How I Learned to Appreciate Working Life in KL (Part I)

Securing an internship during a pandemic is a challenge and it doesn’t make it any easier if you’re an international student. I’m a chemical engineering major and I had high hopes to do my internship in Exxon Mobil, Petronas or any prominent oil and gas industry but I had no such luck. Despite sending out my resumes early (exactly four months prior to the start of my internship period), I received no responses. I started to worry because I had failed to secure an internship last year and if I didn’t finish my internship, I wouldn’t be able to graduate. I’d be set behind an entire year!

It was during finals week in May-August 2020 semester that I got a call from Encord Sdn Bhd. I had just finished my first paper and fell right asleep due to exhaustion. I woke up to a missed call on my phone. Unknown number. My heart took a leap. It might seem like a trivial thing to get super excited over because I didn’t even know where the call came from. It could be a wrong number – or it could be one of the thirty companies my friend and I submitted our resumes to. And by God, it was a company and they were interested to interview me! In fact both my friend and I got the call that day. I was over the moon thinking that I was going to have the best internship experience knowing that I was going to be with my friend. It didn’t really matter where because, as I’ve mentioned, it is very hard to secure an internship and I’d be working with my friend at least.

We prepared for our interview right after our next exam. The interviewer (my supervisor to be), called at 3 P.M. that day. He explained that Encord Sdn Bhd was a small company specializing in valves and automation and they were looking for an intern to assist in their digital marketing efforts and help out in the office/warehouse as required. They were looking for a content creator to produce write-ups and designs for their products and the role couldn’t have suited me more! It reflected my role as a content creator in the Student Ambassadors Program and plus, I had taken Process Equipment Design that semester so working and designing equipment used in oil and gas, food and beverage, and palm oil processing industries should not give me a hard time.

My friend was interviewed shortly after and learning about how well it went made me look forward to interning with him. The company was located in Section 16, Shah Alam and it was very far from where we stayed. I was rather anxious to travel a long distance to and from work for five days a week but I reassured myself that I’d be travelling with my friend in his car. But as fate would have it, I was the only one offered the internship position and having no other option, I had to take up the offer. My friend, after much effort, earned an industrial placement at a palm oil processing industry in Johor.

I started work on the first day of September. I woke up at 4:30 A.M., had my breakfast, showered, prayed, and made sure I reached the bus station between 6:15-6:20 A.M. I would take the T410 to TBS station and take the LRT to Masjid Jamek. I would then switch trains to reach KL Sentral. I had to make sure that I arrived at KL Sentral earlier than 7:26 AM, if not I would miss the KTM Komuter leaving to Pelabuhang Klang. I had missed the KTM twice before: first while caught in the breakfast queue at McDonald’s, and the second while trapped in an elevator at the Taman Connaught MRT Station (I had decided to try a different route that day). I had to spend RM 30-40 for a cab to work if I missed the train so apparently, being late was not an option. I would arrive at Padang Jawa KTM station around 8:10 AM and I would walk to the company which was 20 mins away. Sometimes, I would pick up breakfast along the way. I remember feeling waves of anxiety on my first day at work. I had arrived early and I couldn’t enter the building as they had yet to configure my biometric ID. I waited outside anxiously anticipating my supervisor. Luckily one of the sales engineers arrived and asked me to wait inside.

The staff filled in after 9:00 AM and I was introduced to the staff from sales, operations, and the warehouse. I had another student from UCSI interning with me. He was from Bangladesh and was finishing his degree in IT. Honestly, I felt less lonely when having someone from the same university with me. I didn’t meet my supervisors on my first day and reported to the sales manager. The other intern and I were tasked to assemble three-piece ball valves in the warehouse. Having little experience and familiarity with the tools and equipment, it took us the entire day to assemble 18 in total. I cut my hands on the sharp corners of the equipment and felt frustrated thinking if I will be a good addition to the company after all… We took a short break in the afternoon to have lunch, but it wasn’t convenient as we had to walk all the way back to the station to find restaurants. The whole area was an industrial zone and it is better if you drove a car. Having no license or a car, I told myself to preserve through my internship. We left the company at 6:00 PM that day. I hurried back to the station so that I wouldn’t miss the 6:50 PM train back to KL Sentral. I dreaded my next day at work all along the one-hour journey back to KL Sentral. I would arrive at TBS around 8:45 PM and I would pick up dinner at one of the food stalls. Catching T410, I would be back to campus around 9:30 PM or 10:00 PM. I’d go to bed around 11:00 PM and set my alarm for 4:30 AM. This became my routine for the three-month internship period.

The next day I reached the office by 8:45 AM and from that day onwards, I would arrive there at the exact time each day. It’s a great idea to arrive at work early because a good intern is always punctual. I met my supervisor on my second day and he was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He was an electrical engineer and he was in charge of the Sales team. He gave a company briefing that day and explained the job scopes of each of the departments. We were given a tour of the warehouse so that we were familiar with the inventory. I’ve studied most of the inventory in my Process Instrumentation, and Process Equipment Design classes but the theory is different from practical experience. I still had so much to learn and spend most of the day finding out more about the equipment they had by studying the specification sheets. I left work feeling a little relieved that day knowing that the people I’d be working with were kind and did not mind spending their time to clarify any doubts I had.

I met my other supervisor by the following day and he was in charge of Operations. He was a chemical engineer and he explained our job scopes as interns. I was given the task of studying the sales engineering process and made in charge of the company’s marketing efforts. There was no marketing department in the company and I was the one to set it up. It gave me a sense of control as I was pioneering something new for the company. And having creative freedom in the workplace was something I had always dreamed of. I spared no time working on the company newsletter he wanted and by the end of the day, I had submitted a draft. Since then I had taken the initiative to study content creation, digital marketing, and design hoping to improve my work each time. Before I knew it, I was given a leadership role in a huge virtual exhibition in which the company was taking part. It was called “World Palm Virtual Expo 2020” and it was set to launch at the end of November (which was the last week of my internship). It was frightening to be in charge of an exhibition in which the company paid USD 3000 to participate. I had doubts screaming in my head making me question if I will be able to handle the pressure – or if things will crash and burn…

(Find out in Part II!)