Jun 18, 2021 | by Budi Tanrim
How to optimize apprenticeship?
Q: Budi, I just got my first internship! How can I optimize my internship?
Instead of focusing on the internship, I’ll focus on the apprenticeship—the first phase on-the-job training when we enter the industry.
My first suggestion: Deep observation.
When we enter the industry early in our career, we come with a naive view. We still hold a misconception about the field. We think there is a certain perfect process because we never exposed to any real-world constraint.
That said, our goal is to observe the real-world reality.
You should observe how things are done. Take notes on almost everything and internalize them. When working with a certain process with the team, does it feels effective? When the team is under pressure with a certain constraint, how do they deal with it? Dedicate a file or one notebook to capture all of these observations.
As you observe, you will have some questions. Write them down. Articulate those questions so when you revisit them in the future, you still understand them.
Also, don’t assume everything is perfect. You might not be able to notice which one is effective and which is not. But you can observe the result, does the practice in your team produce a good outcome? If not, don’t worry about it. Try to understand why things are not doing well.
Whether you’re in a good and experienced team or you’re in the “messed-up” team. You should observe this. It’s a precious experience to be exposed to any of those.
Tomorrow, let’s discuss how to embrace the feeling of inferiority.
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