GRIP, Internships Abroad Starting at a Startup

Cadence Translate - Beijing, China

When I applied to intern at Cadence Translate, I was primarily interested in the unique role that the company plays in the translation and language services industry, but since I joined the team earlier this summer, I’ve learned even more than I imagined I would. Most notably, I’ve learned about what a startup looks like and how one functions both conceptually and in practice. 

As a Penn student, I’d definitely heard the term “startup” be thrown around when fellow classmates describe their future and current employment opportunities, but in all honesty, I had never really sat down and thought about what exactly a startup was and what it would mean to work at one. Some of the more obvious differences between a startup and a more traditional business became clear on the first day of my internship when I entered the company’s office. The office was located in a WeWork location in Beijing’s Central Business District, which meant that our next-door neighbors were a plethora of other startups and young businesses.

“Young” actually seems to describe a lot of different aspects of the company. Despite its impact, the company has only existed for about 5 years. Furthermore, most of the employees are also relatively young, with some coworkers being much closer to my age than I’d anticipated they would be. While the company and its members were all fairly young, by no means does that mean that they are inexperienced. Instead, their youth translates into openness and willingness to change that is rather characteristic of the company at large.

These characteristics were on full display when the company’s founder, a Penn alum, visited the Beijing office for a week. While he was here, the other interns and I got to take part in a number of events which were meant to encourage team bonding and increase an already strong sense of community within the office. One of these outings included an intern dinner where we were able to discuss our summer projects with the founder as well as reminisce about our experiences at Penn. Perhaps the most important thing he told us was that he chose his team members because they were all driven individuals who would push for change when necessary and that this was something he valued as he always wants the company to continue to change and improve rather than become stagnant. The chance to discuss the past, present and future of the company I’m interning at with one of the founders himself is an experience that I feel I could only have had at a startup such as this one and through a program such as this one.