Author: Ho Rachel

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iKala Young Talent

Embrace the Unknown Before Learning; Unleash My Potentials In A Flat Organization

Shawn Yang, Software Engineer, iKala Cloud

I graduated from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at NTU. I didn't take part in any internship when I was an undergraduate, and I chose to look for a full-time job right after graduating. To be frank, little did I want to do a job related to information engineering before entering the workforce. I had every intention of being a dive instructor, then I could emigrate to Australia with friends. While it might not be a thoughtful and long-term plan, I decided to turn back to work in the information industry.

Benefit Becomes A Less Important Factor While Selecting A Company To Work With

When I was looking for a job after graduating, I saw many positions which required 3-5 years work experience. Therefore, I chose to join an interesting company without this requirement. At first, I regarded employee benefits highly. For example, when we had a make-up workday, we could go out and have fun for half-day, and take the other half-day off. We also had birthday parties and club allowance. Nevertheless, when we were so busy, we might not have a chance to enjoy these benefits. Although there were so many coworkers, their abilities and competencies varied – that made me think it is not always better to work at a big company.

Two Perks Of Working At iKala – High Productivity And Horizontal Communication

iKala is the second company I joined after graduating. Before iKala, I worked at a camera/streaming related company in the traditional industry. The biggest difference between my last company and iKala is the efficiency of clarifying problems. At my last job, my team may spend an afternoon finding out the problem of wrong way of connecting joints for clients. But at iKala, we can get to the root of problems quickly with correspondent personnel solving them, so that we can have a high productivity at iKala. What's more, coworkers are highly qualified and reliable here, so you can learn a lot from them.

Another difference between two companies is ways of communication. Because my first company is a very hierarchical organization, you couldn't refute the boss and managers. But at iKala, everyone has the right to express your thoughts. As long as you explain your ideas clearly with proper reasons, your opinions may be adopted. It is a more horizontal communication way at iKala, which means your ideas wouldn't be ignored even if you are a rookie. 

My Opinion On WFH

I think it is great to work from home, which has been useful before the outbreak of Covid-19. Nonetheless, it was totally not allowed at my last company. Work-life balance is pretty essential for me. That is, you have to manage your working hours. Sometimes I get inspiration out of working hours, and I will get some work done. I think it is hard to separate your work and life clearly, yet you have to strike a proper balance for yourself. Hence, the flexible culture of iKala is suitable for me. Except for discussing stuff with a large scope, it is more efficient to meet in person. Other times, I really enjoy the working mode of WFH.

You Can Learn Everything Here

Many internal documents are left by predecessors at iKala, so you can learn how to deal with problems from them. If you still have no idea after referring to these documents, you can consult a colleague. Senior coworkers will also provide wonderful ideas at meetings, then you decide how to do it by yourself.

iKala's employees are active learners, and everyone is willing to answer others' questions. Even though sometimes they don't know the solutions, they will introduce colleagues who know better for you. Compared to senior coworkers, I have more chances to ask questions when I do something wrong or don't have a good understanding of something. As a rookie, I can attain numerous feedback from learning. At iKala, information and communication are considerably transparent. In other words, everyone's willing to share what they know with each other.

In addition to hard skills, what I learn most at iKala is to reduce costs of communication. For instance, each feature may be assigned to only one member in our team. And everyone has a backup partner who will cover you when you are absent. Thus, you need to organize a document with easy instructions within the least time, which could be understood by someone who doesn't have the basic knowledge. For me, it is a tough and challenging task.

As A Rookie, You Can Get the Hang Of Work By Two Tips

As a rookie, before I ask colleagues questions, I will prepare a big picture and different ideas. After that, I will let my manager or coworkers know what's the key problem I encounter, then they may evaluate pros and cons of different methods for me. Namely, you should organize your thoughts before discussions, which can reduce costs of communication. On the other hand, if I am stuck at the same place for too long, I will set a stop loss point like 2 hours. In case I still can't figure it out, I will seek help in time. Since it would be a waste of time to keep holding on, I would rather learn what others will do. To put it in a nutshell, listing problems and reporting regularly are useful tips to get the hang of work as a rookie, which are also good ways to build a sense of trust in your team.

Before Getting Started On Learning, You Need To Embrace the Unknown

If you would like to join iKala, you need a strong ability to learn because there are too many things you can learn here. If you specialize in a specific area deeply, even you are assigned a task never seen before, you can get the hang of it swiftly. Yet, before you have a strong ability of learning, you need to take the first step into the unknown, for you will never know what you will encounter.

