My SIWES Journey: Month 2
Hello Readers, 👋
I hope I’m not the only one who feels like the year is flying by. How can September already be over? It feels like just yesterday we were celebrating the first day of September, 7 days ago. 🙄
Nevertheless, we’re grateful for the gift of life. I trust your month was as splendid as mine! For the next few minutes, I’ll be taking you back in time to recount my second month as an Intern Product Manager at Rennaissance Innovation Labs. I’ll share the lessons I learned, and what we were able to achieve. So, come along with me on this journey, and as is customary, don’t forget to have a glass of wine and a slice of cake at hand. 🍰🍷
In case you missed out on Month 1, you can catch up here. After all, one wouldn’t want to dive into Episode 2 of a movie series without first seeing Episode 1, right?
Now, let’s dive in…
With the way this month started, it was as if August was just a welcome party. 😂 Remember last month when the interns built some amazing products with OpenAI API integrated? Well, they were asked to write readme documentation for each of their products, and I was tasked with overseeing the process. I’m lucky to have worked with such smart and intelligent developers; writing a readme was a breeze for them.
Then came the day when I got to test Headless HR, an application the software engineers at RIL were hard at work on. Testing it out, I felt like a bona fide QA tester — almost tempted to add it to my CV, but I quickly realized there’s more to QA testing than a cursory run-through.
Believe me, this was just the tip of the iceberg…
Just as I was getting back on my feet, we had our customary Friday meetings at the office. Our director, Mr. Shammah, had a new challenge in store for us. When he declared, “I’m here to make you all uncomfortable,” I knew we were in for something special. 😅
At Rennaissance Innovation Labs, innovation isn’t just a name — it’s a creed. One of our key objectives is to nurture individuals with an innovative mindset, to create products that not only serve users but leave them in awe. And that’s precisely what our director aimed for us to achieve.
Our mission was to brainstorm ideas that would seamlessly integrate Open AI API. The following Monday, we had a collective brainstorming session at the office and eventually settled on four projects: CRM Tool, Article Merger, Interactive Fiction to Game, and Bank Statement Analyzer. Teams were formed, and each of us was assigned to a project.
With the guidance of the Senior PM, I ensured the entire grouping and reporting process was meticulously organized. I drafted project overviews for each, documented everything in a Google sheet, and kept a close eye on the UI designers to ensure timely delivery of designs for each project. Honestly, it wasn’t a walk in the park. Being a PM is more challenging than it appears, and this is just an internship. 😄 But with the grace of God, I’ll navigate through it — it’s all part of the learning process.
Now, you might be curious about which team I ended up on. It was my pleasure to collaborate with my team members — Michael, our Back-End Engineer; Nicolas, our Front-End Engineer; Ini, another talented Front-End Engineer; and Spiff, our Product Designer. Together, we tackled the CRM tool which we named; EventBuddy.
The EventBuddy application is focused on event registration and automated follow-up messaging. Users can easily register for events or any special occasion with their details securely stored in a database. The system integrates an Open AI API for automatically generating and sending these follow up messages to the registered users.
Given our time constraints, we had to distill it down to a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). As a product manager, I worked closely with my team and the UI designer to accomplish this feat. I can confidently say that this is where my problem-solving skills truly came into play. It’s no small task to brainstorm and break down a full-fledged product to its most essential form. 🧠💡
Oh wait! I know you might be expecting to hear good news, how was it supposed to sound again?🤔😏 Oh yeah! something like this:
Despite the challenges, I’m proud to say that we were able to deliver a working MVP for the CRM tool. I wrote the ReadMe documentation for this project. It was a great learning experience, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have worked on such an innovative project…
But hold up! Here is what really happened:
We were not able to demo the CRM tool on the initial date. We only had 4 days between the day the UI design was ready and the day we were to demo, and I could already foresee that we wouldn’t meet that deadline. I communicated with the senior PM to inform him of the blockers and issues we were having, but…🥲
Haew! Here I was trying to explain to HR why we couldn’t demo, and it reminded me of this popular slang: You go explain tire no evidence 😂
Well, luckily for me, HR was able to understand after a quite long explanation and episodes of me trying to make him see that the reasons were valid. The demo date for us (Team CRM tool and Bank Statement) was extended to October 4th. With any luck, we’ll have everything in shipshape by then. As of the moment of writing this piece, our front-end developers are still hard at work, tackling the persistent issues. Rest assured, I’ll make sure to include the latest updates in my article for the third month, by the grace of the God.
The only team that managed to showcase their work was the Article Merger team. Take a peek at the product and drop your thoughts in the comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Aside the Product/Project Management experience and knowledge I learnt this month. I also have a few personal lessons to share.
This month I realized the hard way that I’ve been keeping myself super busy, but not really focusing on what truly matters. This almost cost me a friendship and almost pushed me to my limit. It was a really bad decision. I forgot something really important besides taking classes and learning new skills — I forgot about growing personally.
It’s not just about signing up for courses, attending workshops, or doing internships. The key question is: am I actually getting better, or just going through the motions and grabbing any opportunity that comes my way?
One of my friends always said, “Not all opportunities are meant for you, even if they seem tempting.” Another friend would tease me for applying to every opportunity that came up.
I didn’t really understand what they were saying at the time, but I do now. I’ve realized that it’s important to be mindful of the opportunities you pursue, and to make sure that they are aligned with your goals and values.
I am putting this out there because I believe there might be someone else who likes to jump into any opportunity and register for any free course all in the name of learning a skill. Don’t forget to focus on growth. Take a moment to ask yourself question: “With all the courses I’ve taken, am I really getting better? Is there any change in my knowledge or skills?
I’m just glad that I got to experience what I did, even if it broke me quite a lot. But ultimately, I am grateful to God for it all.
I’m now more intentional about the opportunities I pursue, and I’m making sure to take the time to reflect on my learning and growth.
As we close the curtains for this month, have you faced any challenges and opportunities on your own journey to growth? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and let’s start a conversation.
Thank you once again for joining me on this enlightening journey. I do hope you gained some valuable insights. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. You can also connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn. If you found this piece meaningful, please give it a virtual round of applause.👏 Cheers!🥂
