The working environment here is really different from other local companies. People here dress casually to work and working here tends to be a fun thing. During these 3 months of attachment, I learned so much things that I myself didn't expect to. In Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, there are different divisions, working on games, some doing movie trailers working on visual effects and some working on animation. Even though they are from different teams divisions, they will help each other as well when helps are needed from them. This company makes me feel more like a family than workplace. I've learnt a lot of things from almost everyone here, even the cleaner in terms of work and relationships.
First day of work was somehow nervous for me as I'm afraid that those tasks that I am assigned to do will be tough and I might not know how to handle. Eventually my thinking was wrong, I learn everything from the start and start absorbing more and more things as day passes. I get to handle equipment I never touch before, get to do IT stuff that Ii never do before in school, and I even get to see so many things I never seen before. It's really an eye-opening period for me. My specialisation is IT Service Management and before I go for attachment, my thinking for it is: "useless", not that important. But when I went for it, I realized how important IT is because whenever a PC is down, they need the IT people to help them so they will be like running around the company to help every single one of them. They are just like the doctors of computers.
I remembered there's once I asked a guy over at the game side: "Any tips on how to master the programming codes?" He replied me: “Actually there're no tips at all. If you want to do well in it, first you have to have the interest, you have to like it, then you will be more motivated to do it and same goes to any other thing." It might sound obvious or some people will say it's common sense, but unexpectedly some people will forget it. After hearing what he says, it really strikes and allows me to know which path towards my career I should move on to. I'm the type of person who is not that confident in myself when it comes to work and there's once, my colleague ask me to help him in doing some websites stuff. When it comes to do websites, the only programs I know how to use are Dreamweaver and HTML coding. They do not have Dreamweaver which means I have to use HTML coding and I learnt those codings when I was in 1st year 1st semester and that's like 1 year plus ago. Although the memories of using HTML coding is somehow blurred for me, I still accept this task applied whatever i learnt and remember in it as I know that as long as I do my best, God will do the rest that i can't for me. I was asked to help in some of the websites programming and it was a challenging and rewarding. Within 2-3 hours, I did a great job in it and got praised by my colleague.
From then on, I start accepting tasks and do my best on them and my confident start building up more. People over here likes to motivate one another, thus whatever you do, knowing that you've did your best, they will appreciate it a lot and are very thankful for it. When you're ask to do something and you really don't know how to do it, make sure you ask them and not wasting your time to solve the problem. Not that it's not a bad
thing for you trying to figure out how or what to do, but time is equal to money and it's precious to them as they want to get their work done as soon as possible.
I'm specialised in IT stuff, but that doesn't mean that I only do IT works during my attachment. When I’m available for help, I will help people over at the HR side to shift or carry chairs or tables when there're function or events going on. I'm not saying that you can neglect what you are supposed to do and do other thing else, just that when you're done with your tasks that you're suppose to do and somehow to be free for a moment, lending your hands to help others is not a bad thing either. In Nanyang Polytechnic, we've learnt or attended lessons called "Communication Skills" and this is the time you applied what you've learnt which same goes for me. Communicate with your colleagues and be friends with them instead of being "anti-social". In Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, I’m working as a desktop supporter which I get the chance to communicate with almost everyone. There're quite a lot of Caucasians here, even my supervisor as he's from America. There are talented artists from all over the world who works in Lucasfilm Animation Singapore. The way I speak or talk is different from the past as now I manage to speak more fluently and confidently than before.
Knowing that my attachment over here is only 3 months and it's going to end soon, I feel so upset and can't bear to leave this company. But I will continue to do my best for this company and as well as my studies because I know that I have the chance to come back to work for them again after I’ve graduate, provided my testimony from them is good. In this working society, not only we have to work hard, but also we have to work smart and we'll be able to do well in every aspect. Try to learn more during your internship as these are the things you can hardly learn from school.
Contributed by Ivan Sum
