Building confidence through innovation at Compass Data & AI

By: Micaela Kelly

At Compass Data & AI, co-op students don’t just join project teams. They contribute to meaningful work, take ownership of important pieces of projects and build confidence through mentorship, collaboration and experimentation. 

Whether they're developing forecasting models, building artificial intelligence (AI) tools or exploring new ways to solve business problems, Waterloo co-op students are doing meaningful work from day one.

At Compass, teams use data, AI and emerging technologies to solve complex business challenges.

"A growth mindset is one of the most important things that helps students be successful during their term," LaCoste says. "We help them take on new challenges and see the challenges as opportunities."

Rather than assigning students isolated tasks, Compass integrates them into project teams and involves them throughout the entire process.

"Our project teams are small and collaborative, so students have opportunities to make an impact," LaCoste says. "They are there from the business problem to coming up with the approach, implementing it and scaling it."

The co-op solution

Students take ownership of their work while receiving support from mentors and teammates. To help students build confidence, the company pairs them with experienced team members and encourages them to think through challenges before seeking support.

"Often we'll ask them, 'What would you do in this situation?'" LaCoste says. "We're not going to leave them on their own, but we want them to think through the decision first."

"There's a reason it's called an experiment," she says. "We expect that not all of them will work out, but they teach us something, and we can take what we learn forward and apply it to different areas of the business."

The organization also gives employees and co-op students dedicated time and opportunities to explore innovation initiatives.

During this time, team members can investigate emerging technologies, develop new ideas and build skills beyond their day-to-day project responsibilities.

"It's about giving them the right guardrails and letting them realize that it's okay and safe to propose things that might not work," LaCoste says.

LaCoste first joined Compass as a Waterloo co-op student in 2022. After graduation, she returned to work full-time.

Today, she helps create the same co-op opportunities that shaped her own experience. LaCoste notes that one of the most rewarding parts of her role is watching students grow in confidence.

"Compass Data & AI exemplifies what impactful innovation looks like in a co-op environment. By trusting students with meaningful work, encouraging experimentation and fostering a culture of continuous learning, they create opportunities for students to grow as innovators and leaders," says Kate Baker, Employer Experience Manager at Co-operative and Experiential Education.

For Mehta, Compass offered exactly the kind of experience he was looking for.

During his co-op term, Mehta worked on projects ranging from time-series forecasting models and AI automation tools to large-scale data initiatives.

One project he worked on began as a proof of concept. Mehta and another co-op student were responsible for building the solution, validating the results and presenting their findings.

"The work ended up receiving funding to move forward, bringing the project from a proof of concept to a pilot phase," he says. "They've also greenlit a few other projects because they liked our results so much. Seeing that tangible business value was really rewarding."

The takeaway

By giving Waterloo co-op students meaningful work, mentorship and room to experiment, Compass Data & AI puts them at the centre of the problem-solving process. Students build confidence by tackling real challenges, contributing ideas and seeing their work through from business problem to solution.

Want to learn more? Hear directly from Lacoste and Mehta about the meaningful solutions they're creating.