The Value of the UNI.CORN Internship

June 30, 2016

We’re about halfway through the DBS UNI.CORN internship and I daresay, it has been one of the most enjoyable internships I have been in (not that I have been in many).

To ensure a concise reflection, below are 3 reasons as to what enjoyable is.

Awesome mentorship and resources at our disposal

Mentorship is often characterized by access to the best guidance, but UNI.CORN has reminded me that the willingness to guide is equally or more important. At DIG (DBS Innovation group), we have access to wonderful innovation mentors that constantly guide us in our approach to solving problems. Not only have they been patient, they have constantly tried to put themselves in our shoes, understand the problem from multiple perspectives before offering us a viable direction. Having access to top management in DBS, being able to work alongside them in workshops and understanding how they think and manage has also been invaluable.

It has helped each one of us to identify our strengths and pursue our interests

After several weeks, I believe our distinct personalities, what each one of us are good at and our interests have begun to take a more distinct form. While it’s somewhat surprising, working with groups of people for long hours has allowed us to understand our individual strengths and work ethics. Have this better understanding has enabled us to have better allocation of work and allowed us to be able to take a more productive approach to getting things done.

The beauty of this internship is that, if planned properly, there is always room for each one of us to pursue our individual passions. From business analytics to art and animation, from developing websites and performing SEO (search engine optimizations) to conducting in-depth interviews and focus groups. There is an area that each of us can take charge in and pursue, and ultimately be better at what we love and want to do.

Looking forward to weekdays

Strangely, I started looking forward to weekdays. Over the weeks, I subtly nurtured an attachment for what we were doing. I love the autonomy and the challenge of tackling the problem, of deciding how and what we were going to do. Even if we hit a roadblock, it was strangely delightful being stuck and a greater satisfaction when we successfully circumvent it or rather, figured and took steps to do so. At the end of the internship, I know that no matter how successful we were with our solution, DBS would simply absorb it as part of a bigger solution or worse still, keep it in a folder among many others in one of its file rooms. But all that did not matter, simply because Mondays to Fridays were now my weekends.

#MENTORSHIP    #INTERNSHIPFTW

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