Zkipster, Creativity, And Career Crossroads

There is always a problem that has continually bothered me in the past couple of years: the path of my future career. As a statistics student, what can I do after graduation? Over the past year, it has left me wondering and experimenting. And after this summer internship experience, I can more confidently affirm to my belief. To be frank, the past few weeks have been one of the most enjoyable and eye-opening periods of my university life so far. Two particular words can sum up this sentiment: fruitful and rewarding. I have never expected to cast such a deep understanding on how a startup company works – it’s teamwork, dynamic, and the group of dedicated people who work to make their idea into reality. It’s a new era for me. A big step into the once-distant startup world. This internship experience provides an excellent chance for me to better equip myself for the future. During these 8 weeks, Garage Society invited a lot of young CEOs and founders to share their experience to us. Their sharing sessions were definitely inspiring and provoked me to think deeper. I believe that creativity should be one of the most vital elements of an entrepreneur. Creativity is about day-dreaming, and exploring the world without any restriction/limits. It isn’t about working by the rules, it is about thinking outside of the box. Every breakthrough and every solution is linked with creativity. Therefore, I think creativity is one of the most essential element of an entrepreneur, if not the most important one. Working with Boris has also allowed me to gain personal insights. Apart from applying the basic knowledge I’ve learnt, I’ve also been challenged by the new. Boris is a great mentor and teacher. I met new clients, assisted during events, contacted existing clients, and launched a call centre project. Essentially, I had the opportunity to take on the type of tasks that entrepreneurs would. I’ve learnt a lot and gain a lot of experience of working in a real business, which is quite different from what I’ve learnt in the university. After this internship, I thought about my first question – which direction should my future career take? Ed told us that there’s nothing called “career path”. It means that when we are developing our career, we shouldn’t restrict ourselves by such a path. We have to be ready for new challenges. As the old saying goes, “youth is valuable, but without efforts, it’s worth nothing.” As a sophomore, what I should do is to explore more, and not to restrict myself by my major; gain more experience and build my own network. And most importantly, be ready for every challenge and opportunity coming forth.