Leap of Faith - Life at XiMnet

Life at ximnet

Leap of Faith

From an Intern to a Web Developer at XIMNET today.

When I first received confirmation that I was offered an internship opportunity, I had mixed feelings. I was excited to try on new things and start pursuing my interest in coding but at the same time, I realized the need to step out of my comfort zone, to do something with very little relevance to my Mechanical Engineering degree.

"Am I really ready for the unforeseen challenges ahead?" I asked myself.

I can still recall the first time I arrive at the office. It was quite different from the conventional dull workspace, where everyone is isolated from each other in their own cubicle. I could feel a homey and comfy vibe here. Maybe it is the pantry, or the soothing yellow light, or even the modern interior design?

Most of the time everyone is immersed in their own work, so the office will be in complete silence. All I could hear was just the clickety-clack of keyboards with some occasional conversations and discussions between the team members. Perhaps this is how it contributed to the mad productivity rate among the team members?

For the past 4 months, I could not formulate a typical working day that I had at XiMnet. Every day was a new challenge for me to try on new things and solve different kinds of problems. I was given the chance to learn all sorts of programming language such as JavaScript, Visual Basic and even Python. I was guided and supervised by Yap, one of the experienced technical experts in the team to work on projects.

I was given the opportunity to work on new modules and features from scratch to be eventually implemented into the XTOPIA system. Besides that, I also participated in existing projects and join meetings to get the gist of how the process flow of client projects are.

I am also grateful to be involved in XiMnet’s AI initiative which is really interesting and insightful where each team would come together to share their thoughts and research progress weekly.

IMHO, the perks of being an intern in XiMnet, is that you get to be involved in the whole process of designing a website; starting from client meetings, idea pitching, workflow design up till technical coding. From there, I understood the necessity of user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) when it comes to designing a web application. Every team member is delighted to share their opinions and thoughts processes, which is perfect for a beginner like me to observe how these digital wizards complete all project deliveries within the deadline with such high quality.

My first XTOPIA deployment in 3 months' time, Image Editor

If you are a badminton enthusiast, you are definitely in for a treat. I was invited to join Wiley, the Chief Alchemist for weekly badminton session alongside with other colleagues. He is certainly a worthy opponent to have when it comes to badminton. Not to mention, I am still struggling to claim a victory against him as we speak (or type), which tells you how athletic and competitive the team can be even when it is outside of work.

The competition is real

My internship journey with XiMnet is not merely a platform for me to improve my programming skills, I had also gained insightful life lessons here which I could not list down every one of it.

The one advice that enabled me to push through during stressful moments when I was struggling at work was from Joe, the agency manager. She said to me, “Your journey with us is not a sprint but a long marathon. When it's time to work, we work. When it's time to play, we play!" This explains why, despite XiMnet’s being a startup company, they are able to achieve great things, providing a first-class service and be one of the leading tech agencies.

Thank you for the internship opportunity, the guidance and trust that the senior colleagues had provided me, and also the good memories that we had created together as a team.

As for future interns, if you do stand a chance to be a part of the team, be prepared to learn, be prepared to have fun, but most importantly be prepared to face never ending challenges and grow from it.

My last day of internship but I am going to see them again on Monday as a Web Developer. Oh well, who says no to treats?