How Being an Intern at Somia CX Enlightens Me
Holla, so it’s been 2 months since my last day as an intern at Somia CX. I know it’s kinda too late but yep better late than never right? So until this very day, sometimes, it’s kinda hard to believe that I can join this awesome family which is Somia CX. In the first week, I could feel that this family had a very different cultural background from mine, and I definitely need to adapt to that. Besides, like any other interns, I see this as a great opportunity to learn more as a designer. According to that, my period was 5 months long, with one big project.
I just know that usually interns here do more than one project, so let’s say I was the chosen one 😂. Just kidding though.
I’m bonded with this long project with two great teammates and also mentors, Mateus and Hima. Like I said before, the culture. As a person that comes from the east edge of Java, calling the older one with just a name without “mas” or “mbak” sounds strange and uncommon for me. There was a strange guiltiness that grapples inside, but it’s okay. Gita said it only lasted for the first couple of weeks. *turns out it is true, and I feel beneficial from that. It broke some of the invincible walls between us, and sometimes I could talk freely. But just keep in mind to still respect each other.
So btw let’s put that aside, cuz that’s not what I’m going to share with you. So what are we waiting for? let’s go for it.
Be a Sponge
First of all, when I joined Somia in the first week I noticed this, I didn’t see any person that has a background like me. Except for Kevin, later I found out he majored in System Information back then. Instead, I discovered that most people came from industrial design, product design, graphic design, architecture, advertising, and I knew that these guys were really good. So for me, since I came from computer science who only knows UX from seminars, or attended some of the UX Design competitions, with no mentor (you could quote this), in the first place, sometimes I really feel I’m underestimating myself lah. Because of that, I’m more often put on the observer mode, and rarely speak up.
*Sorry my mentor and teammates Teus and Hima. 🙏
But speaking with one of the team members makes me realize these sayings: “be a sponge” and “absorb everything”. So yap, that is the thing that I really put effort into doing during my intern period. Like “dude you need to reset your mindset, your past approach, all of them, and be like a sponge.” Learn as much as possible, and get better 1% each day. Don’t be afraid and just do it, do as well as you can.
Also never forget to reflect, like “why Somia did this, why it’s different with my past experience”, and again. Learn it.
You need to hack it!
Like I said before, I have developed this which I claimed as my design process. I’m developing it from various competitions, self-reading, and a daily chit chat with my friends, about a certain design process or any tools we need to try. In the end, it turns out really well, we won some of the national competitions. With various methods, tools, and frameworks in our hands, those things made us believe that we had a good understanding of what we are working on. It has become such a good evidence. But while you are faced with a non tech savvy stakeholder, the tight deadline, also the business objective, maybe you want to consider it and make a tweak to accomplish that.
*That doesn’t mean my learning process was a waste, though. 😔
But with all of that kind of condition and also the risk, as a human, we have this eagerness to survive right? So, we need to move in a more efficient and effective way than we usually do. I mean, what I used to do. From this, I could say that Somia simplified many steps, choosing which will drive the most impact or gather more specific details about the problem, while maintaining the easiest way to synthesize it and digest the insight from it.
The key from this point for me especially for me was this sentence “keep the bigger picture in mind”. So you won’t get lost while cutting too many things.
Attention to Detail
Also, while maintaining the “bigger picture” point of view, sometimes we need to be a Lil bit pickier about some things. Especially, while we are talking about consistency. Like this project that was assigned to us, we need to deal with transforming a current form field to be easy to read, easy to fill and design it so the users will less likely feel burdened. But on the other hand, we can’t cut down too many things, it’s not the type of projects that you could easily swap or delete because it needs to follow some strict regulations. You know what I’m saying right? So when you made even a little adjustment at some points, it would most likely affect so many things. Yep, that good attention to detail would really come in handy.
I’d really love to have a chit chat with to tell you a story of mine about this, maybe next time lah 😅
Got this creative confidence
Last but not least, of course, maybe the thing that I could claim from this internship period is “creative confidence”. Not to mention that I got that, but yep let’s jump into it. So, to loosen my nerves due to the fast pace and pretty heavy stuffs to deal with, while having lunch in the midday, I used to watch an anime.
*I like Japanese animation dude, not the blue one of course. But please don’t label me as a weeaboo. それは私のことではありません.
Ok let’s get back to the topic again. So for this particular lunch, I realized that I didn’t have so much time, and decided to read this article, and found the term “Creative Confidence”. From there , I learned that people with this type of confidence will see it as a balanced one. Wait, for what? The point that I get, someone with creative confidence will accept that kind of uncertainty and notice the failure he makes, and treat it as a learning milestone. But is still keen to strive for a more stable approach or impressive outcome. However, I think how the writer explains the filmmaking things is what make it more interesting, check this out:
Talking about the process of filmmaking, she with creative confidence will make you believe, there is indeed a beautiful story in this collection of random footage, the mistakes we are making are teaching us new lessons and making us better, and when we premiere our movie, the applause will roll through the auditorium like thunder.
Still, I think this “creative confidence” isn’t a thing that you can claim but instead, you earn from others. So it’s kinda like you need to invest more in honing your craftsmanship, while still doing the work to fail and learn. Then at some point, you’ll earn them . Cuz I believe, if we’re confident enough in our work, we will more likely to easily be in the zone and stay in the flow. Still in the end, let the sake of the time answer that. *In his book Malcolm said that at least you need 10.000 hours to be a master in a certain field. Just treat it the same way as that.
For the conclusion, I wanna thank Mateus and Hima as my teammates for these 5 months. Thank you for your patience guys, really looking forward to learn more from both of you.
Thank you Satia for providing a safe yet insightful space for us gen Z at Somia lol. Also, for other team members who welcome me in this family, let’s have a great journey for the future.
*btw Mateus enjoy your study at UK ya hasta luego.
