COM490 INTERNSHIP – REFLECTIVE REPORT 2

REFLECTIVE REPORT 2 : ADJUSTING TO THE WORKPLACE

There were a few major adjustments that I had to deal with into my first few weeks of

my internship at. These were: the fact that it was a remote internship and having a Monday to

Friday fixed work schedule (9 am to 6 pm). While there was also some adjusting to learning

about how to carry out my job, I feel that will be better explained in context with difficulties I

faced during work – which I will go into detail in Reflective Report 3.

Now, doing things remotely / virtually is not exactly new, especially since

administrators shifted all classes to be online (with the exception of classes that require

speciality on-site equipment e.g. science laboratory sessions) due to the conditions set by the

Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting government-mandated Movement Control Order. So the

act of sitting in front of a computer, and interacting with peers / superiors through a virtual

meeting / chat application is not a novelty. The difference is that these sessions are brief –

usually about an hour to half an hour, with ample breaks in between (depending on your

schedule). I had a lot of spare time in between to do whatever you wanted, be it revising,

preparing for the next (virtual) class or leisurely activities. I did not feel the need to be

constantly connected, and to be frankly honest, if the lecturer recorded their online sessions

and I was not feeling mentally checked in during class time, I could always go back and re-

watch / relisten the recorded session at a later time, when I was in more productive mood.

Doing a remote work placement / internship means that you have to be always engaged,

ready at a moment’s notice to handle a task that your supervisor has emailed / messaged over

to you. I had to get used to unscheduled virtual meetings for occasions when the supervisor

has to address a group of people at once, and a virtual meeting is the most efficient way of

doing so. Yes, there are moments of downtime, especially since I am not in a physical office

and being potentially monitored by other colleagues, but it definitely is much different from

doing online university/ college classes where there are massive gaps between each session.

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COM490 INTERNSHIP – REFLECTIVE REPORT 2

The second adjustment is having a consistent 9 to 5 (or in my case, 9 to 6) schedule.

As mentioned earlier, university / college class scheduling, especially in a programme where

I have the privilege of picking your courses for the semester (and thus, also picking the

timings) makes me used to having ample breaks in between classes, and giving me more

downtime to do whatever I want. Having a 9 to 5 schedule again for (remote) internship is

like being back in primary and secondary school where you have the whole drivel of getting

up early in the morning to drag yourself to a classroom and return home mentally and

physically drained at the end of the day. Ultimately, it came down to waking up at a set time

everyday (for me, that was 8 am, so that I had time to have a good breakfast and to get my

work area ready) and also learning to shut off at the end of the work day. The post-work shut

off was actually something I had to consciously learn, I feel, as I had a few moments early

into the internship (about five days in) where I spent off-work hours finishing off a task that

did not require that urgency. For me, compartmentalizing my off-work hours and break hour

(1 to 2 pm) was important so I did not become jaded or burnt out. I also realize that it is a

privilege that I can ‘shut off’ and ‘turn on’ easily because I am working remotely, this is

probably not a strategy that can be used if I had to work in a physical location.

All in all, the major adjustments I had to deal with in this internship mostly had to

with scheduling and adjusting to working remotely.