Greetings reader. I’m Lee Yan Gen (Lee for short), the new Malaysian intern. It has been an amazing month working with The DoNation so I thought I’d write this blog post.

Here it goes: Let me begin by saying what a pleasure it is to work with The DoNation. The work here is a nice change from the mind-numbing numbers and graphs that comes with my Chemical Engineering degree. Between the user testing and DoAction writing, there is a refreshing variety of tasks that need doing and lots of meetings to participate in. And I must say it is mildly interesting to see Toby and Tom grow so fast (our lovely tomato plants). Too bad we have to move away from them!

Adding to that the free and easy working environment with amazing office personalities makes this an amazing work experience.

The relaxed nature of this workplace blows my mind even to this day. I’m a guy who is used to a distinct hierarchical structure in an Asian work place and as always, I find myself in the bottom rung of things. But not here. Here my boss makes the tea for me. Mind-blown!

The main advantage of working in a small start-up company like The DoNation is that you get to see your work propel the company forward like a shot of adrenaline. It is really rewarding to see a new DoAction being uploaded onto the site (check out Mail out written by yours truly!), or to see the changes and improvements Martin is making to the new site based on our user testing results. And what’s more, I get to observe the cogs and gears which makes a company tick, something which is not possible with a larger company.

The cool and hip office space, can’t get anymore British than this…

So far into this internship, I have learnt a great many things: user testing, work organising, effective communication, marketing… but the most valuable of them all is the chance to hone my creative writing skills and tailor it to the business world. Now it’s more than just a hobby, it’s a marketable skill set.

It has been an exciting time so far and I have everything to look forward to in the upcoming months. We’re going into some really exciting times here for The DoNation so stay tuned! Yan Gen signing off.