The Intership Experience - Lab Report Example

Internship Report This is a report of what I engaged myself in during my three weeks internship. I considered being so much engaged for the sake of equipping myself with relevant skills to boost my success in the industry. In search of the internship, I considered my interests though it did not really work out well for me in fulfilling this. Filming is the greatest interest I have. I therefore had an affinity for an internship within the filming industry. It was so unfortunate that there was no job related to this field available. It took as long as until summer. I could not wait any longer and so I had to choose other options during the search such as the interior design companies, galleries and any other possible art-related industries. I still value this experience as life is full of lessons in nature of which will count in shaping up the future. This kind of challenge of desperation and failure to really acquire what I want, to me appeared as a lesson that it is not always that tomorrow will bring your expectations. It is a nice virtue when I am able to accept what comes my way and act as per the expectations without feeling discouraged or unfortunate. Working in an industry that is not really of my interest to me was an exam of how I would perform and adjust to situations and circumstances that I never expected or yearned for earlier. This is the kind of spirit I used as my sword and comforter in dealing with the misfortune. I finally found myself an internship in an interior design company situated in Hong Kong and is known as The Block Design and Renovation. This was where I set and directed my devotion to as I worked as an assistant. Every time I had to do anything, I had to leave no stone unturned. I had to deal with any challenge that came my way in the most positive way possible now that it was to my attention that this was not really the field I was interested in. The first step I would take was acceptance. Accepting the environment as it was, accepting related challenges and accepting the fact that it was my time to be at my best and gain the maximum number of skills I can. With this armoire, I was able to achieve and acquire skills from professionals who were with so much experience from the industry. I was also able to relate class work to the real world experiences and it turned out to be so interesting to me. In fact, much more interesting than I even thought it would be. It was an interesting shift from the endeavours of wasting a lot of time in searching for the internship, to a great experience during the internship. I used various ways in searching for my internship. First of all I had research and keep myself posted on the available vacancies. Mostly I did this by visiting related sites in the internet and flipping through newspapers and utilizing the media that had helpful information related to this. On identification of available vacancies, I would apply and get ready in case the feedback involved being engaged in an interview. This was how I managed to attain one (The Guardian Job, n.d). On achieving this internship, I had to set personal learning outcomes that would guide me in the entire experience so as to build on foundation of real progress. One of these goals was time and task management. I recognise how important it is to observe and manage time in the field of designing. Firstly, time is one important resource for success to be achieved in the field. The popular saying goes, “Time is money”. In every field, the main and chief aim is to make as much money as possible. It is basically why everyone devotes themselves as labour for the industry and work to their level best. If time is really money, time is therefore the reason we are all striving, to make as much money within the shortest time possible. Another importance is due to the fact that time can never be regained once wasted. You cannot create time from nowhere, neither is it possible to recover any lost minute. This is a fact enough to discipline everyone on the issue of time wastage and push us all towards reservation of time. It is time management that determines how much you achieve at the end of anything one is participating in. Time management and task management relate directly. On managing time, is will have managed their tasks (Time Management, n.d). You are able to do a lot within less time making you to achieve so much in carrying out the expected tasks in the industry within the required time. I set tips that I would follow in managing my time. These are tips that have been used elsewhere and they worked out perfectly. One of these tips is the act of putting time limits on activities. I aimed at not using so much time on activities that did not require the excess time. In the industries, some activities are more demanding as compared to others. When an activity does demand a lot of effort, I found it wiser to spend the least amount of time possible and move on to the next activity. This would allow me to spare the extra time to the most demanding activities, thus boosting my overall performance. Another tip that I decided to employ is establishing firm boundaries. I had to learn how the firm managed time so as not to fall victim of backfired time management plans. Sometimes one may set and plan to do several activities maybe after a morning meeting but it fails work maybe due to prolonged meetings or any other firm activity. For perfect planning therefore, it is advisable that one gets to understand what time is available when, and to what extents can alterations prolong. This way it becomes far much easier to time oneself and plan when to do what. Consequently, one gets to follow the path of a successful stuff member. It is also advisable to organise ideas even if it means writing them down so as to keep track of how well they can work out within the time frame available. This helps in allocation of time to every idea in accordance to the available time and how demanding the involved idea is. Time management is therefore one of the outcomes that I found worth practising on (Sasson, n.d). It was also my outcome to build my connections by talking to different