My internship at Kind

He explained that they weren’t looking for another designer at that moment, however they had a look over my work and gave me lots of feedback. I thought this was amazing as nowadays you’re lucky to get a one sentence reply (a lot of the time, no reply at all) - let alone a list of feedback from someone who has taken the time and effort to look through your portfolio! I went on to ask if they were able to take me on as an intern and was invited to come in and speak to them in person.

There are a couple of reasons why Kind were happy to offer me an internship. They liked my proactive approach when contacting them. When I went in to talk to them in person I explained that I am self-taught and haven’t got a degree or any experience in the industry but this didn’t discourage them in the slightest! They liked the fact that I was actively learning new things in my own time and as I already had knowledge on industry standard software, it meant they weren’t worried about needing to “hold my hand”.

One of my biggest worries was that I wouldn’t know as much as someone who had just come out of university, however the guys at Kind could see how I am eager to learn (both at the office as well as in my own time). Many people have “imposter syndrome” when working with lots of other talented people and going into a new industry can be daunting! When doing an internship you won’t be expected to know everything, simply show that you are keen to work hard and that should be enough to make your employer happy.

This internship is providing me with valuable experience that I can’t gain from tutorials at home or even doing independent freelance projects. I love that I’m able to work on a project from start to finish and I don’t have to worry about dipping in and out of other projects that I’m not fully involved with. I’ve learnt that internships don’t have to be about making tea/coffee constantly or doing things irrelevant to the job you’re looking to go in to. I’ve also learnt that not all internships are unpaid or part paid (for travel expenses/lunch), if you are doing a job which is paid you will be experiencing what it is like to fully work there as you will have more responsibilities.

We also agreed that I will be working 3 days a week and will have flexi time (which is the best) so not every internship has to be full time. There aren’t set rules of what an internship should be like, there can always be room for discussion as to what suits both you and your potential employers.

The people at Kind have been so friendly and encouraging. I’ve got a list of things I’m looking forward to experiencing and learning over the next few weeks:

• Learning how to build and maintain relationships with clients.
• Sitting in on meetings.
• Communicating with other staff through standups and reviews.
• Shadowing other staff and learning different practices within the business.
• Seeing how we first respond to clients when starting a new project (including briefs and quotes).

I’m looking forward to the rest of my time here and I’ll let you know how I get on.