Q. Hi Ali, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
A. Hi! I’m Ali Kiraz, and I was the Social Media and Content Marketing Intern for PCN Capital for the past year in parallel to my Bachelor’s in Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam. I was born in Turkey, lived some time in Germany, and I’ve lived here in Amsterdam for the past three years. My favorite pastimes are playing the guitar, basketball, (though I am sitting with a broken collarbone as I am writing this…), biking, and recently I’ve been watching a lot of Volleyball.
Q. Can you describe yourself in 3 words…and tell us why you picked those words?
I. Can. Not.
I picked those words because I am very bad at this.
Q. What drew you towards the Social Media & Content Marketing internship at PCN?
Not going to lie. The 4-day workweek, Table Tennis in the office, and dogs were a pretty big factor…
But what really convinced me were the interviews! I can be nervous interviewing for a job, but I got along so well with Victoria (our COO) and Zsofia (our Marketing Manager) that I felt quite comfortable. It gave me great insight into the kind of culture that is established at PCN, and that really was the most important criterion.
Q. What was it like to work with our marketing team?
Nothing short of amazing. Everyone in the team shines through their unique personalities, skills, backgrounds, it’s just a joy to work with. I do wish I would’ve gotten to go to the office more – Covid really took away loads of facetime with some great people. Not to mention everything they taught me.
Q. Can you briefly share any new skills, techniques and knowledge gained during your internship? How were we able to support your professional growth?
I think the most obvious one is that I learned how to use some Adobe programs. At least the basics. Me knowing how Premier, Photoshop, and Indesign worked seemed very unlikely at the start of this internship, and look at me now! But I think I’ve gained much more experience in a lot of other areas too. External communication, for example; I got to work with many different companies on arranging podcast episodes, putting together PRs, and similar media.
I also think I just strengthened my ability to work in an office and in a team – I definitely have a stronger sense of navigating myself in the workplace.
Q. What was your favorite project to work on and why would you pick that one?
Podcasts. I’m not sure why, but it was always the task I looked forward to the most each week. Not a specific episode either, I just really liked doing the podcasts.
Other than that, any time I got to work in Premiere Pro or create a design on Photoshop or Indesign was great.
Q. If you had any aspect of your internship to do over, what changes would you make?
Covid. Just Covid. I wanted to be in the office more.
Q. For future interns, what are some of the most important qualities to succeed in this role?
Keeping a cool head can be very important – every once in a while there are going to be those days where you’ll need it. Creativity is always a great asset to have, and as a social media intern, nothing beats communication skills. But I think what’s most important is the confidence to go out there and do your own thing, use the freedom that you are given within your role. Write articles, come up with new concepts, revitalize your processes, find tools to make your life easier.
Q. What do you believe the next step is in your career, and how did we help you get there?
Well for now I’m going back to Uni. What comes after that, who knows.
What PCN gave me is life and work experience, confidence, great connections, and deep insights not only to the fintech industry but how a company such as PCN functions. Also the aforementioned skills.
What exactly I’ll do with all that I don’t know. What I know is that this internship blew some doors wide open for me.
Check out our blog here.
