Transitioning from a serial Intern to newbie Full-Timer
It has been one month since I started working at VMware as a full-timer. Amidst the global pandemic that is Covid-19, the ongoing disruptions would have otherwise hampered the transitional phase from fresh graduate/intern to being a full-timer. I was especially concerned with the lack of face time in the office due to WFH conditions that would have otherwise limited my social interactions with other people within VMware. There are other insecurities in my mind as well; will I experience the occasional impostor syndrome, how will I interact with my colleagues and so on. Let me just say that these insecurities actually bugged me before my first day!
VMware has done a great job in smoothing the transitional phase for fresh graduates like me. Let’s start with the tools. A worker can only do so much as the tools that he/she was given with. I had a smooth on-boarding process having been given my equipment weeks prior to starting my first day. It even came with a laptop bag, a VMware t-shirt and a VMware academy flag! I had a nice informal catch-up with the rest of the fresh graduates facilitated by HR before my first day as well, sharing about matters of interest about ourselves to each other. These really help to ease some of the nerves that I was experiencing; overall I really enjoyed the induction process when starting out at VMware!
With that said, those are just some of my thoughts on the on-boarding process that I wanted to update my network on. The pertinent subject that I wanted to share on was the transition state from Intern to Full-Timer. Throughout my university life, I had the pleasure of embarking on a myriad of internships that allowed me to explore various experiences and absorb knowledge from seasoned professionals. From start-ups to enterprises, there are various lessons learnt but I can summarize it up into 5 key lessons that I believe are transferable from internships to working life.
Experiment; try new things
There is nothing more that I advocate than to try new things. Interns are in a unique position to leverage on the environment and those around them to derive key lessons about career and life in general. By cultivating the natural tendency to try new things, it is much easier to carry this habit into the first Full-Time job. After all, if you think about it, why hire graduates at all? Why do companies spend resources on inexperienced hires when they could have just allocated them towards experienced hires? The key reason is that fresh graduates come with fresh perspectives that add unique value to organizations besides the potential that we come with.
So in deriving that fresh perspectives, it all stems from the kind of experiences that one derive from. For me personally, internships are a great way to experiment with new methods or other inventions that are of certain benefit, and these are transferable skills to bring forward to the working life. Say, you are in a business internship; think of ways to automate certain tasks like collecting information online. I did an online web-scraper once; it created visibility for me, people started coming to me for information and my team was able to move at breakneck speed to execute programs.
Ask effective questions
There are no such thing as a stupid question. That notion is only exacerbated by the culture in schools (even universities) but frankly, I found it ridiculous to label any legitimate question stupid. Being bold enough to ask the questions, even if they are hard questions to ask, is a skill that sets one apart from many. It creates visibility as well for anyone asking questions, especially if the questions are good ones.
Practicing the habit of asking questions often leads to asking even more effective questions. As a former Intern, I found myself asking all kinds of questions from work-based to personal ones. This is a transferable skill in my opinion as one transition from internships to full-time. The reason is simply because it is relevant to any role especially if one is just starting out. Asking questions consistently leads to one major skill; asking EFFECTIVE questions. It is an art that can only be curated with more experience and natural tendencies for curious learning.
Network and make genuine connections
By now, you would have realized that I always emphasize on interns being in unique positions. There are so much growth opportunities that can be carried over to the first job that I always found time lacking to leverage on these opportunities (even though I did quite a number of internships). This especially holds at the first job, when trying to figure out the intricacies of the company, finding mentors for guidance, understanding the roles of other players and so on. The ability to hold a conversation and engage with stakeholders of different interests is a skill to have in any setting, and whether you are an intern or a fresh graduate starting out, there are always opportunities to practice and hone the skill.
I can recall one unique example when I needed access to a certain technology to speed up a process within my own team as an intern. Despite multiple times trying, my requests were rejected on the reason that I don’t have privilege access to the technology. Through connections, I was able to get help from a friend who knew another person who could grant me access. The result was astounding; I can deliver my work much more efficiently, have access to data that was not as easily accessible to just anyone, and I have more people coming to me for the said data. This is just one example of how connections matter, and that should be fostered in a genuine and sincere manner (not a quid pro quo kind of status).
Don’t be afraid of failure; take the plunge!
This is often easier said than done. A simple email from a manager asking to explain what can be done for a certain project can easily stir up anyone’s nervous tendencies. Even as an intern or a fresh graduate starting out, projects become available where you may be required to take on a lead role. The prospect of failure can often feel daunting but don’t let that hinder you from performing. Even if failure occurs (often so during my internship experiences), learning is an iterative process and lessons derived from it are often more worth it than the opportunity costs of taking on failed project.
I can describe this with a simple example. As a former intern in a FinTech startup, I was tasked with opening a hedging account to facilitate multi-million dollar flows every month. I cannot describe the amount of failures I had with the opening of the account; there was so many times where information were not satisfactory according to the bank or where I had to personally chase people for information. I remembered being rejected more than 3 times before the account was opened. The result? A new hedging team opened up in the start-up, a Series C+ round concluded (>100m funds raised) and an indescribable satisfaction that outweighs anything I ever felt at that point. Failures are meant to be learning points in a journey that makes success feel all the more sweeter, so don’t be afraid to take the plunge at times!
Set incremental goals
Lastly, I cannot emphasize enough on the skill of setting incremental goals, whether physically or mentally. They are good indicators of benchmarks that you set for yourself for purposes that are beneficial for you. Not only that, incremental goals are a good way of gauging the current progress being undertaken to reach a certain goal. It can be as simple as running twice a week to lose weight to something as crucial as closing a major deal. The point is that incremental goals are mental models to keep one on track and to gauge if adjustments are needed. I usually follow the Musk way of setting goals; set something that is usually 150–200% of what is usually accomplished, then try as hard as possible to achieve it (usually I will hit 120–150% of the goal). You can have your own way of setting the goals as long as whatever works for you.
From internships to working life, the incremental goals have helped me tremendously in gauging my own progress. It is such an old saying that life is a marathon, not a sprint but this holds true for career and even life in general. If you are an intern, practice the skill of setting incremental goals; use any aids that you need be it visual, mental or physical. I tend to load my goals with some form of incentive; say if I achieve a certain goal, I will treat myself to a nice meal, a video game, a football match or anything that I enjoy. Find your own modus operandi!
To sum it all up…
These are the five skills that I found transferable to my job at VMware. I often find them complementary with the hard skills that I developed as well, but I found that these take more time to develop than the hard skills that I have. I was actually inspired by how the leaders at VMware were willing to share lessons with us that I decided to create this post in the hopes that it adds value to you, as much as it did to me. If you have comments or suggestions to improve on future posts, please leave a comment in the comments section! I would like to end off this post with a favorite quote of mine;
“If no mistake you have made, losing you are. A different game you should play” — Yoda (yes I love Star Wars)