departments so as to improve my productivity and effectiveness. It was my aim to meet as many helpful people as possible and utilize them with their different capabilities to improve my welfare as a designer. This is what I recognise as part of growth in the skills of designing and their implementation. It is through such connections that one is able to survive in the industry after school. Even with such a connection, one is able to learn the tactics of surviving around the industry and what one should do in case of certain incidences. I therefore found it in order to prioritise this outcome and strive for it during the entire internship for the sake of my survival even later after its completion. I was also able to realize it as one of the objectives the successful professionals in the industry had to accomplish on their way towards success. Being in good terms with these departments also contributes a lot in learning how important team work is and the best ways to carry on with team work. It is conversant to everyone that when team work prevails in organisations success becomes part of them. However, the team work also requires deeper knowledge on how to invite it in the first place and how to carry on with it as time passes. Acquiring this experience to me therefore is essential and worth my attention. I would feel at home and dry if I am able to know the secrets behind performing well in group work and making maximum utilization of it without going astray. I aimed at making contributions to anything that involved several people coming together to make an achievement and raise the standards of the company. I wanted to be among the recognised fighters that worked together in the company and became successful in carrying the company’s flag. I wanted to be categorised with those legends that would forever be remembered for their productivity. I also wished to take part in communication theories of the company. It would be important if nothing that revolved around the company and passed me by any chance. Communication theories in every company are very important as far as coordination is concerned. It is therefore important to keep track in this sector and act accordingly so as to move together with the departments in registration of success. It was also part of my learning outcomes to get to a company and physically make contributions. I aimed at getting involved in the current projects trending in the company and taking part in running them till completion. I was eager to be what was missing for the completion of at least one project that was yet to be seen to it. This would greatly help me in boosting of my self-esteem and having the positive attitude I require to be successful in the industry. This is part of the theory we learn in class as ways as to how to build up on the foundation of a successful designer. Self-esteem is one of the valued ingredients as it helps in creating confidence in all what one does to accomplish their objectives. At work places, this confidence is very important and helps one to boldly approach challenges that they may come across in the endeavours of making a successful designer. Self-confidence will also help me in being creative and coming up with ideas concerning the company that will boost innovation and of cause growth on my side. Participation in meetings will boost me in expressing myself and present these ideas for approval and implementation. Designing is all about being creative and displaying the creativity. I will therefore require this outcome for the sake of my future and my progress as a designer. The experience in meetings will also expose me to what I should expect in future. I will get to experience the nakedness of a successful design company. As a learning outcome, I also intend to use the job as a calling card for my next internship. I expect it to be an exposure to what is in the real working environment of the industry. This should be an introduction to the reality and the practical part of what I have been learning in class. A taste of how best I can apply the theoretical skills learnt in class to the practical world. I am to get exposed to the challenges that I can never face in class until I get to dig deeper to the side of applying the skills in the real life situation. On search exposure, there are many activities that one gets to realize are undertaken for the successful running of such companies. These activities are much important in enlightening and helping one to understand how they relate with design industry as a whole. This may help in future especially if one is interested in coming up with their own companies. I also viewed this as a chance to meet people who have worked in the industry for long and also meeting people from different industries and finding out how they relate if at all they do. Meeting new experts in the industry helps and enhances sharing of ideas. This also contributes to learning of new tactics on how to incorporate the design skills in the industry. This therefore means I will get to learn and experience the adventure at the same time. Meeting people from other industries helps in development of my social network which is very helpful and essential as far as my survival in the industry is concerned. In the near future, it is inevitable that I will be in search of an internship again. The social network that I will currently build up will be very useful when that time comes. Regarding the fact that I am still learning, experts will be of much help in improving my knowledge and holding my hand through my baby steps. This will shape my skills and the way I apply them in the various companies. They may end up offering the best guidance that I may need in my endeavours as a designer. During this internship, I also ended up acquiring the exposure of further and advanced digital skills and techniques. These techniques are acquired from the activities I was engaging myself in daily. The company’s equipment helped to figure out in a more clear way that I used to before on how to utilize the technology and make work easier. Continuous practice on how the equipment was applied turned out to be very helpful in perfecting my skills