Hi!
Like for many of you, my internship just came to its completion, and now I am here to reminisce about my internship at SparkOptimus, which is a boutique digital consultancy firm. Before you raise any questions, no, I do not know what consultants do even after months of being among them.
Now, as the title suggests, my internship was nothing short of eventful. I am not going to be delving into the tasks that I performed on this internship. Rather, I am going to tell you about my overall experience.
I started my journey as a marketing intern with a team of four full-time and one part-time marketing experts. Shortly after I had started at SparkOptimus, two of the five team members left the team. One of them was my supervisor/mentor. It was kind of weird, as I had grown fond of them and their leaving shifted some dynamics within the team. I was appointed a new supervisor, the head of the marketing team whom I did not have that much contact with up until that point. Moreover, people leaving meant that I was given more responsibility, which was a really exciting time for me. I really felt like I was part of the core team and not ‘just an intern’.
When things had settled a little bit after S and M left, the management team revealed in a company-wide meeting that the market was down and, as a result, SparkOptimus did not get as many projects as they had predicted. First came the budget cuts (meaning organic marketing initiatives only), and then we had to say goodbye to some of our colleagues. The marketing team took the biggest hit. Our head of marketing chose to ‘sacrifice’ herself and terminate her contract. Since Spark initially hired her to expand the marketing team and without the budget for it, her job pretty much became obsolete. The marketing team was now just one full-time content marketer, one part-time growth hacker, and an intern. What this meant for me is that I got a new supervisor again and the list of my responsibilities just grew. I was thrilled really because, although it was sad to see beloved colleagues leave, it inspired me to work harder.
I believe my internship situation was quite unique. Being stuck in the middle of structural changes within an organization you are a part of can be scary, especially if you have just started as an intern. Thanks to the great guidance and support I received from my peers, I could continue my duties and navigate through the changes with ease. The environment at Spark was truly inspiring and I am so happy I got to be a part of that.
I am so thankful for this internship as I was lucky enough to have such amazing team members that were willing to help me get the hang of the office culture and guide me whenever I was stuck on something. I came in with no expectations and came out with valuable experience and lifelong friends.