Last month, our Design & Analytics intern, Viliana, wrapped up her last day at PCN/Digital Source. Giving us a glimpse into her past 11 months at PCN, we sat down with Viliana to hear all about her experience working with the team, her most memorable projects and a few internship highlights. Dive into the interview to read all about it!
Q. Hey Viliana, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
A. Hi PCN/DS! My name is Viliana and I turned 22 this year. Originally, I am from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, but 3 years ago I moved to Rotterdam for my studies at Rotterdam Business School. These 3 years have passed by in a blink of an eye, and I will be graduating in September (hopefully). My favorite pastimes are playing table tennis, trying different edits in Photoshop / After Effects, and recently I got into watching F1.
Q. Can you describe yourself in 3 words…and tell us why you picked those words?
- People-oriented: I always feel the best after a day full of conversations, activities, and new friendships. That’s why I used to be an Erasmus+ addict (I have done 6+ youth exchanges).
- Ambitious: Whether it’s for work or uni, I try to go the extra mile and it makes a difference. This internship is also an example of that, since I had only one month to find my thesis placement, and not only did I manage to do that but I also undertook a dual position with both design and analytics.
- Always joking: I know that people who describe themselves as ‘funny’ are most probably the worst comedians, so I decided to just say ‘always joking’. I find that a harmless joke is the best way to break the ice.
Viliana with our Social Media & Content Marketing Intern Ali
Q. What drew you towards PCN/DS?
- For our bachelor’s thesis, we were required to work with a real company on a chosen problem. Therefore, I had to quickly start scrolling on LinkedIn (while I was still finishing my other internship). For this job search, I was much more selective than my initial one, because I wanted to enjoy the opportunity. When I read the job posting from PCN Capital, I felt like the requirements were written for me (also the perks of having dogs in the office, the 4-day work week, fresh lunches, and table tennis haha). The application process was really quick and easy compared to other companies.
Q. How would you describe our company culture and did you enjoy being part of it?
- PCN Capital’s company culture was the best work motivator and I always say that I want to be in such an environment when I ‘grow up’ (a.k.a when finishing all my planned studies). I think it was the perfect fit for me – fresh, determined, inclusive, and super friendly. This was a major reason to extend my internship despite going back to actual classes.
Q. What did you like most about your experience?
- Oh man, there is definitely not only one thing, so I will mention a few…
First of all, I will never forget how welcomed I felt during the first day – Moriarty (the cutest dog) accompanied me to my desk, where I saw my work laptop all set-up, with a big box of merch next to it, with the sweetest card signed by everyone. PCN Capital tries to make every employee feel wanted and needed.
Another favorite part of my experience was the people. Everyone was really easy to talk to and took me seriously (I wasn’t just an ‘intern’). I had the coolest managers who would make sure I learn a lot and enjoy it (they were funny too…from time to time).
Finally, I really enjoyed the diversity of each week – not only the tasks were different, but also there were game nights (I still have this Gall&Gall voucher from a bingo victory), workshops, 10k step challenges (which I failed dramatically at), lunch clubs, the Christmas Party (will never forget the drag queen show), in general – a bunch of things to look forward too.
Viliana with the PCN Marketing team
Q. How would you recommend to us to make it even better?
- Keep up the good work and continue with such events that make the PCN Capital team into one big family.
Q. What was your favorite project to work on and why would you pick that one?
- I think it’s understandable that the design aspect of my internship was 1% more enjoyable than the analytics one (since I used to create logos and edit pictures long before university). Therefore, my favorite project might be the first design one I had to make. I remember it was a practice one (to switch my mind from Photoshop to InDesign) and Mark, my design manager, gave me the most random brief for a Hip-hop webinar poster. I think it turned out pretty cool, you can see it down here:
Viliana’s first design project, a poster for a Hip-hop webinar
Q. Can you share with us a little bit on how you were mentored?
- I was mentored 360° haha. But no, seriously, I received help in every aspect: for the Digital Marketing part of my internship I had my manager Zsofia, for design I was helped by my other manager Mark, and when it came to university matters, I would turn to Victoria. It was very good that I had my own responsibilities to carry out independently, but I was never thrown out in the wild with zero support. Many times I wouldn’t ask for help (not to bother them), but would receive it regardless (e.g., design tricks, new analytics tools, work offload). I always felt free to share if there was too much (or sometimes too little) on my plate.
Q. What do you believe the next step is in your career, and how did we help you get there?
- I have decided to take a gap year after my bachelor’s degree since I haven’t yet decided what to specialize in. For now, the plan is to do some internships in Spain because I wasn’t able to physically go there for my exchange. PCN Capital definitely gave me more confidence in my skills (I am no longer a website analytics rookie, and I also managed to get into 2 new Adobe programs). However, I think the most important lesson it taught me is that work is not supposed to feel like a burden and a good company culture will never make you detest Mondays. This internship gave me hope that the working world is not as dark and scary as we, students, expect it to be.
Viliana’s last day at PCN
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