Perception

It’s been a hundred days since I attended the IDA ELITe programme briefing at the end of July, and since then I’ve managed to secure a mentorship and internship with IDA, with the former beginning on January 1, 2010. The initial pace of this programme has generally been slow but comfortable, which I suppose is because of the coordination required with the twenty-six companies and three universities involved.

After confirming my participation in the programme in August, a ‘Meet-the-Mentor’ networking session was held in early October, where most of the companies came down to share what a possible mentorship or internship with them would be like, all at a single venue. Two meeting rooms at the Suntec Convention Centre were used for this event, and it was all a pretty semi-formal affair.

I didn’t talk to the representatives of all the companies that were there, considering my lack of interest in most of them, especially the banks. Some of the internship scopes described highly technical roles too, so those didn’t really excite me as well. Most if not all the companies couldn’t really confirm what kind of projects or assignments an internship with them would involve as it would depend on the internship date and duration, so that didn’t really increase their appeal either.

I was quite enthusiastic about what MobileOne (M1) had to offer though, and the representatives present were pretty detailed about the direction of their Web Services department. But due to a possible conflict of interest with my involvement in sgBEAT, I couldn’t list them down in my selection. Ultimately, I narrowed down my choices to a few companies – IDA, Ecquaria Technologies, iSyndica and VSee, a company based in Silicon Valley and involved with the NUS Overseas College (NOC) programme as well. I listed UBS as my fifth choice for good measure (but mostly for fun).

I was hoping I would be able to secure a mentorship with VSee, as this would allow me to fulfill both programmes with a single internship, but sadly they never got back to me. However, I was fortunate enough to get interviews with UBS, IDA and Ecquaria Technologies all within the span of a week. The UBS interview was normal, I suppose, but somehow or other I didn’t really understand exactly what most of the IT departments there did. Considering my major in Communications and Media, the internship scope would probably be completely unsuitable for me, and so I was surprised that I even got called down for an interview. I did get rejected, though.

The IDA interview was interesting as there was a briefing prior to it which gave me a better understanding as to what the respective departments were doing. I had quite a lot of things to say during the interview, thankfully, so it wasn’t awkward even with three interviewers. The best thing was that IDA offered me a mentorship and internship programme the following afternoon, and I couldn’t wait to agree to it. I wanted to clarify with my future mentor about my possible NOC commitments in 2010 first though, and she was okay with it, which is simply awesome.

I think I was the only Communications and Media major among the group of students for that particular interview, so that probably differentiated me in a way. It was quite a shame that I had to cancel the interview with Ecquaria Technologies, having taken up the IDA offer already.

The next step in the ELITe programme is probably the mentorship itself, which is slated to start on the first day of next year. I’m still unclear about what I’d have to do for the mentorship, but managing to secure one with IDA is probably good for my possible career prospects with them in the future.