GETTING READY
DO INTERNSHIPS HELP IN LANDING YOUR DREAM JOB? Find out how SUTD students gain an edge in the working world by securing internships to explore and learn more about themselves.
My role As the UX Design Intern in Service Design, I played a part in directly improving the employees’ experience, and indirectly the customers’ experience, while planning and organising business’ resources. I helped in two projects – Citizen Disbursement System (CDS) and the National Platform for Healthcare Claims (NPHC).
Ang You Shan UX Design Intern (Service Design) Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) Engineering Product Development Class of 2021
I believe that one’s career should not be defined by his or her course of study, just like how I took additional courses in UX to land myself an UX internship.
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SUTD career guide 2021
My challenge One of my main challenges is navigating complex projects with various systems involved. As a service designer, it was imperative for me to understand the entire end-to-end user journey, business logic and sometimes even data flow throughout the whole product and service. It was my first time dealing with a lot of policies-related information and I had to read up as well as consult my mentors to understand the entire flow. My mentors were immensely understanding and always encouraged me to ask questions. They said, “No question is a stupid question”. Of course, on my end, I read through all the existing documentations and readings first to understand the basics and prepare a list of meaningful questions to further clarify
with. However, I think the best way to learn is when you start doing small tasks, because that is when the knowledge you picked up can be applied to help the project.
My biggest takeaway In school, we hardly have such massive projects that require one to spend a significant amount of time to fully understand the context to design the screens and product. We also do not have opportunities to present our designs to developers and product owners to gather opinions and feedback. Hence, one of the greatest takeaways from the internship would be the opportunity to work on a real client-facing project and having to work with co-workers in different job functions.
Advice for my juniors Internship is the best time for you to try out various roles and companies that you are interested in. I believe that one’s career should not be defined by his or her course of study, just like how I took additional courses in UX to land myself in an UX internship. Be open minded, flexible, and most importantly, find a field that you are passionate about!