We are hiring: https://ikala.ai/recruit/

Categories
iKala Young Talent

At iKala, I Excel With Self-discipline And Enjoy My Work By Solving Problems

Cherry Jiang, Account Executive Intern, iKala Cloud

I graduated from the Department of Applied Economics and Administration with a major in Finance & a minor in International Business. Business degree can lead to so many opportunities but are oftentimes considered a major with low career certainty. Hence, I engaged in so many internships to explore what I was really interested in.

iKala Is the Sweetest Accident In My Career Path Dramatically Changed By the Pandemic

Initially, I was interested in the startup industry. Since I have worked at a corporation, I believe that an internship in a startup would help me learn more and faster. Nevertheless, with a finance major, I still wanted to give it a try in the financial industry. In fact, I got an internship offer from a bank in April last year. With the new coronavirus outbreak in May, the offer was canceled unexpectedly. It was like a warning telling me that the financial industry is easily affected by the macro environment. So, I thought "it might be better to change to another industry."

Through serendipity, I received information about iKala's internship program. And I was impressed by its culture of horizontal communication and flat organization. After applying for an internship position, I went through the interview process and attained valuable feedback from the interviewer, who gave me a positive experience. After I started my internship, iKala has provided many learning resources for me. For instance, I didn't know what "Cloud" is very well in the beginning, then my mentor found a series of online courses for me to learn.

When I Look For An Internship And A Full-time Job, What Matters To Me Is Different

The criteria of looking for an internship and a full-time job is different for me. Because there isn't a specific career path for a student who majors in business, I will explore what I want to do in the future during an internship. Therefore, the prospect of a job and whether I could learn practical skills that can be applied to the workplace are important for me.

When looking for a full-time job, I will evaluate stress and culture in the workplace. I hope it won't be stressful at work, and there will be a lively atmosphere in my team. Although my last job tended to be personal and performance-based, I prefer to work as a team in iKala, where there are members leading me and sharing experience with me.

In A Highly Disciplined And Goal-oriented Culture, You Should Take Responsibility For Your Own Learning

My last job was regular with fixed working hours, while it is flexible and self-disciplined in iKala. There is no one limiting you how to do your job, but just tell you the goals you have to achieve – It embodies one of iKala's core values "Freedom & Responsibility." Like what my mentor said, "You can make your job easy or difficult when doing an internship here. It all depends on yourself," it is more self-disciplined and different than I thought.

So far, I have made many cold calls, which are challenging but make me enjoy my job. Just like the following says, managers will only tell you goals you have to achieve. If you don't inquire about details, no one will tell you how to do it. Still, if you need any resources , just let the company know and it will provide what you need. It is just like you have to solve all problems on your own. You will learn a lot and push yourself during the process, proposing new and fresh advice and thoughts to the company, and this embodies another iKala's core value "Growth Mindset."

Mastering Two Sales Mindsets – Recognizing Your Own Products And Assisting Clients To Solve Their Problems

Many students who study in business would exclude sales from their career plans because they think what sales do is pleasing others. Nonetheless, I remembered when I just entered the university, the chair of our department said, "Sales is the base of the whole business. No matter what you want to do later, you must have a good sales performance first." Consequently, I think it is essential to have the right mindsets for sales. First, you must be confident in your own products, since you have to recognize your products and company, then you can persuade others. Second, the job of sales is not requesting others to buy your products. Instead, what you do is solve pain points for your clients, or assist them to be better.

Embark On A Fulfilling Journey – iKala's Three Appeals To Students

In addition to free snacks, the awesome work environment and atmosphere are also attractive to students. What's more, colleagues in iKala are pretty friendly. I remembered the first day I went to the office, and my mentor led me to meet coworkers. When they saw me, they said, "Nice to meet you. Hope we will have a chance to work together!" to me warmly. After that, I met other coworkers who I was unfamiliar with, and they asked me to enjoy cookies with them, which made me really appreciate it.

The third point I recommend iKala is that you can truly learn something here. Though the culture of iKala is goal orientation, if you don't know how to execute your mission, your mentor would still lead you to approach goals with patience. For example, I have made so many cold calls recently, and it is a big challenge for me. Thanks to my mentors Billy and Kyle, they always hint me how to reach goals in time, like what information I could ask clients furtherly, or what information about products and the industry I could learn more.

To Anyone Who Wants To Join iKala…

If my friend is looking for an internship, I will tell him/her, "If you want to do routine jobs, then you are not suitable to come here. iKala befits those who set their own goals." First, you must recognize the job of sales from the bottom of your heart. Second, you must be very ambitious. Then you can gain something valuable from here.

