In my story today, I want to tell you about my internship experience at Nodeflux and how I faced tremendous stress with my busy schedule at that time. I will tell about my Bangkit project in another story when I feel it is the right time to say to it.
These stories and views are my personal thoughts and cannot guide you in making any decisions.
After Bangkit Academy 2021
I was thrilled after receiving the announcement that my team and I were part of one of the 15 teams selected to get funding from Google and the Ministry of Education. But at the same time, the Ministry of Education will hold an Internship program. Something that was very interesting to me and I needed at the time.
My dilemma is, can I control my busy life later? With the Bangkit project, internship, thesis that I have to finish by December? My mother had asked the same thing; I replied with, “It seems if I get past this, I can do anything” while I laughed at my mother’s question.
I continue to apply to several companies for this internship program. Some decided to continue the process until the user interview, which I often failed due to lack of preparation — I had to take care of my project several times on d-7 or d-3 before the user interview process.
I had several times thought, “Am I really not fit to apply and still have to learn more?” and it made me desperate several times.
Until finally, I decided to apply again to one of the biggest Computer Vision companies in Indonesia. With better preparation — and there’s nothing else for me to do before my interview.
My Journey with Nodeflux
After completing the interview process, I can only pray for the best results, and God answered that according to my prayers. I got an offer from Nodeflux to join as a Product Manager Intern at that time. With Ekki Rinaldi as my mentor. Along with 29 others, we had some exciting trips over the next 5 months.
Honestly, I did not have good product management knowledge at that time, and with only a few books I read, I tried to carry out my new job. And I’m not going to talk about my daily activities or the things I do, but I want to tell you what I can learn from my internship experience at Nodeflux.
Know Your Limit
As you read at the beginning of the story, I participated in this internship with several other activities that I also had to complete — writing a thesis, international journals, and pursuing the Bangkit project (as team leader). Sounds overwhelming and tiring, doesn’t it? The answer is yes.
I’m also a leader for Hacker Team — which consists of software engineers, AI engineers and product managers. Congratulations, I’ve just added another weight on my shoulders.
Not only responsible for some of the features that I created, but I also should communicate with several other divisions related to the Nodeflux Accelerate event.
Everything was going pretty hard until I felt like thousands of people were chasing me in December. I feel every burden that I have to finish in that month. There is not a day that I don’t experience stress. But fortunately, I can finish everything well, although not perfect.
Honestly, at that time, I felt I had crossed my limits for all the responsibilities that I had. But it turned out that I was able to finish everything, even though I was “beaten” by all the responsibilities.
The question is whether what I did was a good thing? The answer will be very tentative.
The only one who can answer that is yourself. For me, if I don’t join this activity, I won’t be able to learn more. And I will not have this incredible experience, together with my friends and seniors, in this 5-month activity.
Does everyone have to try the same thing as I did? Of course not.
I’m sure everyone can judge their limits; sometimes, they’re just afraid to be wrong about their views.
Communication is the Key
Next is, I realize how important our ability to build healthy communication is. Communication between co-workers is essential regardless of what your job is. And I realize that establishing good communication is quite complex, in some cases.
How to start to build good communication?
I think one of the important answers is, to stop making assumptions that you understand without asking for clear confirmation on something that is not clear.
Asking to make sure something is not stupid but a necessary thing.
Take a Break
As I explained, I had a lot to do during the last 6 months of 2021. So much so that I forgot to take a break from all the activities.
Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m burnout because I’m too busy to finish everything.
And that is a mistake. While the aftermath of this didn’t directly impact my work, it did have an impact on my personal life. And honestly, I really regret that. Trust me; you need to rest no matter how busy your activities are.
New Opportunity and Next Journey
But what I am proud of is, from all these activities, I can develop myself. I learned so much in such a short time on things I never even thought I would learn.
The picture above really shows how the process that I have gone through so far has brought me to the point that I am proud. Despite my exhaustion and despair thus far, I believe that it is all proportionate to my determination to accomplish my future ambitions.
If you ask me would I do this again if I could turn back time? My answer is yes.
Acknowledgment
To:
- Ekki Rinaldi, I want to express my gratitude for teaching me something really valuable. Communication and empathic abilities are really beneficial.
- Arin Siska, thank you for being a mentor who wants to discuss with me regarding product development. I really appreciate that.
- Devi Andriani, thank you for introducing the Nodeflux’s culture to me and being a friendly senior.
- Alya Ananda & Naufal Aurelio, thank you for being good partners and friends who can cheer me up when things get tough on this project.
- Thank you to the Hacker team, who have been working diligently for the last five months. I appreciate your time and consideration in working with me.
- To all my friends across divisions who have also worked hard in realizing Nodeflux AI Accelerate. Thank you very much for your hard work.
I hope we can meet again in the future.
