Nurturing Young Talents: Summer Internships of DBS Foundation InnoFuture Youth Programme

Summer holiday is a great opportunity for students to learn various skills and explore their interests. This summer, 9 students from different universities and secondary schools participated in the DBS Foundation InnoFuture Youth Programme to learn no-code development and create digital solutions such as websites and APPs. They also acquired maker skills such as woodworking, sewing, laser-cutting and 3d printing in MakerBay. Throughout the internship, students enhanced their problem-solving skills as well as trained communication and presentation skills. In terms of career planning, they gained deeper insights into their strengths and weaknesses, which will help them decide the jobs to pursue in the future.

3 students from The Education University of Hong Kong spent a month of their internship learning and utilising no-code development platforms such as Webflow to create official websites for charities. Kelly recalled that at the beginning, she found setting up web layouts and functions using Webflow a bit challenging. However, with learning from different tutorial videos and continuous practice, she gradually mastered the skills, making significant progress. Witnessing her own improvement, she felt a sense of accomplishment. In addition to no-code skills, she also had the opportunity to explore woodworking and sewing. She realised that as a teacher, she could impart her knowledge to students, enhance their digital literacy and hands-on maker skills to foster innovative thinking and raise environmental awareness. This internship reminded her importance of continuous learning and developing a wide range of interests will be beneficial to keep pace with the rapidly changing society.

During the summer break, 5 secondary school students joined us through St. James’ Settlement. They engaged in various tasks, including web and APP development, design and maker projects. Michael utilised Glide, a no-code platform to create a simple HR system that allowed users to record overtime work and applied compensation leave. It also supported different levels of access so that supervisors or the HR department can directly approve requests in the system to streamline the process. After completing the basic functionalities of the HR system, Michael continued to explore different features of Glide. On the last day of the internship, we were honoured to have Michael present his projects and the responsible from St. James’ Settlement, admired the app was well-developed and suited their needs. We are delighted to see Michael’s achievements. Over the internship, he proactively searched for various learning resources online. Under the guidance of the supervisor, he experimented and refined the app’s functionalities.

Another intern, Nick tried using the no-code development platform, Adalo to create a basic customer relationship management system and experienced the process of system development. He found that as the no-code development platform adopts an intuitive layout design, even beginners can quickly grasp the concepts and build the required functionalities. He also found the experience of learning to use woodworking tools like saws, drills and sanders to make a foldable Stool a great learning. After acquiring the skills, he had the opportunity to serve as an assistant instructor, guiding participants in making the stools. Despite encountering challenges during the process, he learned how to express himself more effectively and improved his communication skills. This experience also provided him with deeper insights into the workplace and jobs.

Finally, Ng Chin-ho embarked on an internship under the arrangement of Methodist Centre. Ng was highly interested in no-code development. After completing the basic functions of a travel expense tracker app for the organisation, we guided him to develop more advanced features and refine the design, all of which he accomplished. Ms. Luk, the person in charge of the Methodist Centre, commented that Ng was deeply committed to developing the application and exhibited excellent work abilities. If there is an opportunity in the future, Ms. Luk encourage him to further develop in this area to leverage his expertise and abilities.

MakerBay and DBS Foundation InnoFuture Youth Programme offer a wide range of skills training and internships, allowing young people to experience the workplace, discover their interests and showcase their talents. Through collaboration and interaction with people from different backgrounds, they enhance their interpersonal skills, build self-confidence and develop resilience. We hope that the internship experiences at MakerBay will help the interns in their future studies and careers and wish them success in finding jobs they love.