From Intern to Full-Time: The Journey
I went through four unpaid internships in a row as a Product Designer, mostly at really small startups in Indonesia. I worked in a small house in an alley, without a proper desk, just my laptop on my lap. At the same time, I was a final-year student from a private university that's not very well known, so finding opportunities was honestly really tough, even for paid internships.
Back then, I also worked part-time as a snack field salesperson. I started early in the morning and worked until evening, around 12 hours a day. It was physically tiring, from setting up booths to packing everything back into the truck. But I kept going. I believed that life moves in cycles — sometimes you're at the bottom, but it won't stay that way forever. Balancing unpaid internships while finishing my thesis wasn't easy, but I managed to graduate. After that, I joined another small remote agency, again as an unpaid intern. I applied to hundreds of jobs, but nothing really worked out at that time.
Then I saw an opening for a Product Designer intern at Glints. It was a paid role, but I didn't expect much. Surprisingly, the next day I got invited for an interview. One of the first things I was asked was about my English. I knew I wasn't that good yet, but I still said I was confident enough to try. After that, I was given a case study for the technical interview, with one week to prepare. I really gave my all during that week, thinking deeply, working seriously on it, and trying to present it in the best way I could. I passed the technical round.
During my internship, everything felt new and challenging. The expectations were high, especially for someone with limited experience. That mindset pushed me to take on things I wasn't familiar with, get hands-on, and learn along the way.
After five months, my manager offered me a full-time role as an Associate. That moment meant a lot to me. I came from doing unpaid work for so long, so even having a stable income felt like a big step. But more than that, it felt like my effort and mindset were finally recognized. And then after eight months as an Associate, I got promoted to Product Designer. I often took on work beyond my main responsibilities, not because I was chasing promotion, but because I saw them as chances to learn. I just kept going, figuring things out along the way.
Meaningful Projects & Contributions
One of the most meaningful projects I worked on was designing an Analytics Dashboard. The goal was to support a company in winning a sales negotiation, and also to make it viable as a subscription-based product for other companies. The timeline was very tight — we only had about two weeks to deliver a fairly big project, with limited resources. The project was led by Jenny, and we worked closely with a Senior Engineer to make it happen.
Even as an intern, I knew this was a high-stakes and challenging project. But my manager trusted me to be involved, and I also chose to trust myself to take on the challenge. There were definitely moments where I struggled, especially because of the tight deadline and limited resources, but I kept pushing through and focused on getting things done.
In the end, we managed to deliver the product on time. The sales team successfully used it in their negotiations, and the outcome was positive. Even though it was the first time we built something like this, the design was well received. My manager also acknowledged my contribution and gave positive feedback on how I handled the project.
Another reason I believe it influenced my full-time offer was because the result was tangible. I supported monetization for the company, helped sales achieve what the clients wanted and took their offer. It needs the ability to directly support the real results of what the company is chasing and achieving. I'm thankful to Glints for giving me a chance to take on this big project, even as an intern. This shows that the company gives so much room for someone's growth.
Growth & Advice for Future Interns
Looking back, I was only a student in some unpopular private university, still trying to thrive in an era where competency is valued, not only hard work to prove. Even though I had the downside of not having a great environment to push my growth at that time, I still continued to chase and seek the opportunity somewhere else. The urge to still run, keeping stamina, and chasing hope is real. It was a survival challenge in terms of how we want to really thrive in this era.
Even though I was consequently enrolled into unpaid internships, that hasn't stopped me from learning, from chasing the results, and shaping me in the process simultaneously. No matter who I are, or who I am, there's always a room for someone to chase meaningful results in their life. For me, it's not a "zero to hero" mentality — it's a "zero to survival" mentality. In this era I think it's really a good starting point if we already hone competency early on.
Because even if we care that much about the result, we also need to care seriously about how we handle the problem in the current situation. Without that mindset, I would never take risky challenges that could be converted into opportunity, given the rewards yield for now or for later time in the future.
So, for future Glintstars who want to thrive and continuously try to make your opportunity happen — I think getting your hands dirty is the okay thing to start. Because by doing so, we will familiarize ourselves with the uncomfortable challenges we will face time by time. During that uncertainty moment, it's human nature to try to survive from it and chase the best solutions. It's like a fight or flight response, but let's try to fight it first.
What if we fail? We will enrich our knowledge even if we fail, because we will learn from that and get another knowledge of the situation. So that in the future, we have another angle to overcome other challenges. I believe if we're always brave to take on uncertainty, and change it as an opportunity, we can thrive eventually.
