A day in the life of a Udemy intern
Wondering what it is like to be an intern at Udemy?
This year the User Experience (UX) Research team at Udemy decided to bring on board their first intern, and I was fortunate enough to be the one to fill the role.
Throughout the application process, I was really curious to know what it is like to be an intern at Udemy. I kept searching the internet to learn more, but I didn’t find enough details to soothe my curiosity.
Therefore, I thought I’d write this article for future interns to get a taste of what it is like to intern at Udemy so they can make a more informed decision.
My Project
Udemy had me work on a very exciting project that was perfectly tailored for my background. Given that I am an international, it was all about understanding how students in global markets learn on our platform. In this article, I will focus on some of the research tasks I performed on a given day, while talking about the other events that happened during my day.
My internship extended from June to August 2018.
Disclaimer: this is an example of a more productive day. Not all of my days were like this.
Here’s how my day goes
8:00AM — Day starts
Wake up. Shower. Throw on some clothes. Head to work.
I usually take a Lyft or Uber. They are ridiculously cheap here compared to other cities I’ve visited. I think this is partially due to the condensed nature of downtown (where I live). I pay on average $3.5 for an Uber express pool. Quite affordable.
9:00AM — Arrive at the office
I head over to the kitchen to make some breakfast.
There are two reasons why I prefer to eat breakfast at work rather than home. I get to meet and chat with new people everyday.
Also, avocados.
9:15AM — Morning rituals
I take my breakfast and go back to my desk.
Skim through emails. I make sure I read every. single. one. and respond to anything that I can quickly resolve. I flag the ones that require more attention to read thoroughly later.
Check Slack for any company/team updates or personal messages. This helps me schedule my day better in case there’s some task I need to add or change on my Calendar.
“Sitting” stand-up. I love the way my team does stand-ups. From the comfort of everyone’s desk, we do it over Slack. Not only is this time-efficient, it’s also a written record of what everyone is working on in case we need to go back and refresh our memories. Plus, it’s very practical when you have team members across the globe, as Udemy’s UX research team does.
Read Medium articles. While sipping my coffee, I like to read one or two articles. They do not take much time and add so much value to my personal and professional life. They are also a great way to stay up-to-date on industry trends and news. I sometimes share them with my coworkers and have a little chat about them.
10:00AM — Head to the first meeting
For some reason, most of my recurrent meetings happen at 10AM. So now my brain is wired to save this time for meetings.
If it’s a 1:1 with my manager — we chat about what I have been working on. I usually receive great feedback (positive and constructive) from her. We then talk about where we currently are and where we’re headed next.
If it’s a team, departmental, or all-hands meeting — I listen carefully and learn from everyone. If there’s anything valuable that I can contribute with or a good question that I have, I’m always encouraged to speak out.
That is one remarkable thing about being an intern at Udemy. Everyone empowers you to work and have a presence just like any other employee in the company. Even in meetings where executives are present!
So if, for some reason, I ask a “stupid question” — which they don’t even believe is a thing — I never get any weird looks or turned down. I always get a response, and quite often a great one.
11:00AM — Begin work
After receiving back the script translation for an unmoderated usability test that I spent some time designing, I spend the next hour vetting it.
I make sure that the text is culturally appropriate and that it is free of structural and grammatical mistakes.
This is a very important part of doing international UX Research — I have to make sure that what I am sending out to people speaks to them.
At this point, it’s ready for the next step. And I am also ready for lunch.
12:00PM — Lunch time, AKA “My favorite time of the day”
I’m a huge foodie.
Having good food where I work just instantly makes my day 100x better.
Udemy has great food.
They’re also so good about dietary restrictions. Even though it’s a growing company, and there are employees with all sorts of dietary restrictions and preferences, nobody is left out. Udemy is actually one of the very few places where I felt great eating vegetarian/vegan food.
Because I was very lucky to intern during the World Cup and second-halves always overlapped with lunch time, there was no better place to watch the biggest sports event in the world than in an office as nationally diverse as Udemy’s.
Except in Russia. Maybe.
