Real story of the long-term fieldwork
told by host organization representatives and students

I was entrusted with the operation and improvement of the internal security system. Particularly, the work investigating vulnerabilities in the system was most impressive for me. Vulnerabilities are something like a "flaw in the system" and cause a risk of being exploited in an attack if they are left unaddressed. I took on the role of collecting, organizing, and presenting vulnerability information that appeared to be relevant to Mazda.

By around one to two months after the placement, he had become accustomed to the work, was proactively collecting the necessary information on his own, and was handling tasks independently at nearly the same level as our employees around him. Given that it was your first experience, there must have been many challenges, wasn't there?

It was really hard to understand the equipment specifications, such as the operating systems and manufacturers of the software products used at Mazda. For the long-term second fieldwork in the next year, I am going to improve my skills by myself during the relearning period by acquiring knowledge of security and networking, as well as reading articles on overseas cases of cyberattack.

Because the re-learning period is short, it is recommended to make a plan to determine what to do during the period in advance. During this period, I acquired knowledge related to machine learning in the laboratory and also tried to obtain the national qualification "IT Strategist," which requires a managerial perspective as well as advanced IT knowledge and skills.

That's great. We had Kuratoko-san actually participate in the AI agent development project that is being carried out within the company, didn't we?

Yes, the team multiplied the existing AI agent trained on internal data and repeatedly conducted verification tests to determine whether they could be actually used in business operations. To that end, we interviewed employees about their challenges and made the AIs discuss with each other to verify the accuracy and practicality of the system.

AI is a field that has seen significant advances in recent years. We hope that all of you will learn about the potential of AI for various applications through work that addresses the real challenges that the development sites and users are facing. The system that Kuratoko-san was involved in will undergo further verification and eventually be introduced within the company.

I was checking to make sure that my work approach and understanding were not incorrect. During my first long-term fieldwork, in some cases, I thought things through on my own and proceeded with the work, only to have to start over due to a misunderstanding. Based on the lesson I had obtained, I consciously made an effort to proactively create opportunities to consult with others.

The other students besides Kuratoko-san were also actively working on making "PDCA", the cycle of execution and improvement, a regular habit. Also, while working together, it seems that they developed habits such as taking notes and valuing the practice of reporting, communicating, and consulting. I am impressed by how quickly the students have grown.

It is thanks to the atmosphere that it made it easy to consult with others. Because many tasks are conducted through teamwork, I felt that the employees value both vertical and horizontal connections among them.

I agree. I am grateful that the employees created an environment where we could relax, such as having lunch together and engaging in casual conversation.

That's right. For example, our team consists of relatively small numbers of members. Therefore, for junior employees who usually do not take on a mentoring role, this program became their first experience of guiding someone more junior than themselves. Experience guiding and advising the students provided them with an opportunity to reconsider the purpose and role of their own work, and I believe also employees learned valuable lessons.

In our team, employees discussed Miyamoto-san's work and the guidance policy. It led to more active communication within the team. I realized that the long-term fieldwork is not only a place for students to grow, but also a place for us on the company side to grow as well.

I think that the opportunity I was given to improve my specialized skills in the security field and have practical experience significantly contributed to my growth. In addition, I had an opportunity for improving my professional skills, such as reporting, communicating, and consulting within the team, as well as managing my own health and time. To prepare myself toward the second long-term fieldwork, I would like to spend my daily life while consciously running the PDCA cycle on my own.

I received a job offer from Mazda through my job-hunting activities. I feel that now I can clearly image what I truly want to do and my career after being involved in work close to that of a data scientist that I had long been interested in through this program.

This time, there were many new discoveries for us Mazda employees as well. Based on this experience, we would like to consider building a framework that stimulates employees to encourage each other's growth and in which individual strengths are respected.

Watching the students, I was amazed at how much they developed not only their skills in their specialized fields, but also their professional skills. If you are interested in the long-term fieldwork, please do not hesitate to give it a try.