Sharing the SIP Experience!

R Rengamurthi is a yr3 student on his intership at Optimatic Pte Ltd. Here is what he has to say about his experience:

I started my Student Internship a week earlier than the stipulated date - on 22nd June. This had not only allowed me to prepare my work desk and tidbits, but also to get to know my colleagues in the office and most importantly to catch a glimpse of the several projects that I will be working on together with the rest of my colleagues.

I am currently interning with Optimatic Pte Ltd, a media centric company under the National University of Singapore Business Enterprise. We are basically a bunch of tech people who's core objective of the Business Enterprise is Business Incubation. In much simpler words, to help newly started businesses to grow and expand in the IT and Web Consumer Sectors both locally and regionally.

So what then is my job scope? Well, here's a glimpse of what my Company does. Besides Startup Business Incubation, we are also partly an Events Management company. We do big scale events like Conferences and Forums. Some examples - Web 2.0 Conference, UnConference 2009, Echelon 2010. These are big scale conference and forum events that see close to about 2 or 3 thousand major partners, shareholders, Developers CEOs, CTOs, Managing Directors and Media Partners of regional and international Web and IT sectors , in each event.
Sounds big eh? It definitely IS! Being in the forefront and networking with the developers of Facebook and Apple's CEOs and Developers is INDEED a BIG THING.

This is where my Job scopes come in. I'm currently the designer for the Optimatic Pte Ltd. I help to design EDMs (Electronic Direct Mailers), banners and posters for the conference and subsidiary events, brochures and event booklet that will be distributed to the thousands of international delegates to the conference. How cool is that - having thousands of people flipping through the event booklet that you designed and they wearing lanyards carrying the logos that you designed. And also not forgetting smaller entities like the company website as well as the conference websites.

My job scopes also includes marketing the events to our database of corporate sponsors and partners.

Our upcoming event will be a joint collaboration with SingTel - The Accelerate 2010 Conference in September. As i'm part of the Accelerate 2010 Working Team, I am also doing Speakers' Management. Sure you'll see Speakers coming to speak in the conference, and they would need a liaison. So I am the direct Liaising person with the Speakers. Its a BIG thing for me as im establishing a close contact with these people.

Its an exciting experience for me so far. And I can't wait for the conference in September. What more can you ask for - when you are already working with a team of experts and professionals who are all very friendly and helpful when you need assistance and when you are collaborating with big corporates like SingTel and establishing direct contacts with some of the major partners and CEOs of top companies in the world.

I am indeed blessed to have such an Internship experience and I am utterly sure that I would have the grip of experience attained during my Internship!

Maris Stella High School Education Fair

Our lecturer speaking to Mr Ng Cher Pong, Deputy Secretary (Services) of the Singapore Ministry of Education
Explaining more about our couse to interested students

Our lecturers sharing with a student about our course structure

Our lecturers explaining to a student about IMI

Our course manager Mr Choy sharing with the students

On 17th July 2010 Maris Stella High School students had an opportunity to view Interactive Media Informatics student’s interactive projects in their campus. Students were enthralled to see the use of different technologies to develop and deliver interactive applications. IMI students’ projects shown in the education fair were Websites, Flash Games, 2D animation, 3D animation, Immersive Technology and Augmented Reality.

Maris Stella High School students were also keen to know the course details, career opportunities and advance standing for Diploma in Interactive Media Informatics. We look forward to seeing them at our Open House next year!

Sharing The SIP Experience

Left to Right: Ian McKee (CEO), Zulkarnain Sadali (SIP student)

I am the lucky few who got to secure my own internship company and I never regretted my decision. Working at Vocanic has given me flexibility, independence and trust with the people I work with, especially my boss, Ian.

Vocanic is a social media company that helps market companies and brands on Twitter and FaceBook. Yes, you read it right, Twitter and FaceBook. So not everything I do at work that's on these sites are for fun and games, they're actually what I do as work.

I got to know about Vocanic when I was an active member of their project, RippleVox. RippleVox works with brands to promote via word-of-mouth. I got a free Nokia handset for my participation a few years back. Through networking and contact with one of the employees of Vocanic, I managed to attain a spot working here.

The fourth week of internship is coming to an end, and what a rush it has been. Working at Vocanic has been an eye-opening experience. Working in a small, yet internationally known company has given me exposure into many different things far beyond what I expected.

The office is located at Duxton Road, where there's nothing but shophouses with offices and bars (quite a good mix, eh?) and the parking rates are $1 every 1/2 hour. Oh, and that's where I sit, second level, middle window. Nice view...Of a carpark. Currently we're expanding the office to the unit on the left and I get to do the layout of the office. Sweet.

My desk, just like the one at home, is a messy one. It keeps me sane. I sit right next to my boss, who is currently on a business trip in Indonesia, securing a deal.

Thing is, working at Vocanic is great. It's about trust and not so much about how on time you are. It is also about independence. Once given a task, they'll trust that you'll do your work by a specified time. When it comes to weekly meetings or group campaigns, the colleagues show a strong teamwork spirit and work well. And yes, everyone jokes. It's never dull working here.

