From Intern to Enlightenment

Looking back now, I’m surprised at how much I’ve changed during the past 5 months. Compared to any other work experience I had before, there are many things that make this experience very unique and invaluable.

By Yi Bohui
Nanyang Technological University

Start from the Bottom

Working as a long term intern here in DP, my work scope is vastly different from what the summer/winter interns do. While the short-term interns focus more on doing research and solving ‘ungoogleable’ challenges, I need to really get my hands dirty and face various challenges on a daily basis as a full-timer.

When I first started, I was surprised by how much trust DP put in me. Unlike the other internships, I don’t have a mentor to follow.  Instead, I was given a few projects to handle independently right from the start. Although having no experience with any of the tasks given, I was excited to work without guidance for the first time. The sense of ownership made me want to learn as fast as I can and use my knowledge in practice as soonest.

However, overlooking projects and facing the clients by myself wasn’t as easy as I thought. Being alone means that there aren’t many to seek help from. This forces me to learn many things that are out of my ‘job scope’. For example, copywriting, webmastering, content planning etc. Learning those skills and then applying them in the actual projects really gives me a more comprehensive view of every project. These skills also enable me to look at problems in different perspectives and think more critically when making decisions.

The working style here in DP is fast and intense. Besides the few projects I’ve been working on from the beginning, I was constantly involved in various other projects along the way. I had some great opportunities to learn from my polymath colleagues and experience many of the interesting projects (experimental marketing, omnichannel marketing, etc) DP had. Instead of doing similar work and get repetitive eventually, I’m glad that there’re always new challenges and fresh knowledge to absorb.

Pain = Growth

During my first 2 months, I spent most of my time learning new tools and adjusting to the independent working style. With loads of things to clear on a daily basis, the learning curve was extremely steep. Besides solving all sorts of problems every day, I had to learn fast to keep up with new practices and challenges.

Of course, there were a few times when I felt it was too chaotic and painful. But looking back, that was when I grew the fastest. Once passed that period, I became much more confident in dealing with everyday work and managing my priorities. I believe the lesson learnt here is to view pain as a sign of growth. Feeling stressed means that you are going through something you’ve never done before, which is normal. Once overcome, you will become stronger and more confident next time.

To Future Interns

Personally, I see doing internships as a way to try out things and figure out what do you want eventually. Hence, the more you get to try and learn, the better. The 5 months I spent in DP is absolutely a valuable stop in my personal journey. With the level of independence and the many opportunities given, I learnt and grew much more than I expected.

If you are curious about what I do here, here’re some of the projects I was involved in to give you a glimpse:

• Omni-channel Marketing
• Experimental Marketing Analysis
• B2B Experimental Marketing
• Content Planning

Being in DP means constant learning and growing. If you love challenging yourself and trying something different, you’d want to give it a go. I bet you can barely find another internship like this in anywhere else in Singapore.