
Internship at OLX: Build Your Professional Profile!
It seems that doing an internship is always a popular trend among students, at least nowadays. Maybe lectures and classes just aren’t enough to help us compete in the real world. That is why I chose to take an internship during my summer holiday, even though some people would say that I started too early.
In this article, I will elaborate on how I secured an internship at OLX Indonesia and what I learned during the internship programme. Finally, I will also try to convince young people to build their professional profile from early on, which could be done in many ways, including by joining an internship programme.
*The intention of writing this article is foremost to share my experience, and also as a reflection on myself.*
Background: How I Secured the Internship
I’ve just finished my first year at University of Sussex, studying Computer Science. Back in April, I realised that I would had a long holiday, around 3 months or even more, because my last exam was in May. I knew that I needed to do something useful during these 3 months. I don’t remember where I got the idea of doing an internship from, but straightaway, that’s what I decided to do!
Being just a first year student with minimum technical skills, it was quite difficult to find technical internships in the tech field. I initially applied to a couple of tech unicorns in Indonesia, my home country. The result was kind of what I already expected, I didn’t receive any reply at all from them. It was pretty clear that they preferred someone who already has more experience. However, as what any motivated man would do, I didn’t give up. I tried to find more internship opportunities, with Glassdoor as my main source.
One day, I came across a job advertisement, saying that OLX Indonesia was looking for interns. I immediately applied, even though it didn’t specify what intern position I would be working as. Therefore, when I applied, other than sending my CV, I also mentioned that my interest was in software development or tech position. After a few days, I received an email from the HR saying that the hiring manager would like to have an interview with me. Long story short, after the interview (which involved some technical questions), I was handed a takeaway coding test. It took me a couple of days to finish the test and then I sent it back to the manager.
Not long after my last exam in May, I was notified that I am hired as a tech intern at OLX Indonesia! In July, my journey as an intern finally started…
New Skills: What I’ve Learned
I spent 2 months at OLX, and as a tech intern, I had different job desc for each month. For the first month, I created a desktop application to help the finance department compare spreadsheet files that contains payment data. I solely developed the application, with guidance from my line manager. Then, for the second month, I was assigned to help and learn from one of the front-end developers, by developing OLX’s Progressive Web App (PWA). I learned loads of things during those 2 months, and it would be exhaustive to list everything in this article. Therefore, I’m just going to put out some of the main skills and technologies that I found most important.
- Electron JS
Creating a desktop application has never been easier before the rise of Electron. With Electron, you can create a desktop application with pure web application stack, a.k.a JavaScript! For the back-end, it uses NodeJS, and Chromium (browser-based) for the front-end. It means that as long as you can code in JavaScript, you can develop a desktop application in an easy way. Some notable desktop apps were created using Electron, such as Slack, Whatsapp, and Skype. - React JS
To make developing front end and building user interface easier, Facebook created a JavaScript framework, called React. The main principle of React is to make each component of a web page as separate classes. React is very popular in Single Page Application (SPA) development, and is considered as a must have skill for front-end developers these days, along with Vue JS.
Using React alone is already beneficial, but to make it more powerful, there are several libraries that can be used with React. Just to name a few, I learned that using React with Redux, React-Router, and React-Loadable can add more functionality. - Progressive Web App (PWA)
PWA is maybe at the top of my list of innovative (mobile) web technologies. PWA is a web app, or web page you may call it, but it has a functionality just like a native mobile app that you download from the Play Store! Instead of downloading the app, you can just go to the URL, then the website can act like a native app. If it’s already fully developed as a PWA, several features such as working offline, push notifications, camera access, geo-location access, etc. are available to use. If you don’t want to input the URL every time you want to go to that web app, you can just add it as a shortcut to your homepage. As convenient as that! - Git
Version control is most likely one of the fundamental knowledge that a software developer must possess. I should’ve learned and used version control system even before I joined OLX. But I didn’t. For the whole of my first year at university, I didn’t do any version control for my codes. I knew that Git and GitHub repository exist, but I wasn’t aware on how important they are.
Now, after I learned Git, I don’t need to be afraid of losing my previous version of code, because the code can be stored on a remote repository. It’s also easier to collaborate with others.
Apart from those listed above, I was also introduced to Agile software development, unit testing, and many soft and transferable skills. Joining OLX Indonesia as an intern was one of the best decision I’ve made. I got to learn many new skills and technologies, faster than my peers. Kudos and huge thanks to my line manager and mentor during my 2 months under their guidance!
Start Early: Build Your Professional Profile from Now!
When I graduate, I will face a real world, where people with bachelor’s degree are very common. How do I make myself stand out from the crowd? One way is to have a work experience, which can be achieved by doing an internship. It would be better if the internship is relevant with your degree. I can’t stress enough on how it would really benefit your early career.
Start by creating a LinkedIn profile. Many opportunities could come from it. Keep maintaining your LinkedIn and update it every time there’s something new in your professional life.
To make your holiday productive, join an internship programme. If it’s possible, try to reach out to the big companies first. I would say that I have a good start, because OLX is a big name for online classifieds in Indonesia, and also in the world. No sweat if you don’t land on the big names. The most valuable thing is the experience.
What’s Next for Me?
I’ve finished the internship at OLX, and I’m going to start my second year at uni soon. With no doubt, I will bring what I’ve learned for the past 2 months to my study. The knowledge that I learn from university, and from any work experience are complementary to each other.
Next year, as a part of my degree, I will undertake a one year placement (internship). I believe that it will be a very good way to improve my professional life. I’ve been researching the companies that I’m going to apply to, and I intend to apply quite early. In the coming months, I will write another article regarding this. But for now, wish me luck, and let’s see where it will take me, shall we?