I've been doing community management for StarHub since I got here and what I learnt was customer relations, hearing their woes and helping them dealt with issues. Other than that, I've also been redesigning FaceBook fanpages for City Square Mall, and CIMB (just to name a few).

Ian, my boss (who is also my supervisor for the internship) has given me two major projects for the company. One is to create a corporate video for Vocanic and the other is to redesign Phantom Model Management.

Sending out EDMs, interacting on FaceBook and Twitter, redesigning websites and brainstorming can take a toll on the employees here at Vocanic. Meeting after meeting, pitch after pitch, it gets pretty tiring after a long week.

Usually, on Fridays, the whole office goes to a little quaint bar a few steps away from the office for some drinks and popcorn. It's not much but it builds good teamwork ethic in the workplace.

Honestly, I'm happy working at Vocanic and I feel that I can offer more, so fingers crossed for an extension! The exposure here is far beyond what I expected. Usually, Ian sends the employees to the other offices in Asia. Here's hoping I get to go to visit their Malaysian office!

Advice to my little juniors and freshies, if you want to work with a company you've always had interest in, get to it early! Self-secured internships means you find a solution that fits you, and personally, for me, it worked out pretty well.

Sharing the SIP Experience!

Syazwani Bte Husin and Noorhayati Bte A Malek from IMI, Yr3 have shared with us their Student Intership experience at Damai Primary School.

Here are some photos of their experience:

From left to right: Ms Noor Faridah (SIP Liaison Officer), Syazwani Bte Husin (SIP Student), Noorhayati Bte A Malek (SIP Student), Mdm Goh (Principal), Mdm Haslina (Head of Dept)

Damai Primary School students getting ready to embark on an adventurous learning journey

Happy children heading to the first station

Up the hill they climb

It has been three weeks since the commencement of our internship. Working with the students and the staffs in Damai Primary School has been enjoyable thus far. We ensured that the trust given by the staffs in the school were proven. We were given tasks and responsibilities such as taking care of the students and also handle some of the school's administrative work. With that, it taught us to be more responsible. We were honoured to be given such a welcoming and entrusted role even though we were only interns in the school. It allows us to broaden our knowledge and exposed us to a different perspective apart from doing things that are related to our course.

Just last week, we went to Fort Canning with the primary 3 students for their Social Studies learning journey. This is indeed an enjoyable journey for us too, as we ourselves, are able to learn about the history of Singapore which we did not have an understanding of. It is a great opportunity as we had never been to Fort Canning and we could explore all the things and facts there. Another interesting task that we were given was to design the school’s year book which the school had decided to create an online one instead. Apart from that, we helped the Mother Tongue teachers to record their voices using Audacity, something that we have learn during one of our modules, and apply the skills taught to us. These recordings were meant to cater to the lower ability group of students who have difficulty in reading, understanding and pronouncing. Here’s to prove that Information Technology is very demanding and essential in the century. As Informatics & IT school students, we are glad that our skills can contribute to achieve what the school desired and this enables us to prepare for the working world in near future.

With the exposure and opportunity given, we felt as though we are part of the team and not only outsiders who came to get tasks assigned done. The tasks given are beyond what we learn in school, thus creating a wide exposure for us to know more about the teaching industry and what the educators are doing now to contribute to the society and mould our future country’s representatives. This makes us feel that we are not only here to work but we are also here to learn something new each day. For one of the weekly task, we were told to invigilate the Primary Sixes for their mock exams. Given this task, we realised that we are now contributing to the upcoming generation. The teachers here believed in us that we have the potential to lead the children here upon this task since we have gone through this phase. We are pleased to be given the chance to be part of this school and contribute to Singapore.

Sharing the SIP experience!

From left to right: Chandra Vasimuthu (Geography and History Teacher), Jomel Ortiz (Business IT Executive), Luqman Hakim (SIP Student), Jie Wei (Customer Service Officer)

Luqman Hakim is a final year student from Interactive Media Informatics. He is currently having his student intership at SmartLab Education Private School and has shared his experience with us. Here is what he has to say about his experience:

In my past three weeks that I have been on my internship, I had a beneficial experience that could not have been possible in school.

The biggest difference would be the change of environment. I had to get myself quickly accustomed to the pace and timing of the working life. I feel that it is apt to say that are a lot of differences from school life. Of course, it is here in the working life where I can see my skills and experiences acquired from school being put into good use.

For example, I have been tasked by the CEO to research on video recording and the tools needed for it, as well as to come up with a concept video for him.

As Informatics & IT School has always emphasized on independent research, I managed to come up with a comprehensive report for the CEO. I had the chance to use the skills I learned in Digital Media Production Fundamentals (DMPF) to produce the video.

I feel that the SIP is a good opportunity for students to realize their potential and to see that their skills are being put to good use outside of school. I hope that everyone enjoyed their SIP as much as I did.

Post Contributor : SIP student - LUQMAN HAKIM B MOHD JAFREY
SIP host : SmartLab Education Private School