Pros
I worked at the DQ Institute for over 8 years and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. When I started working there, it was a small organization with a dream to empower children to succeed in the digital age. We started with local exhibitions at science museums in Seoul and Singapore, and gradually grew the activities into a global initiative. It was a really dynamic and fun environment to grow my professional career in and I developed a lot of management and communication skills ranging from organizing educational events to working with educational partners worldwide to implement the DQ vision. If you want a highly valuable life experience with the opportunity to network and work together with some of top educational organizations and international agencies in the world, then I cannot think of a better place to build a career. It was a bittersweet decision to finally leave the organization due to my family commitments, but at the end of the day, I know it is impacting the lives of more children every day and it is a rewarding way to have spent my professional career. I will look back with fond memories and remember the good times we had.
Cons
It is good to immerse yourself in the topic when you first get started to really understand where things are headed and how the activities are changing the world. For some short-time interns, I noticed that they look at the work in a more procedural way and the people who got the most of the work really enjoyed the mission behind the work.