IE University is home to innovative students who strive to use our newest forms of technology to drive positive change. Sergi Abashidze, who studies the Bachelor in Data & Business Analytics, sums up our IE University mission.
Originally from Georgia, Sergi is a true global citizen. He made the move from his home country to Spain to study at IE University and recently completed an internship as a data analyst at Bloomberg in their London office. His experience at Bloomberg inspired his final project in which he created a portfolio management algorithm using artificial intelligence.
IE University is known for its international presence. Students from all over the world come to study at IE University thanks to the diversity of the student body and its hands-on approach to teaching and learning. Sergi Abashidze , who studies the Bachelor in Data & Business Analytics, was fascinated by IE University’s unique program in data science.
During Sergi’s final year, he completed a capstone project, where he created a portfolio management algorithm using AI where the agent would trade and manage cryptocurrencies. He decided to leverage reinforcement learning for managing the assets, meaning that the algorithm learned how to trade crypto by itself because of the past historic prices of cryptocurrencies.
A LEARNING CURVE
Sergi’s experience with this capstone project, called A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach to Managing a Portfolio of Digital Assets, were many-layered, as is the case with most IE University students in their final year of university. His advisors and the IE University community gave him the resources to accomplish the desired goals.
Sergi has four main takeaways:
- Choosing a very hard topic for my project was manageable thanks to the support I received.
- Having a good plan and schedule on research, writing and formatting was essential for success.
- Reaching out to professors when I was having problems saved a lot of time.
- Delivering an exceptional presentation ensured that the true value of the project was understood.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
In the end, Sergi had created something to be proud of and he was happy with the results. He had a few recommendations to future Bachelor in Data & Business Analytics students:
- Document all projects neatly and upload them to GitHub, which will help you with job applications.
- Save all information you gather throughout the program because it could be useful in the future.
Lasty, one final piece of advice Sergi had for future students at IE University was to build meaningful relationships with students and professors. Sergi did just that and because of IE University’s strong networking opportunities, he landed himself an internship at Bloomberg. Success is definitely on the horizon for Sergi in the future.