Telma Almeida

Country of origin: Portugal

Placement: 3D Hubs

I decided to take a placement year because it would allow me to have a full year of experience before even graduating which is an advantage compared to students who don’t have the placement experience when applying for jobs in the future. It is a good to experience the real working environment and I knew I would value being a student even more once I returned for my final year.

At 3D Hubs, I worked as a Community Support Intern/ Event Organizer. I looked after 3D Hubs events all over the world made by 3D Hubs local ambassadors. I empowered over 80 local ambassadors to have 3D printing events for their local communities. And as it stands 3D Hubs counts almost a 3D printing event a day somewhere in the world.  My placement was the best experience of my life. 3D Hubs is a family and they always thrived for my personal growth. Everyday that I came to work I made a difference. For a person studying entrepreneurship it’s extremely important that the placement year is in a start-up, as you get to see the pace of it. Every month there’s a difference in growth or a strategy update.

I’ve never learned so much in my life. The 10 months of my placement showed me the different tools in order to be the most efficient, organized and productive person I can  possibly be. I liked the fact that every single task I’ve done from the first day was out of my comfort zone. Every task had its own struggles and the fact that I could overcome these with skills I developed at 3D Hubs is extremely rewarding. It kept me motivated and made me want to go to work everyday. I had full responsibility for the local ambassadors programme which meant that I had full ownership of something. It was scary but also important as it allowed me to feel valued and keep learning. 3D Hubs pushed me to do speeches at events and travel around the Netherlands. This made me grow and it trained me to public speaking which I think is an extremely important skill for the career I want to purchase. For example, I had the opportunity to be a guest speaker at the Maastricht Entrepreneurship Week 2016.

This placement not only taught me a lot of useful skills but above all it helped build my confidence. It  increased my communication skills significantly as I was in charge of local ambassadors from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures. I am now thinking of a possible career related to 3D Printing as my knowledge around the subject is huge. One of the most important things I’ll always take with me is the fact that I am now extremely efficient and feel that the start-up mind-set is implemented in me now. I learned to keep up a pace, be straight forward, to be an independent worker and to find solutions on my own. I learned that it’s okay to make mistakes, if we learn from them.

The support given by LUMS Careers Team was very important. Even for students who didn’t use the available help, I’m sure it comforted every single one of us to know that we have a great team supporting us in the background.