Q&A With Feng Wei, AfterYou’s NUS Overseas College Singapore Intern
Feng Wei is a National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduate in her third year of her Information Systems undergraduate course. She came to AfterYou as part of the NUS Overseas College: Singapore program (then known as iLead) to intern with us for 6 months. She shares her experiences of her learning journey through working at a start-up, while juggling work life with the iLead program.
Q: How was your experience working at AfterYou?
A: I feel very happy and fortunate to have ended up working in AfterYou. The environment is very good, everyone is friendly and approachable and I really enjoy everyone’s company. I get to experiment and drive projects quite independently, with the freedom to fail and learn from it so that everyone can learn as well. I do programming in school now, but I like it even more after working here. I even got to diversify a little and I got to lead a marketing campaign despite being primarily a tech intern!
Q: What are you greatest takeaways during your internship?
A: I feel like I learned a lot about problem solving. I was taught to look at the root problem of things and that one problem can actually be solved by many different solutions. It was very systematic and taught me not to panic. I began to understand that it’s more important to think about the problem first before diving into the solution.
Another thing I learned was how to independently learn things that I didn’t know. My mentors didn’t spoon feed me everything. Instead they gave me some clues here and there and encouraged me to Google and find out for myself. I have a lot more confidence now because I feel like I can learn a lot more by myself even after leaving the company.
Interning at AfterYou also gave me the courage to build my own start-up in the future. I’ve actually never thought about doing it before, but working here has showed me that it’s a lot less scary than it appears to be.
Q: What’s the toughest thing about being an iLead Intern?
A: The toughest thing is the workload! It’s true that I don’t have school, but when you combine the 5 day work week with all the reports, proposals and presentations that you have to do as part of the iLead program, it’s really very challenging. You have to learn how to prioritise and manage your time well.
Q: You went to Hong Kong as part of your program, how was that??
A: Hong Kong was quite scary but very rewarding. We were rushing between conferences and meetings and at the same time studying the business environment. I now have a better understanding of how to apply the same business in a different country and context. I got to do some market research as well to learn about the Hong Kong homeowners’ demand for domestic help.
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