The Struggle
It’s been three weeks since my internship started. The task for my internship is mainly implementing localization for Firefox Profiler. Everything seemed quite okay or doable before I began. Eventually the planning kind of falls apart. Every plan is just a bubble of anticipation that floats on top of your head and when it’s time to execute the plan, it kinda bursts!
The most common struggle I believe working from remote is managing the time. It’s my first time working so I have no experience balancing the work, academic, family, and personal life. And I guess it’s very common to get distracted while working from home.
I started doing the tasks, installing packages for the localizations and all then got stuck. Because some of them were deprecated and the tutorials/docs about that were also obsolete for some cases. I got tensed and was trying to figure out how to set up the packages. Looked for different resources or projects that are currently using the packages I need. My mentor helped by referencing me to different projects that are using the packages. But it was also hard to understand other project structures. So it took a while for me to figure out only the “Start” part of my internship task. If you lag when you are starting, it gets kind of scary right? I was doubting my capabilities and also questioning if I deserved this. The impostor syndrome got me.
The Surviving
I have a weekly video call with my mentor and it helps me a lot. We talk about project work, difficulties, and plan the week. I asked him how he manages time. Well, his answer amazed me. He said he actually cannot manage the time too, as working remotely can disrupt our scheduling. So I pull myself together and concluded that everybody has their personal preference of ‘Productive Hours’.
About project tasks, he motivated me and assured me that it’s all okay to take time. He gave me time to do my research and let the pressure off me. So I took things slow whenever it felt too much. I started to ask questions in the project chat even though it all may seem silly. It happens that sometimes you try so hard the easier solutions never cross your mind. It took almost 3 weeks when I anticipated it might take 1. Another thing both my mentor and co-mentor suggested that taking a rest is important. So I also took rest whenever I thought I needed. So eventually it all worked out. But that’s just the end of the BEGINNING.
The Struggle Continues..
Another struggle I’d like to mention is ‘Blogging’. Honestly speaking, I always wanted to write a blog but never succeed. It always takes me hours to write a 5 min blog. I find it very difficult to words for the things I feel and want to share.
..So Does The Surviving
The most crucial part is that whatever the struggle is we always have to find a way to tackle it and overcome it. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes don’t. But we gain experiences from it and we grow.
