Something about March ~The Internship~
Yes, I've just finished my internship, on March 15th to be exact. There's a backstory to this.
Actually, I supposed to take internship module during the July - September term, BUT, because the ones that reply to my email were very few and I just didn't felt good during the interview(I've made a few bad decisions too), in the end, my lecturer withdrew me from this module and I basically had a longggg holiday during that period. Well, I get to return to my hometown too, so maybe it's not that bad huh? XD
Then fast forward to January, I re-took this module and by this time, I've learned my lesson. Back then, I relied too much on my qualification and self-effort, I just didn't involve God while applying. So, this time, instead of stressing on whether I'll get it or not, I just rested on the fact that Jesus has provided everything and I prayed for wisdom, that He will guide every decisions that I will make.
The first week I applied, no reply, after sending like another 10 emails, then finally someone reply, it's from a company called Butterscotch Creations, it's actually a web design agency , kinda off from my usual track but their website attracted me so I just send my resume haha, the Creative Director himself replied back and asked me to come on the following Monday(because it's already Friday when he replied) at 6 pm. So I emailed back to him, saying 'Ok'. Then there's another reply from nectar9, this company deal with many fields of design, they handled web content, TV commercials, videography, photography, conceptual concepts, Animations and etc. If I had to compare between this two company, Butterscotch is more on the 'experimental' or 'urban' and very ' 'interactive' looking, while nectar9 is more 'professional' and 'modern'. I personally really like Butterscotch, first because of their 'interesting' website and I like their portfolios. I'm not saying that nectar9 has a bad portfolio, in fact, they had deal with bigger clients than Butterscotch but I just didn't really like their style, the 'professional' kind of design just didn't suit me haha it feels really cold imo
But really, God is just insanely good. One day before my very first interview, I attended church and it so happens it's the first service of the year, so Pastor announced the theme of year 2013 as the year of 'The Key of David' where God will be opening doors no one can shut and shutting doors that no one can open. During the sermon, Pastor mentioned about God will open the door of utterance for those who are going for interview. Wow, when I heard that I just get so excited! I feel like shouting, "Amen!! I claimed that in Jesus name!!" XD With that kind of assurance from God, I felt that no matter how bad the interview goes, everything will be alright.
To cut the long story short, I finally had my internship with Butterscotch Creations. I started on 15th January and finished on 15th March, but counting the Chinese New Year holiday in between, I worked for just a month plus a few weeks. Every day is an adventure for me though I had to say, rather than learning new skills, I learned more on how it is to work in a team and deal with clients. I was supervised directly by the Creative Director and worked closely with the Web Designer. There are times, when creative juice are not flowing, I spent many times playing games on facebook or watching videos on youtube XD I'm sorry Azman, I slacked off many times while you're not looking haha
I made a few mistakes along the way, there are many times I think I just failed to reach my boss's expectation. But at the end of it, when I give the feedback paper for him to write, he write a good feedback despite me failing here and there and I remember he wrote this, "We are glad to have her onboard". When I read that my eyes just goes 0_0, you're glad you say? Even though I kinda messed up like a LOT. Well, I just have to 'blame' that to God's favor :D if it's not for His favor, I don't think I won't see this kind of good review.
This is how the office looks like, it's quite unconventional right? XD They are a small company, with only 5 permanent staff. Their working space is 3 long white IKEA tables formed in U shape. They don't have partitions like the usual office, when you enter the office, you could just spot Azman, the Creative Director directly, he sits at the center of the office, as you can see in this picture. The iMac in the center is the Creative Director's space, the Engagement Manager sits beside him (the chair with green jacket), then the Dell desktop is the Web Developer's space, there's another Toshiba desktop beside him, now occupied by a new Web Developer. Also, the other iMac on the left is the Web Designer's space and that's it. When I worked there, I sat beside the Web Designer, because that's the only space left and no PC whatsoever, so I had to bring my own laptop whenever I came to work.
During my last day at work, all of us went to have lunch together at Everything With Fries which is conveniently located at Holland Village because the office is at Commonwealth so yeah, it's very near :D
The two pictures below are what I ordered, A beef burger set meal that came with a soup and a drink. Quite delicious, and the portion is HUGE, I thought I'd still able to enjoy desserts but apparently not, I didn't even eat all the fries. It's that huge.
Finally, let me introduce to you the people in Butterscotch Creations, starting from the left.
Keith - He is the Web Developer so he is in charge of the programming and coding side. If I had to describe him, he's kinda blunt, a no-nonsense type of person and he mostly speaks what's on his mind. I'm quite scared of him personally XD But then, Belinda told me he's quite a gamer as well, though he mostly played on PC not console and he watch Anime too! XD so yeah, it's anime/game that starts the conversation rolling.
Azman - He is the Creative Director and my supervisor during my intenrship. He is pretty easy going I think, very carefree and flexible. Though serious, I never sense he's the short-tempered type, so whenever he says he's upset, I think he looks pretty calm about it XD But, he's very forgetful! All of us had to remind him from time to time on certain stuff. I myself fell victim to his forgetfulness. The first time I met him, is on the day he told me to come for interview, BUT when I did come at the designated time, he told me he had totally forgotten about the interview until I came, man, I guess made this (-,-;) kind of face that day. But then, he's a good boss :D
Reaus - He is the Engagement Manager and I say, the moodmaker of the office. I'd never guess he's an Indonesian until he himself said so, because he was born and grew up in Singapore but his parents are Indonesian, he speaks fluent Malay but the funny thing, whenever he ask me some stuff he could switch it to Bahasa Indonesia tone, which I found amazing and amusing at the same time. He is in charge of the communication with the clients and also the one that looks for prospective clients. He has a good voice and sings pretty well! He's also a forgetful person, like Azman but on a different level, he often forgets to bring important stuffs like keys or wallet with him. He's a funny, funny person, when boredom starts to kick in, he'll start acting so random that the ones that accidentally look at him will just starts to laugh especially Belinda who sits directly in front of him.
CK - The new recruit. Name is Lim Chee Kent but people call him CK. Honestly, the first time I heard his name mentioned, I thought they say 'chicken'. I'm sorry, didn't mean too, but his name just indirectly reminds me of that.
Erwin - A freelance programmer, so he's just a temporary staff and has quite a sense of humor from I've observed.
Then there's me and finally
Belinda - The Web Designer, she's in charge of the design part like the title suggest, though she could do programming as well. I sat beside her during my internship so I guess it's natural to talk to her from time to time and I worked closely with her too, as I'm doing some of the design stuffs. She is also an anime/manga/game fan and we had fun talking about otome games XD
Everybody is pretty welcoming, no so called 'arrogant senior/colleague' attitude, I'm actually missing the time I worked there. We cracked jokes from time to time, watching funny videos and laughed together. Though when the workload is heavy, you could feel it in the air XD
So yeah, I miss everybody, I hope I could visit the office again soon, even though it's quite far from where I'm staying.