acquired in class. Even after being interesting, the exercise ends up being much beneficial in making me a good designer. The taste and introduction to everything involved in the company makes me not a first timer anymore and I can proudly handle companies of the same lineage as those that I got to learn about. The different experts that I got to meet and interact with were a bridge between me and the many different skills that I was not exposed to earlier on. This therefore means I had great and wonderful time that helped me in advancing and improving my skills. In the course of the internship, I also got exposed to activities that helped me grow and mature up in terms of graphic and designing. Some of the new activities were photo-shop which I had not done earlier, therefore I got to learn and experience it for the very first time. It helped me utilize the instruments that were related to it. This was learning that broke down the monotony of class work and enhanced better understanding of the skills in a way that they are difficult to forget. I was also lucky to improve my final-cut skills as I again came across it in my daily endeavours. As an outcome therefore, it was of great help and added unto my value as a designer. During the placement however, I came across different challenges which I had to find solutions for. These challenges, though hard on me as it was my first time to experience and get exposed, had solutions that I was able to identify and apply. This was where a good attitude applied. There were many who could not approach and handle the challenges, not because they were not capable, but just because they allowed a negative attitude to prevail around them and take over. One of the problems I came across was how to improve and apply theories. Being in the exposure for the very first time, I did not have enough experience on how to handle things around such a company. This really brought me down and challenged me as I would have difficulties in fulfilling some of the requirements. Another problem that I came across was the problem of complexity of software. Whenever it was time to engage new applications, I had a problem with fixing complex software that I had not come across in my entire academic life. To me this was a major issue as it really worked on my self-esteem. Sometimes it feels a failure when you cannot do what you are supposed to do. I had to deal with the situation by recognising the fact that I was there to learn and applying a positive attitude. Actually, this is the major way as to how I dealt with all the challenges until I completed my internship. Management of time was also quite an issue to me. My place work was quite a distance from where I lived. At some point, even with all the determination, I still would get to the office late. I had to take more than an hour on the way travelling from home to the office. This led to adjustment of the time I start my journey. Many are the times when commuting was a problem as the public vehicles did not function as early as I was needed in the office (Design Challenges, n.d). I also had an issue with the amount of time allocated for projects and other activities. Limited time was offered to carry out hectic duties some of which were very demanding. This at some point led to doing a lot of shoddy work with haste so as to keep time. In the team work, different personalities were brought together to work towards a common goal. This brought together people with different ideas and directions and they were expected to cooperate. This too did not work out well, for instead of agreeing on common opinions, people argued continuously and placed blames whenever things did not work out well (Challenges in project design, n.d). For my next placement, I have set several goals to achieve. One of these goals is to be as creative as possible in developing and advancing the company (Freelance Fashion Designers: Setting Career Goals, n.d). This I will do by being more active when it comes to presenting ideas during meetings and so on. I also plan to utilize the skills and experience acquired in the last internship to avoid coming across the same challenge. This will help to reduce the number of challenges I will face. One of the strategies I intend to apply in future is finding simplicity in the complex (Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation, n.d). Whatever I found complex must be evaluated in future and view it in the dimension of how simple it is. Another strategy that I will apply is serving the needs of people to my level best. I focus on being the solution the public requires on a personal level. I have learned that internships are very important as they prepare you for the future, what it shall bring and what you should do about it (The Creative Group, 2014). If I had the chance to do the internship again, I would rectify my weaknesses such as time management. I would even go ahead and look for a place near the company for settlement just for the sake of keeping time. References Challenges in Project Design. n.d. [Online] Available at < http://mypeer.org.au/planning/what-are-peer-based-programs/challenges/challenges-in-project-design/> [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. Design Challenges. n.d, [Online] Available at [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation. n.d, [Online] Available at [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. Freelance Fashion Designers Setting Career Goals. n.d, [Online] Available at [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. Sasson, R. n.d, Importance of Time Management. [Online] Available at< http://www.successconsciousness.com/blog/time-management/importance-of-time-management/> [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. The Creative Group. 2014, Five Time Management Strategies for Creatives [Online] Available at [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. The Guardian Job. n.d, [Online] Available at [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. Time Management. n.d, [Online] Available at< http://leadership.uoregon.edu/resources/exercises_tips/skills/effective_time_management> [Accessed 4 Jun. 2015]. Read More