world projects, and hands-on mentorship from our expert team, students gain practical experience in Data Engineering and Data Science.

This initiative bridges the gap between academic learning and industry practice, helping students develop both the technical skills and professional insights they need to succeed in today’s data-driven world. By sharing our knowledge and experience, we aim to inspire the next generation of data professionals while giving back to the community that shapes tomorrow’s talent. Through this program, we also identify and hire the most promising students, offering them the opportunity to continue growing their careers with Telefónica Tech.

1. The Assignment

However, this journey isn’t as easy as some might think. Students must navigate the complexities of modern tools like Azure DevOps, Databricks, and Power BI – learning not just theory, but how to apply these skills in real-world scenarios.

This year, we worked with three teams, each led by a team leader – the most experienced student responsible for organising tasks and supporting teammates when they get stuck. Our goal was to guide each team in planning and executing assignments, specifically creating a classic medallion architecture using source data from Formula 1 races.

Students first ingest, transform, and aggregate the full dataset which has been altered with some bad entries to make it harder. Then, they create three different reports in Power BI using a star schema to showcase what they’ve learned. Beyond just fixing data, we emphasise the importance of experimenting and presenting it in a meaningful way – demonstrating how data can deliver real value to a client and that thinking outside the box can often be beneficial.

2. The Challenges

While this assignment came with many challenges, a few topics proved particularly difficult. Understanding the differences between serverless and standard compute in Databricks is not easy. However, working through this helped students grasp when each option is preferred and how they function. Valuable knowledge for starting a professional career in data.

Students also had to decide whether to use SQL, PySpark, or a combination of both. While we provided guidelines and best practices, we encouraged them to design their own architecture and map the flow of data to the gold layer. Clear documentation and explanations of each step were critical, showing us not just what they did, but why they made each choice.

3. The Results

On assessment day, we were greeted by a room full of friendly faces – students who had not only grown their technical skills but also built new friendships along the way. At Telefónica Tech, we believe that tackling a challenging project brings people together, and it was rewarding to see this in action.

We reviewed each team’s organisational skills, code, and dashboards, scoring both the steps they took and how well they defended their decisions. When we identified areas for improvement, we offered additional guidance – suggesting enhancements for dashboards, pointing out design choices that might not suit an end client, and sharing tips to strengthen their overall approach. Here is one visual that we most certainly enjoyed seeing:

While all teams successfully achieved the end goal, we had to select one overall winner. It was not an easy decision – each team demonstrated unique strengths. One excelled in code documentation and leadership, another produced stellar Databricks solutions, some stood out in report design, and others showed exceptional teamwork in overcoming challenges.

In the end, we selected Team 1 as the winner and awarded company-sponsored prizes, including restaurant vouchers to encourage team building, along with a handmade 3D-printed cup for each team leader to take home as a lasting memento of their leadership.

Our Project Team

And we were excited to have our final picture will all team members!