Interning in a Start-Up

It’s 19:30 on a Sunday evening. Your boss is texting you. He knows you are watching a movie or having dinner. But this is not KLM or Unilever, or anything even close to a multinational company. There are 10 people working in this company, so every bit of work counts. While working for a start-up, the first thing you realise is that there are no given working hours. There is work that needs to be done and nothing else really matters. Problems arise in every step you take, and if these problems don’t get resolved, the company will go nowhere. I never realised the magnitude of work and skill that a start-up requires. In my case, it is an app, which means that everything is organized and worked through online tools. This however, requires you to be online all day long, awaiting new tasks and helping in ways that sometimes have nothing to do with your title or position at the company. Interning in a start-up will help you realise the sacrifice it takes to make a company grow in the right direction. You are able to work very closely with your superiors, which after some time feel more like colleagues or even friends, and learn that they don’t take a break even on a sunny Sunday evening when they’re friends are relaxing in the park. Nevertheless, they are doing what they love and put in every hour into something they truly believe in. This type of motivation is contagious and being so close to co-workers makes you close to the idea the company is striving for. As in every working position, there are some negatives and positives. You might be on a task on a really bad day, however, you will live really close, how the tasks you worked on have a positive impact on the company, making you feel that much more motivated to work and help in any way possible. In my case, I was able to discuss my tasks very honestly with my boss, being able to bring in new ideas and perspectives, knowing that they will be taken seriously and if good, put into action. As modern companies already know, communication is everything. If your idea sucks, you will know, and if your idea is good, you will know even more. In my case, it was the second big project my boss was getting involved in. This meant that even the more experienced workers were also taking many risks, trying new things out in order to find what works best for the company. This was by far the most enjoyable aspect of being in a start-up. Everybody is working hard towards a common goal and everybody is equally included in the process. My guess is that a much bigger company will have a thought out strategy and inner organization where tasks can feel automated and repetitive. This is the opposite in small starting companies. Everything relies on trial and error, seeing what works and what doesn’t. This can feel very chaotic in some moments, however, as a young student that I am, I can truly relate to this feeling and I am able to find a balance within it. That is the reason why I have felt very rewarded for this experience, and the reason why I want to keep being part of it, even if I have to choose to work on a Sunday evening instead of watching a movie and relax. I can only recommend trying to work for a small-scale company and feel the motivation and closeness that other positions might not be able to deliver.