Midway through studying for a degree in Management at the London School of Economics, I experienced my Mobile Five Internship. I wanted to know what a real job was like, and Mobile Five taught me. I imagined witnessing gender stereotypes and struggling to be heard whilst men dressed in tailored suits drank espressos. But all assumptions faded upon entering the office and seeing the lounge area, darts board, and ping-pong table.
Within the first week, I had the privilege to meet with each Head of Department – from the head of Project Management, Account Management, Strategy, Digital Designers, Developers, and QA Testers. Each and every one of them seemingly embodied their teams’ distinctive role. Thanks to their expertise and pedagogy I quickly gathered a very broad understanding of the agency’s functioning. I was invited to attend meetings and brainstorms to offer my opinions, insights, and suggestions. And despite being “just an Intern”, my opinions were listened to just as much as everybody elses.
Working with self-motivated professionals taught me how we only become experts when we all put our heads together. When new projects came in, I witnessed teams coming together with such dedication to doing things the right way. The result of this process would be the delivery of an excellent experience and end product to clients. I’d never been surrounded by such hard-working, happy, and motivated people. Collaborating with these talented teams made each project an enjoyable learning experience.
No two projects were ever the same, and variety is the spice of life after all.
My internship took place within the Strategy team, led by Jennifer. Being a student with no professional experience, tackling projects like putting together a website’s UX audit, proposing a digital experience for the launch of a businesses’ new product, or even suggesting strategies around rebuilding a businesses’ website seemed quite intimidating at first. Fortunately for me, the Strategy team is so close-knit that there was no shortage of people eager to mentor and cheer me on.