Tyler was a final year Marketing student at Sunway University and recently completed his internship in Shopee Malaysia’s Marketing team. During his 3-months’ stint in the Shopee Young Apprentice Program (YAP), he has worked on several marketing campaigns and honed his skills in project management.
If you are a student, either currently in or entering your final year, and looking for an internship with opportunities to drive purposeful projects, you have come to the right place! We managed to speak with Tyler Eng, one of the interns in Shopee Malaysia’s Young Apprentice Program (YAP), and he shared about his own personal #LifeatShopee experience. Below is my conversation with Tyler.
What made you join Shopee?
When I finally reach need to find a company to do my internship for one of my university internship semester, first thing comes to my mind was “There are more than a few millions company in the world, at least more than 500,000 companies in Malaysia, how should I choose only one company to do my internship?” I was lost but inside my mind, I have a clear path and I told myself “Ok, you like startup companies, and are involved in technology and the internet, just go and Google it!” Well, I’ll just cut the chase, that is how I got interested in Shopee and eventually got in as an intern.
*Yeahhh* Aforementioned, Shopee fits my criteria of being a startup company as I wanted to work in a startup company that is known for their youthful spirit and innovativeness. Well and it certainly didn’t disappoint me after I got in as an intern via the YAP. I get to experience different types of new things such as being on air in Shopee Live, able to be in Shopee advertisements and so on. I remember I saw an article on LinkedIn, it goes like this, “People left a company because of the culture, and people stay in a company because of the culture.” And that’s the reason why I chose Shopee.
What are some highlights of your internship at Shopee?
Well when you look into the pantry it’s like I went to a snack buffet! Nah, just kidding, I mean the snack buffet is a legit stuff =) I think the highlight would be I got the chance to help in big project. Definitely not expecting this cause my perception was “I’m just an intern and I’m gonna be assigned with some intern job” but would you look at that, I get the chance to assist my boss and lead a big project. From the planning to execution part of the project gives you a full view on how a project works, which is a great experience that you would never get in other places if you’re just an intern. Well, we are not just any intern,
*cough cough* we are SUPER INTERNS! Some other interesting things during the internship was I got to be in an advertisement, which I like a lot because I like to act. It’s a new form experience that you’re not just doing office paper work all day, but you get to act in front of cameras. Probably you can become the next Oscar award winner by starting your acting career here.
What is your greatest takeaway from the Young Apprentice Program?
The best skills that I have learned in this journey is communication skill. To be frank, I am not a person that is good at expressing myself. But you can’t avoid expressing your ideas especially when you’re in a marketing department that needs creative ideas and opinions when faced with issues. No matter how bad I am when communicating myself, I need to do it. I can’t keep myself silent just because I was concerned about my communication ability as the only way to succeed is to fail first, then you will learn from the mistakes and feedback. After a few presentations with my boss and other colleagues, eventually I become better in constructing messages and convey what’s in my mind. People may think that communication is something that we all are so used to and it’s just a simple thing. WRONG, because communication is an art whereby two different messages can deliver the same message but stir different emotions. Thus, it’s a great opportunity for me to brush up my skills.
Any advice for future interns who want to join this program?
Don’t only limit yourself in your own job scope, try new things even if it’s a task beyond your own job scope. The more you do, the more you will learn, and the more you will get better. That’s the essence of a startup company as we’re not confined within a repetitive job, but to trying out different things and improving ourselves in different ways. Besides that, do not fear giving out your opinion on things as you think you’re just an intern, maybe the next big idea is coming from you. Allow me to remind you again YAP joiners, you’re not just any intern, you’re a SUPER INTERN!
How different is Shopee Young Apprentice Program compared to other internships?
Let me describe using an analogy here. It will be like when you post Instagram Stories on your internship progress and your friends will be replying your stories like “Waaaa, why your internship so nice de? Mine is just like normal jer” “Walao njhl, your intern life so nice I also want leh”. It’s quite self-explanatory, you get the rough idea there! Yep, it’s been a very euphoric experience being an intern here, memories you made here would definitely be different than your usual internship experience. Wide exposure on new things, get the chance to equip new skill sets and also get to work with different hustling people surely can give you a once in a lifetime experience.
Do you think your work in Shopee is impactful?
It’s a reciprocal thing, where the internship impacted me a lot, and so do I bring impacts to the company, and that’s how the company and me grew together, I bring my knowledge to Shopee, and Shopee gives me the experience of it. My boss and my colleagues take my opinion seriously and my work has already brought impact towards Shopee, even if it’s small. And when you see that your work is impactful, you will feel proud of yourself and get pumped up more to do better. The marketing campaigns that I have planned, the initiative that I have contributed to, will definitely help Shopee to grow more, and let me to grow in terms of experience. Thank you Tyler for sharing us insights into what you do here at Shopee as a Young Apprentice Program intern!
Follow the #ShopeeInsider and #lifeatshopee hashtags on LinkedIn for more features like this. If you’d like to be part of our Shopee Team, find out more here!]]>
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