After three months of the practical training program arranged by KDU for student to get experience in the outside world, I have learned a fair amount of lesson both academically and behavior. Practical Training was a bitter sweet experience for me. To be honest, I did be lying if I say I enjoyed this practical training because the last few months, was by far one of the scariest and shocking phase of my life. It certainly had its fun side to it for example learning new skills to realize my artwork and also meeting a new range of people in the working world but most of the time, I was afraid; I had never been more scared in my life.
Going to work was equivalent to going to a battlefield for me, feeling like I was sent to a warzone of unknown danger. I felt I was ill prepared both mentally, behavior wise and in skills which is all entirely my fault for not concentrating more in class last time. At work, I was afraid the boss would ask me to do something that I did not have the skills to do yet and was afraid whether my boss would accept my ideas. I truly regretted all those times I could have utilized to improve my skills before my practical training. I felt like a soldier thrown into a battlefield without a gun. I was terrified till the point I was constantly sick.
The fear was a good thing, because out of the fear, it managed to drill in a few lessons through my thick stubborn numb skull about good working ethics. Before practical training, I was constantly late to appointments and coming to this training has taught me the importance of punctuality. It also taught me the importance of efficiency in work and that things need to be done fast and well. Meeting up with dateline is important because in the real world, clients will not give you 5 minute allowance or a day of postponed datelines. Not meeting up with deadlines not only would cause trouble to us but also it might waste other people’s time.
Academically wise, I have learned so much skills. I have learned to use programs like Sketchup and 3d Studio Max which I was clueless to before this. I have learned how to put materials on 3d models, rendering views and also how to draw detail drawings using Autocad.
Other than that, I also learn about things like how to converse with contractors and clients using professional terms and also had the opportunity to look at how things are constructed. I also learn about materials, what are cost friendly and what are not and doings designs that are more practical and easily acceptable by clients
I hereby would like to thank numerous people which help me through this Practical Training. First, I would to thank my boss, Benjamin Lim for his patience and kindness in sharing his knowledge to me and I have truly regretted for burdening him at times. Would also like to thank him for the opportunity he had given me to work in his company which was a good learning experience. I would like to thank my lecturers in KDU for their constant guidance through my internship and for giving me a rough guide line of what I should and should not do in internship.
Other than that I would like to use this opportunity to thank two of my friends, one is Elyas, for he had help me go through the first week of my internship which was tough for me because I did not know how to render and use 3d max yet. He had taught me everything he knew and was a constant moral support to me as a friend through the remainder of the internship. The second friend I would like to thank is my colleague, KY Ooi, for he too was a constant support to me throughout the internship as we are the only two employees in the company and many times had to depend on each other. Also would like to thank him for keeping me company and we have certainly shared a fair share of fun in our working life. I would also like to thank God for He is the person I could depend on when all else fails. Last but not least I would like to thank my parents and my sister for they have been effortlessly trying to help me with my working life by forcing me to wake up early and constantly calls me to check whether I was doing fine.
Overall I could only say, practical training was a bitter sweet experience and was glad I went through it as it was a good learning experience and a big wakeup call for me.
