I applied for this internship to help me get a better sense of what I’d like to do next with my career, and also to learn more about the world of startups and remote work.
During my internship I helped a new co-working space and helped with the initial marketing plan. This included setting up its website and social media channels.
I started off by researching other co-working spaces and coming up with recommendations on how the space’s website and social media should be designed and used. I started using a program called Sketch to create designs for the website, which are being made into a WordPress site. I learned a lot about web design from this.
I had two mentors for my project – both were very interesting people with great visions. One of them was Chris, an American who was in California during my internship, meaning we had a 15-hour time difference. My other mentor was Brazilian. I met her here in Bali but she was also away for most of my internship, so we had to communicate online.
I really enjoyed working with my mentors. Working with time differences taught me to be a lot more efficient when it comes to communication. With a window of just a few hours a day to talk to my mentors, I had to be clear and organized.
I think what surprised me the most about my internship was how much initiative I was able to take, and also how flexible I had to be. Although your mentors give you tasks and directions to get you started, it’s still very important to do your own research and give your own input where you can. It was very refreshing to have an internship where I was given actual responsibility and where my opinions and ideas were really valued.
There are loads of events and talks going on at the co-working space throughout the week. I went to a few presentations on SEO and productivity, for example. There are socials every Friday where you can meet and network with a variety of interesting people, whom I learned a lot from too.
I loved every day of my internship, but what I enjoyed the most was meeting and talking with people from all over the world and from a huge variety of professional backgrounds. We also explored Bali and did a couple of weekend trips to nearby islands, so I definitely feel like we made the most of our free time.
My most important advice for incoming interns would be to make the most of every second. Although you might think that a month or two months is a long time, you’ll be in your last week before you know it! When it comes to work, take initiative. If you have ideas, don’t be afraid to share them with your mentor. Do as much as you can so that both you and your mentors can get as much out of your internship as possible.