Mercedes joined 3D Hubs in August 2015 to become part of the Customer Support team. As an intern she truly became our 3D printing expert, working in our internal lab and HD projects. We sat down with to talk about her internship and what is coming next.
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Favorite 3D printer: Ultimaker 1 - “because it allows you to have more control and tweak it as it prints”
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First 3D print made: Winnie the Pooh pencil sharpener on Form1
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Favorite 3D print made: The Simpson’s house - “a big project with a lot of small parts"
How did you find 3D Hubs and what made you apply?
The first time I’ve met 3D Hubs was when I was working on a project at university and had to 3D print a model. I’ve actually changed the model just before the deadline and stumbled across 3D Hubs but I ended up using the 3D printing at my university.
That’s how I first heard about 3D Hubs and then when I was looking for internships I started searching for different design agencies. But at the same time I had a friend working at a startup and I thought “maybe I should look for startups in Amsterdam”, and then came across 3D Hubs again offering an internship for a 3D Printing Expert internship, that was enough to get me interested.
What expectations did you had when starting as an intern?
I didn’t had much expectations. For me it was more to get to know how a company works, the “real world”. Being at a startup I knew it was going to be fast paced. In someway I thought the company worked more with 3D printing itself, but we’re an online platform connecting the 3D printing community and obviously that encouraged me to learn everything about 3D printing.
What about in terms of goals - how concerned were you to leave your mark in the company, something you could look back and say “I did that”?
Yes, I really wanted to learn to work with the 3D printers because I had little experience with modeling for this way of manufacturing. I only did on module in my university about 3D printing and I learned only the very early basics regarding design for 3D printing. During my internship I had the opportunity to play with the printers, tweak the settings and also design some models. That taught me how a 3D printer can be a trial-error sort of system and what works in a design and why that works or doesn’t work. In that sense I think I learned a lot.
What’s it like working here at 3D Hubs?
Everyday can be different… I usually start by clearing tickets and helping customers, after that I’ll work on my own project and print something and have a meetings during the day. For example the other day I was following a tutorial for Fusion 360, modeling a Marvin in Rhino and looking for prints with a Christmas theme and the community team was requesting Star Wars props: so Star Wars’ Stormtroopers prints for example. I also create Talk posts or fix the 3D Printers. I wrote a Talk post about fixing the Ultimaker and showcased the first prints after it was working again. I ran a HD project, mapped the order flow and make it easy for others to understand.
What makes 3D Hubs a special place to work at?
It’s a young team and you really feel part of the company. We also do a lot of cool side activities with the entire company such as going to glowgolf, get drinks at Whiskey bar or going to the Arcade Ton Ton club to just name a few. It’s also cool that we did a special interns only lunch.
What did you enjoyed the most?
Definitely printing in the lab. To see something being created in front of you is amazing.
What was most challenging about your work here?
Getting the HD Launch working and the collaboration with HD Partners for sure. I understood what it means to be a Hub, how you should communicate with your customers, how to handle complaints and how to still give them a positive customer experience. It is a great feeling when you can turn an unhappy customer happy and making them trusting your platform again. You can for example see where something went wrong and be generous in giving and pay for parts or give discount, after all we’re a community.
If you had to pick a single highlight what would it be?
I have to talk about two highlights. The first Strategy Update I joined was really epic. It is absolutely cool to experience. Everyone is so attached to the company and even though you’re an intern you really feel you are a part of it, that is truly amazing. My second highlight was when when the Ultimaker 2 worked again. That process of fixing the Ultimaker 2 was such a hassle, but when it finally worked out, it felt great.
What is the biggest lesson you learned at 3D Hubs - the one thing that will stay with you for the future?
The spirit of “just do it” in this company will definitely stay with me. If you have a nice idea that you want to do, then just do it. That also helped to stand out for myself, I really feel like I’m more self-confident, when I know I can do something I step up and do it. That’s something very valuable to me.
How will you use your experience here in the future?
I definitely want to be involved in design for 3D printing. It is a totally different way to make things than other manufacturing options. I will be able to bring all my startup experience to a next company, such as A/B testing, the productivity tools we use such as Trello, but also the sprint demo’s at the end of the week, stand up at the beginning of the day and check outs at the end of the day.
So what’s next?
After my internship I am going to start a group project which is the Joint Master Project. We had to form a group from 3 different master directions in industrial design and will be doing for a company in Colombia. So I am leaving to Colombia to set this up, probably for 2 months. They have their own protospace where they also have their own 3D printer so who knows what I can do with that!
What in terms of your future career?
That’s hard to predict, but I definitely want to be in a design environment. I’m sure 3D printing will be part of it, I have no doubt.
If you are looking for a great experience like Mercedes, make sure to check our open positions here.
