Perception

The NOC experience means differently to different people, and making the decision to postpone it last semester forced me to reexamine my motivations for applying for this programme. I’ve always found the startup working experience to be the most attractive feature of NOC, and being able to intern for a year at the right company would pretty much define the experience for me.

I guess there’s no formula for finding the perfect company, but the place where I really hope to work at would be a startup where I can significantly make a difference. I think a smaller company will present more opportunities for learning, and at the same time expose me to the different roles in a startup. One year is definitely enough time to put on a couple of hats, at least.

It’s also been an ambition of mine to be part of the Y Combinator (YC) experience ever since I got hooked on Hacker News two years ago. NOC will take me a step closer to my dreams by bringing me to the Valley, and it really comes down to me to see this dream all the way through. An opportunity presented itself when I learnt my brother was joining Etacts, a YC-funded startup, but after a Skype interview of sorts and a series of email exchanges, it turned out that there wasn’t a suitable role I would be able to fill as an intern.

That was definitely disappointing, for having worked with my brother on sgBEAT, it would have been cool to be able to work together in the same startup. He urged me not to give up, and suggested I apply directly to YC companies via email. I’m not a fan of cold emails, but after some persistence by him, I thought, why not? The worst that could have happened would be not getting any replies, which would put me in exactly the same circumstance as I already was in.

With that frame of mind, I set out and applied to YC startups that I am quite a fan of, like Dropbox, Mixpanel, HeyZap and Posterous amongst others. I wasn’t very hopeful, although I kind of consoled myself in that I had at least attempted. It really excited me then, when I received replies from HeyZap and Mixpanel within days. HeyZap didn’t have an opening for a front-end developer intern so that trail went cold pretty quickly, and in the meantime I managed to set up a Skype call with Mixpanel’s Tim Trefren. I told him more about the NOC programme, and explained to him my motives for emailing them directly. We talked for a bit, and I think I convinced him enough to submit a letter of intent from Mixpanel to be a part of this programme. After that was pretty much just breathless waiting.

I really had a good think while reflecting on this, and now I’m more determined than ever about really making the NOC experience for myself. It’s sort of like the realisation that the possibilities that may seem out of one’s control are in reality there just waiting to be taken. I’m definitely going to stop holding myself back next time.