We are hiring: https://ikala.ai/recruit/

Categories
iKala Young Talent

Cloud Customer Engineer: A Great Combination of Technology and Communication

Willie Chiu, Customer Engineer, iKala Cloud

I studied Computer Science back in university, but I realized very early that the work of general software engineers is not my favorite, so at that time, I thought that I should find a job that can make good use of what I have learned at school, fit my personality, and is not about coding all the time—that is why I started my career as a cloud customer engineer.

Cloud Customer Engineer as a "Bridge"

A general software engineer may be familiar with the part he is responsible for, such as the programming languages he wrote or the modules he developed, but he may not have a comprehensive understanding of how the system or architecture is designed. In contrast, cloud customer engineers can look at the customer's engineering structure more comprehensively. They really play the role of a bridge. As a customer engineer, you need to first understand your clients' engineering structure, figure out what their requirements are, transfer them into action items, and then connect them with our solutions.

Therefore, in this work, I think soft skills are very important. Take "communication" as an example, when pointing out the mistakes of others, some people may offend others, but some can use questions to let the counterpart aware of his problems. This skill must be accumulated in the process of both external and internal communication. I think this is why the cloud customer engineer role is very different from general software engineers.

A Work Beyond My Expectations

A cloud customer engineer's job covers pre-sales, architecture planning, system maintenance and technical support, and this is way beyond my expectations. The reason why I call it "beyond expectation" is also related to the atmosphere of the working environment, which I personally feel extremely lucky.

When I first joined the team, I didn't understand anything, but this is a very open environment where everyone can ask questions freely. I won't worry about being discriminated against by other senior colleagues for asking questions, or if my manager will doubt my ability. It can be noticed that people in the team express themselves in a very different way, compared to normal software engineers. They will pay more attention to your feelings and your emotions. You can clearly see from everyone the personalities that are suitable for the job, which might be the reason why we can form a strong team together.

Another thing I think is great is that everyone in our team keeps their innocence, and is very enthusiastic about learning and sharing. In terms of professional skills, we have formed a study group since last year to discuss the latest cloud technology or the frequently-asked product inquiries. In our daily work, we regularly share the problems encountered in work, and everyone will come together to brainstorm and discuss how to solve them better. In addition, we often share methods that can improve our quality and efficiency of work, such as Trello, Notion, or other productivity tools, so that the entire team can improve together.

Learning Ability Is My Greatest Strength

During the interview, I was asked what I think my strength is. I said it was "learning ability" because I had nothing at that time. I didn't have rich internship experience like others when I was a student. And the research field of my Bachelor's and Master's Degree has nothing to do with my current work, but I know very well that there is an inevitable gap between learning and using, and my advantage is that I am very willing to learn, and I can learn quickly.

In addition to cloud technologies, I think the so-called "learning" involves external and internal communications. For instance, I have the sensitivity to feel the effect of languages, so I will pay special attention to how everyone expresses when communicating with different people, and remind myself to have better communication with others. Another example is project management. I used to think that only one good plan was enough, but in the process of working with other members of the team, I realized that one should always have backup plans. I think this really relies on practical experiences—you have to accumulate different experiences to come up with a comprehensive solution.

Most importantly, I am very grateful to have such a great team and working environment, so that I can have so many opportunities to learn, and I will continue to grow on my way of pursuing a cloud customer engineer career.

We are hiring: https://ikala.ai/recruit/

Categories
iKala Young Talent

Where Psychology Meets Human Resources, iKala is Just Like my Hogwarts

Mindy Lien, iKala Human Resources Intern

I am currently studying at the Department of Psychology at Fu Jen Catholic University. The atmosphere of the Department of Psychology is different from that of other departments. When a group of people get together and chat, it becomes like a group consultation. Everyone will ask each other "Why do you think you feel this way?" Therefore, I think In addition to the development of professional knowledge, what I have learned most school is soft skills, which allow us to think from different perspectives and have a clear logic to analyze the emotions of others and that of myself.

Applying Psychology in the Human Resources Field

There are two different discipline clusters in our department, one is Industrial and Commercial Psychology and the other is Counseling and Consulting Psychology, so that students can choose according to their own areas of interest. Industrial and Commercial Psychology, which I chose, includes marketing, user experience and human resources, so I get to lay a solid foundation for the development of my career.

I think the advantage of my psychology background in the human resources work lies in the "evaluation". We attach great importance to experimental design and statistics. Applying these skills to work, we can use statistical methods to evaluate whether the courses are helpful to employees and use data to convince others. The professional ability of needs assessment is also very useful for understanding target audiences, setting course goals, and finally leading to a comprehensive training plan that can really help colleagues.

