The buzzword for undergraduates today has been internships and the current situation we find ourselves in has increased its popularity exponentially. Given the poor job market today, even graduates are snatching at internships to tide themselves through these tough times.
This has led to an influx of higher quality interns and resulted in prospective interns today have a wider choice of industries to pick from than a year ago. In such gloomy times globally, it was an appreciated silver lining.
Before embarking on the search for my maiden internship, I was faced with the first key decision I had to make. Which industry to intern in? I was presented with a plethora of choices ranging from large corporate firms such as the Big Four to seed-stage startups that were just born months ago, at the height of the pandemic.
It was as diverse as the tech community’s opinion on which of iOS or Android is the superior smartphone operating system today. However, just like how some in the community above pledge their loyalty to either faction, I was immediately drawn to the tech startup ecosystem, for the below reasons.
Diversity
The startup ecosystem is a harsh and unrelenting environment. It is often said that it is the epitome of the phrase, survival of the fittest. Given the early stage of a business model that startups find themselves in with high cash burn and challenges to fund their growth and expansion plans, they must rely on lean operating structures that banked on those working for them to have high productivity levels.
Often in early stage startups, initial employees wore multiple hats and undertook different roles that were not necessarily related to one another. It was common to see founders hold the CEO, product, and marketing manager roles concurrently. These startups would have loved to make specific hires for those roles but they just did not have the financial ability to do so.
Also Read: Students, here are 3 reasons why you should never intern at a startup
Enter increased learning opportunities for interns. The flexibility in the job scope listed for interns meant they tended to learn more than their peers who chose their internships in the conventional corporate sectors. As Koh Kang Liang shared in his blog post, his three-month-long internship at ShopBack, back when it was still a 10-men team, saw him being tasked to oversee their hiring and networking portfolios, conduct market research and do up financial reports.
His initial job scope? Business development and analytics intern. While it represented a steep learning curve for him with multiple responsibilities, he remarked that he felt energised by them and saw his work translate into a real, concerted impact on the company. Looking back, he shared that while the internship was a challenging experience, it was a fulfilling one as he learned many skills along the way. Given ShopBack’s immense success today, I am sure Kang Liang would be doubly proud of his efforts early on to build it.
Culture
Entrepreneurs, though they look just like you and me from a physical viewpoint, are a different breed from the rest when it comes to their mindsets. They have high levels of determination, self-drive, and are not afraid of failure. They are doers. Consequently, they create teams that possess similar traits to them, and therefore, it is often said that startups consist of high energy, motivated teams that function at a fast pace in a productive and efficient manner.
The constant problem solving that was required to deal with the multitude of uncertainty, given its norm in the startup ecosystem, resulted in teams consisting of agile individuals that would not be afraid to shy away from problems but rather tackle them head-on to solve it. As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the importance of soft skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving cannot be understated. Thus, being exposed to them constantly in the startup ecosystem would go a long way to developing future-proof careers.
The hierarchical lines are significantly more blurred in a startup compared to conventional corporate firms and interns can utilise this to their advantage. Those who you need to report directly to are often instead referred to as mentors instead of bosses and you could easily meet your founders at the water cooler and bounce off ideas and wisdom from them.
Also Read: Rethinking the way we do student internships
Given the small teams that startups operate in, interns might have the opportunity to take part in meetings involving C-suite executives and observe on a deeper level how businesses and decision-making are executed at the top. These experiences, I reasoned, would not have been possible at a big corporate firm due to the sheer size and complexity of their corporate management structure.
The power of tech
While much has been said on the negative impacts of technology on our lives, we cannot escape from the fact that we have greatly benefitted from it and humans would have been far worse off without it. From the invention of the steam engine in the First Industrial Revolution to the birth of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Fourth, technology has made us more productive and is a key reason why we are able to achieve constant progress as a global population.
However, technology does not only make us smarter workers, it saves lives too. Take eko.ai for example. Utilising AI tools to detect often silent symptoms of heart diseases, the Singapore-based startup aims to reduce the cost and time for such detection tests and in the process, save lives.
Given that startups exist due to the presence of problems in our community, it is only natural that they enter the market with a viable solution that solves these issues and increase the convenience and quality of life for everyone. ible’s Airvida air purifier band certainly achieves that. In an effort to combat the seasonal haze in Southeast Asia and bring better living quality and protection to the community, their wearable air purifier utilises negative ions to draw harmful air particles away from the user and reduce the inhalation of smoke, pollen and allergens by up to 99 per cent.
Therefore, the power of tech and the positive impact it could have on other’s lives drew me to the industry and as Kang Liang shared earlier on in the article, the fulfilment of your work would be much higher if you could see the impact it had on others.
Also Read: Why you should never intern at a startup (especially e27)
Take your pick
Ultimately, the tech startup ecosystem is not for everyone. It is important to note when choosing which industry to pursue your internship in, you need to consider whether your personal traits are aligned to that of the ecosystem. Given that I desired being given multiple responsibilities and working in a fast-paced environment to challenge myself, I knew that the tech startup ecosystem would entice me and I hope that after digesting the above points I shared that played a part in my decision, you would gain better clarity and truly choose an internship you would benefit from.
As mentioned at the start, internships are the buzzwords for undergraduates for a reason. A strong foundation is necessary for a long and rewarding career and internships assist in laying the bricks for your desired career.
Therefore, pick wisely.
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