My Story as a Data Science Intern at tiket.com

Introduction

Hello there!

Are you interested in knowing what it’s like to be an intern at an established start-up in Indonesia?

Well, look no further. My name is Seivabel Jessica Halim, and I am here to give you insider information on what it’s like to work at Indonesia’s first and fastest-growing Online Travel Agent.

A little about myself, I am currently in my 3rd year studying at the City University of Hong Kong. My interest in data started when I was researching what I wanted to study for university. It was mind-blowing seeing how data can be utilized for a lot of different things, like understanding the behaviours of different groups of people, recommending products you’d like based on your past purchases, or even predicting the future.

That is what I am doing at tiket.com, and I am thrilled to share my experience as a Data Science Intern.

Applying for an Internship at tiket.com

Look out for tiket.com’s job postings on your favourite websites like LinkedIn. Those who are studying at Indonesian universities can also apply through Kampus Merdeka. I found this job posting on LinkedIn and was redirected to tiket.com’s career page.

Systematic Process of Internship Application to tiket.com

Technical Assessment

Once you passed the initial CV screening, the Talent Acquisition team will contact you to do a technical assessment which is a Codility test. For the Data Science Intern role, this stage serves to test your coding skill, as well as a bit of your knowledge in programming and statistical analysis. You will be given 2 hours to provide your solutions based on the prompt given using Python for the first question and SQL for the second. The last question is a theoretical question.

HR interview

Next step: HR interview. This 15-minute interview is a way for the TA to get to know you further than what your CV says about you; like why you want to be part of the tiket.com family or why you want to be in the DS field. There’s no need to be nervous! The interview is pretty casual, it almost feels like a conversation with a friend you just met. Just be the best version of yourself and you’re good to go.

Once you finish, the TA representative will set up a user interview as your next step toward becoming part of t-fam.

User interview

The user interview is where things get a little bit tough. The Data Science Leads will test you on your knowledge of the Data Science world; Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning, and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

Some pointers from me:

• Prepare an introduction of yourself (keep it to 1 minute!)
  This is your time to hook the interviewers in and get them excited. Try not to summarize your CV (because they will read it before the interview, of course), instead go beyond your CV.
• Study. Study. Study.
  Familiar with Machine Learning already? Make sure you understand the fundamentals of how the most commonly used ML models work and how evaluation metrics are calculated. Don’t have any experience in Deep Learning or NLP? Fear not! It’s only a plus point, but there’s nothing wrong with going beyond your comfort zone and learning something new.
• Go through your past projects and understand why you did what you did.
  You will be asked to go through your past projects in Data Science. Warning: the interviewers LOVE to test you, so be prepared for any questions regarding your project. For every decision, you made in your project, be sure you have the reasons for it ready. The interviewers are VERY creative in gauging your knowledge and logic.
• Do not panic!
  If you don’t know the answer to a question or, perhaps, are unsure, calm yourself, think thoroughly, and answer as best as you can. You think better with a calm mind. As an intern, you are not expected to know everything. Just make sure you understand the fundamentals and the basics.

Working as a DS Intern at tiket.com

tiket.com implements a Work From Anywhere (WFA) arrangement in general for all employees, which means you are allowed to work from the office or your home, depending on the agreement of your team. Did I mention that tiket.com provides a laptop for work, even for interns? Yup, we get a MacBook Pro.

Our DS team is pretty diverse; aside from Indonesians, we have Indians, Filipinos, and Indonesians residing outside of the country like me. I’m currently doing my internship in Hong Kong since I’m still studying at the university here.

Routine

Our day typically starts at 9 AM with a 1-hour lunch break from 12 to 1 PM. Throughout the day, aside from doing our tasks, there are meetings that we have to attend like daily or weekly sync-ups for each project that we are involved in. We end our day with a daily call out at 5 PM to share what we have done throughout the day and report any issues we faced or interesting findings we came across. The daily call-out is finished off with an entertainment session ranging from dad jokes to gurindams prepared by the designated team member. On Fridays, we have a weekly sync-up for the whole DS team members. In this weekly session, the team leads share the progress of all the projects that are being worked on in the quarter. Other meetings we have are DS Project Sharing Session, DS Knowledge Sharing Session, DSR (Ds let’s Sit back and Relax). For interns, we have a special time for us to relax and bond called Balada Intern.

DS in tiket.com is project-based. Our projects range from classification to NLP, and we get to choose which projects we want to contribute to. Each project has its own weekly or even daily meeting for updates. In those meetings, tasks will be assigned by the project lead. The tasks that you might be assigned could be Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) where your critical thinking and logic would be tested. Or it could be doing experiments where you’re trying out different models in search of the best one.

Working Culture in tiket.com

If I could describe how it feels like working at tiket.com in one word, it would be “FUN”. Casual outfits, aesthetic workplace, flexible working arrangements, tiket.com does it all. There are also a lot of events the People team organize specifically for the employees. In my first month, the company hosted an anniversary concert where we get to watch Raisa, Vierratale, and Rossa live! There are also clubs you can join like an investment club, a badminton club, a band, and many others.

For interns like me, that is also studying while doing this internship, our work schedule is pretty flexible. If I have a class in the middle of office hours, I am free to attend. I’d just need to make sure my progress is on track and put my class schedule on my work calendar so that my coworkers would know.

Another thing I really like is how open everyone is, even to new joiners. I feel welcomed right away. At first, I was quite intimidated because I felt like I lacked the skills and experience that they might seek for an intern, but I was reminded that as an intern, I am here to learn! That is what tiket.com always encourages their employees. Communication is also very important. You are always welcome to talk to your mentor or perhaps other seniors if you’re struggling or you’re seeking advice.

Our office in Wisma Barito Pacific 2 itself is very cool. There is a lot of entertainment you can enjoy like a pool table, massage chairs, a ping pong table, and many others. Lunch is also provided for free every day. The working space is also very comfortable to work in; monitors on every table, comfortable chairs, and tall tables if you like standing up while working.

Conclusion

Overall, I have truly enjoyed the first 2 months of being a DS intern at tiket.com; I’ve learned a lot both technically and interpersonally, and there is still so much to learn in the next 4 months!

I hope you can gain some insights on what it is like to be an intern in the Data Science team at tiket.com; I highly encourage you to apply so you can also get to learn about the world of Data Science and enjoy the fun!