1:00PM — Get stuff done
This is usually when I have the biggest block of free time during the day. I am energized and ready to work, so I dedicate the time to getting into my focus zone and powering through my work.
I pull out my polished script and begin programming it on UserTesting.com — the usability testing tool. Once I’m done with that, I test the usability test over and over in order to make sure that it’s doing what it’s meant to do, flows smoothly, and logically makes sense.
Coming from a computer science background, this is something that I am really comfortable with. Just like my code rarely works on the first run, a usability test probably will need a few iterations before it’s ready to be shipped.
2:00PM — Prayer break
I’m a practicing Muslim.
Since I pray 5 times a day at specific times, having to pray at work is inevitable.
One of the things I absolutely love about Udemy is how tolerant its culture is. On day one, I sat down with my supervisor and had a little chat about my religious needs in the office.
Not only was she on board and supportive of everything, she also took me to HR where they assigned me a special private room to do my daily prayers in.
This really meant a lot to me.
2:10PM — Back to work
Now that I’m confident that my usability test is error-free, I go back to my list of research participants — whom I have recruited prior to working on this — and begin segmenting them according to specific criteria that I want to test.
So, for example, I may be looking at specific patterns that 24–30 year-old female students show while taking a Python course on their tablets.
To find this segment of students, it takes a lot of time of filtering through screeners and picking the right participants to send of the usability test to. It’s also a quite cognitively-demanding task that requires undivided attention. This is why I dedicate this big block of time to it.
3:30PM — Coffee chat
If I can name one thing that helped me the most get on board, meet with new people, and learn how the company works, I would have to say coffee chats.
A coffee chat at Udemy is a casual 30-minute meeting that you can setup with anyone at the company to talk about anything.
A small-sized company like Udemy has little to no bureaucracy. So everyone — and I mean it, everyone — is very accessible and approachable.
Although I was super intimidated by the fact that I — an intern — was scheduling time to chat with the Senior Director of X or the VP of Y, once we started chatting, they made feel very comfortable and confident to speak.
During my first couple of weeks, I scheduled a lot of coffee chats in order to talk with people about my project and see how we all can help each other. It worked like wonders and helped me so much get the ball rolling.
Since then, I have had some of the most interesting conversations about work and life.
That’s how the culture at Udemy is; they teach you, and they empower you.
4:00PM — Finish up work
Now that I have a list of filtered participants, and a polished usability test that is ready to send out, I begin sending out emails and wait for my awesome participants to do their magic.
I always try to leave things in a good-enough state so I can pick up where I left off with no hesitation the next day.
5:00PM — Leave the office
Unlike many other tech companies, interns at Udemy are not expected to work overtime and slog away.
This ensures a very healthy work/life balance and prevents any burnouts. You really don’t want this to happen during your 10-week chance to shine!
After a while practicing this healthy habit, I’ve discovered that I’m actually much more productive because my brain gets to rest and does its magic.
I bike back home using Ford GoBike. They’re affordable, convenient, and if you’re lucky enough to find an ebike, you can get that extra kick and have fun.
Some final thoughts
I know that what I am about to say is very cliché, but Udemy is the only place I’ve worked where I looked forward to go to the office every single day.
I simply love everything about the workplace and its culture. I know that everyday there’s a chance to learn new things and meet awesome people.
My supervisor, Claire Menke, always made sure I have something to do and that I’m not mastering the art of looking busy at work. Her goal was not to throw mundane tasks at me that the rest of the team does not want to do. She actually had a strategic plan for a project to ensure that I finish my 10-weeks with as much personal and professional growth as possible.
And that’s what happened.
After finishing my internship, I can confidently say I learned how various UX research methods and tools are used in practice. I now can confidently apply for full-time UX research positions.
On a team where I was their first intern, I am impressed with how everything was so on point.
Are you thinking of interning at Udemy, or just want to chat about my experience there? Email me at omar.eletr@bucknell.edu and I will be more than happy to chat :)
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The beliefs and statements included in this article are my own opinions, and do not necessarily reflect those of my current or previous employers.