Factors to Look for in My Ideal Job

When it comes to choosing jobs, what I care most is learning and growth: Does what I can learn in this position fit my personal career plan? Can I continue to grow here? Secondly relationship between colleagues. I really like the feeling that everyone works together for the same goal. Third, company culture. You can understand what the company expects of its employees and how it treats its employees. I also believe that it is necessary to truly agree with and conform to the company's culture to lead a happy and fulfilling career.

Compared to traditional companies with relatively rigid systems and organizations, I am more inclined to startups, with a lively atmosphere, close relationships with colleagues, and greater flexibility that allows employees to explore and grow.

My First Real Taste of Working in an Enterprise

Human Resources Intern at iKala is my first real taste of work. Before I came here, I didn't know much about iKala. I only remembered that it is a very lively company. The decisive factor for me to join iKala was that during the peer interview, I really felt that the atmosphere of the company is what I yearn for. In addition, since I was also interested in marketing, iKala's AI influencer marketing service KOL Radar soon piqued my interest. I was looking forward to working as a human resources intern, but at the same time taking a glimpse of what people in KOL Radar team do.

My work as a human resources intern includes interview invitation, recruit information updates, interview tests arrangement and assistance in the organization of internal training courses. After working in iKala for a few months, I deeply feel that this is a very dynamic company. Whenever I share my internship experience here with my classmates, everyone envy the unique company culture and the working atmosphere here.

Although I am not very good at expressing my inner thoughts to everyone, I really love the colleagues I met here and feel extremely thankful for their help and guidance. In the past, I always felt that I am like jack of all trades but master of none, but after coming to iKala, my mentors praised me a lot and let me know what I am good at it. Even if my mentors are very busy, they will always take time to discuss with me as long as I have questions.

I really like the quote from Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter: "Help shall always be given at Hogwarts, to those who ask for it." To me, iKala is like Hogwarts, as long as I call for it, someone will lend a helping hand. I am very happy that my first internship was at iKala, where I met versatile colleagues and broaden my horizons for the future.

We are hiring: https://ikala.ai/recruit/

Categories
Culture

My Name is the Synonym for Solutions

Human-centered is not fulfilling the insatiable needs of an individual, but taking the company's overall interest as a priority.

Dictated by Momo Liang, Senior Adminstration Specialist, iKala
Written by Iris Hung

I joined iKala in 2018 as an Administration Specialist. My everyday work includes minding the receptionist's front desk and telephone. I also manage the meeting rooms, maintain the equipment inside, receive guests, and deliver or receive letters and packages. I'm also responsible for preparing office events, such as the year-end parties, company trips, other celebrations, office parties, etc.

I have what people call a "mother's personality". I like to watch out for everyone, make sure everybody is being cared for. I didn't know I had it in me until I came to this job. I found that my experience in life and familiarity with these mundane daily tasks could be of great assistance to everyone. I have plenty of confidence in my ability to do this.

The harder part of this job is that there are a million little different things to do. My time each day could be spent on a wide variety of tasks. To use the making of new business cards as an example, the whole process goes like this: the coworker who needs the cards must double-check and confirm their name and job title. Then, I need to update an online form. I need to communicate with the designer who makes the cards, review the draft, upload the file to the printing company, wait for their delivery, and then pick up the delivery. It's not that these things are hard—the combined time spent on these steps may be around thirty minutes only. But there are so many different procedures and people I need to talk to, and a lot of time is spent waiting for others to complete their part of the process. So, in the end, it may take a couple of weeks to get the business cards made.

A part of my time is also spent on helping colleagues solve problems they cannot solve for themselves. So, I've developed a habit of leaving a fixed amount of time every day to deal with miscellaneous issues. The job of a receptionist can be very dull or full of excitement. People are glad to talk to me, and I'm happy to share my thoughts. This helps me understand the personality of each colleague and how they do things. That way, I can work with different people or teams more efficiently. You can even say I am facilitating the exchange of our corporate culture. I keep telling myself, I am more than a machine that takes care of miscellaneous tasks. I want to become a relay station—picking up requests and opinions from all over the workplace, and then turning these inputs into something that helps the entire company.

I am very happy working in this company. People see me as more than the "receptionist" they go to when they need help. They call me "Momo", and I can just about fix any problem they might have. In a way, the name "Momo" has become the synonym for "solutions" in the company. I am not joking when I say people really can find valuable advice and suggestions when they talk to me. This is a positive influence in the company, and I feel a sense of achievement in what I do.