Jia Hui from the National University of Singapore reflects on her summer 2020 internship, right when COVID-19 hit and Singapore went into its Circuit Breaker.
As the enthusiastic freshman I was, I volunteered to help out for school events back in my very first winter break. I met some seniors who shared their internship experiences, emphasising that an internship is one of the best ways for us to apply what we’ve learnt and to learn on the go. One of them recommended me to apply for an internship at Tinkertanker as he was an intern here himself and has had a great experience. I wasn’t expecting anything when I sent out the email. I mean, who would want to hire a freshman who knows almost nothing, right? Hence, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually got a response from YJ and learnt about the different projects I could work on if I were to be an intern. Fortunately, I was offered an internship position. As a Computer Engineering student, this opportunity was especially valuable to me as I was given the chance to work on projects that allowed me to explore my interests in both hardware and software.
I was looking forward to my very first summer internship, to learn and make new friends along the way. However, as the saying goes “the best-laid schemes of mice and men often go awry”. The Covid-19 pandemic and circuit measures had disrupted some of my plans, but I am still very much grateful that I am still given the opportunity to intern and work from home. As much as I enjoyed the flexibility from working from home, it definitely took some time and self-discipline for me to find the balance between work and play.
My internship started with a virtual orientation, followed by some internal panic from not knowing what to do on my first few days of work. However, I was fortunate to have YJ as my mentor who checked in every other day especially during the first few weeks of my internship.
The very first project I worked on was a micro:bit tutorial, which I continued coming up with at least one tutorial every week with the Tinker Kit I was provided with. I am really grateful to Hetty for always being really willing to help me out whenever I had any questions with the coding, and assuring me that the quality of tutorials I was producing wasn’t sub-par. I mainly worked on remaking classic games like Pacman, Whack-a-mole, and Tetris, into simpler versions that can be played on a micro:bit. Besides re-making classic games, I also came up with other simple games like “Ice-Breaker”, which was also the very first project I worked on as an intern here.
Snapshot of the “Ice-Breaker” on Let’s Get Hacking. This game can be a single or multi-player game, but its original purpose is for you to play this game with a friend you just met, in order to “break” the ice with them.
These tutorials are mainly coded in Microsoft MakeCode, or MicroPython for games that are slightly more complex. It is relatively simple for anyone, even beginners, to get the hang of the syntax of MakeCode (they’re just blocks!), which allowed me to focus more on the logic when working on these projects. I had little experience working with Python before this, so using MicroPython in some of the tutorials definitely helped me reinforce my understanding of Python, which also allowed me to help some of the students out with my knowledge during a Pygame class.
Snapshot of “Pacman” in Microsoft MakeCode
Besides working on Let’s Get Hacking tutorials, I also had fun when working on a product review comparing the different versions of the Ring:bit Car.
Ring:bit car v1 VS Ring:bit Car V2
Ring:bit car V2 with the Sonar:bit, which could be easily assembled
I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to be involved in Tinkercademy’s curriculum efforts. I was mainly involved in helping out for SMU Academy’s web development course, by reviewing the slides other interns had developed and coming up with some quiz questions for the students to reinforce what they’ve learnt in class. Even though I only had some experience in front-end web development, this has also allowed me to review and improve upon the curriculum from the perspective of a learner.
Besides the web development course, I also had the opportunity to reinforce my understanding of the Basics of Python and Pygame by sitting in and helping out for Bukit View Secondary’s e-CCA sessions. Being tasked to address the students’ questions meant that I had to familiarise myself with the lesson materials to help them with their questions and debugging their code. My knowledge and skills were put to test on the very first lesson when the instructor’s microphone did not work for an extended period of time. I had to jump in to teach the class for about 10 minutes, which I was completely unprepared for mentally and it was quite terrifying for me at that point in time. In hindsight, however, this little episode gave me the opportunity to articulate my knowledge and build up some confidence in speaking to a group of people (virtually).
This was an experience that I am truly thankful for, as it not only allowed me to acquire new skills and knowledge, but also reinforce what I’ve learnt by putting them to practical application.
With the Covid-19 situation and circuit breaker measures coinciding with the whole period of my internship, I didn’t have much of an opportunity to drop by the office, much less tinker with the equipment and tools in the office. I really wanted to drop by the office at least once before the end of my internship. Hence, when Jee Soo needed help with the packing of kits, I grabbed the chance to do so and that was the first, and only time I went to the office. Besides packing the kits, I was also tasked to work on a few simple tutorials using Basic:bits for Tampines Sec. Below are some snapshots of one of the projects.
Walking stick: The buzzer will sound when the distance registered by the ultrasonic sensor is less than or equals to 3cm.
There were also a few interns who came in after the circuit breaker started, so we didn’t have much of an opportunity to interact with other interns. As such, YJ grouped the interns into different groups of 3, to come up with a TikTok video. As much as I cringed a little when I first heard of the task, I’m really thankful for it now, as I wouldn’t have had the chance to interact and get to know the other interns if not for it.
I have enjoyed my very first, work-from-home summer internship as an undergraduate. Despite working from home, I really liked the culture and dynamics at TinkerTanker, where everyone was really helpful and understanding. As a Computer Engineering major, this was a rare opportunity I had to explore my interests in both hardware and software aspects. I am also extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to play integral and significant roles and I really had fun while learning and contributing here. I am truly grateful to everyone in the company for making the past 3 months of my internship such an enjoyable and memorable one, as well as helping me learn and grow along the way.