By: Sophie Allen Jun 24/2026
Every year in January, select members of the Snaptech team attend Schmooze, an event at BCIT to meet the current marketing class and, hopefully, find a good match for a spring internship. We’ve been quite lucky over the years, with three of our current team members having come through BCIT’s internship program with us and been hired after. In fact, we kind of thrive on our reputation as a great company to intern with (thanks, Amalia!). Meeting Andy was no exception, apparently. While I am not part of the internship selection process, the buzz amongst those who are left the rest of us eagerly awaiting our new intern.
Snaptech has a knack for finding good people to join the team, and Andy did not disappoint. He blended seamlessly into the company and, as a result, I was allowed to interview him to showcase how excellent he is to the wider world of whoever reads this. It was an absolute privilege to work with Andy during his internship with us, and I wish him all the best in his marketing career and hope our paths can cross again. Without further ado, please read on to learn more about Andy.
Before we get into the questions, introduce yourself. Who are you? What do you do? Give us a little bit of background.
Hi, I’m Andy. I’m a marketing intern at Snaptech. I’m from South Korea. I moved to Canada just before I turned 11 and spent my teenage years in a little city called Hamilton, Ontario. I met my wife in university in Toronto, where I majored in philosophy and criminology. I stumbled upon data analytics right after I graduated, and from there into digital marketing after I decided I didn’t want to use the majors I studied in university to become a lawyer to do paperwork for 12 hours a day.
I moved to Vancouver in 2023, where I enrolled at BCIT in the marketing management program and met Amalia (Fowler), my paid media teacher, who introduced me to how interesting paid media was.
Did you choose Vancouver specifically for BCIT?
No, actually, I didn’t have any intention to join BCIT when I first came to Vancouver, but I knew people in Toronto who were talking about BCIT and how it had a two-year program that was great at leading to jobs after.
What made you apply to Snaptech for your internship?
It all started with Amalia; she was a huge influence on me in making the decision. I heard the company was a really good place to learn, which was one of the things I was looking for. I really locked in on my choice when I had my interview with Kavan, Steph, and Mik. I felt the sense that they were really great people who would be helpful when I asked them questions. And now I see that they weren’t lying. I bugged Mik every day and Kavan very often when I was in the SEO department, and now Steph gets to be interrupted; I don’t even know how many times a day. But yeah, they’ve been super helpful. I know I made the right decision.
What’s next for you after you’ve graduated? Will you go on to more school or enter the workforce?
I want to enter the workforce. Getting a job is my number one call after this.
Editor’s Note: Andy landed a job before the end of his internship. Congrats on your new role!
What made you choose marketing?
This goes way back to my time in Toronto. I was always interested in business because my dad does business, and I plan to start one myself- I don’t know when, in the future. What’s most interesting about marketing to me is that it’s all about human behaviour and not so much about what they say they do or what they believe. So that was something that was kind of introduced to me in philosophy and learning about some psychology and criminology courses. That led me to think about what’s out there, what’s a job out there other than being a lawyer, where I can apply these skills and focus on humans rather than machines. Marketing was the perfect thing that really caught my attention.
What experience do you have that you feel can translate well or give you an edge in marketing?
This connects to the question we had before. Obviously, philosophy and criminology, I learned a bit about psychology as well as how people think, basically, and how I think logically and critically. My two-year military experience was really kind of helpful in my transition to marketing. I quickly learned at BCIT that marketing is not one man’s job. It’s very team-focused. So yeah, my experience serving the South Korean Navy really taught me how to be a team player rather than a solo player.
What motivates you?
I think it’s other people. I’m more motivated by other people than myself, and that is because being able to help other people is, I think, my one motivation to do basically anything I do in life. As an intern and a student right now, I learn because I need to be good at what I do so that I help others more effectively. That’s just how I think about life in general and in business, too. I believe the success of a business depends on how many and how well they solve a problem for other people, and, in an ideal situation, that is the case. That’s always been how I motivated myself to push through my limits.
What is one of your weaknesses, and how are you turning it into a strength?
I think it’s the ability to communicate. I noticed that when I was working with Mik as well as with Steph right now, when I’m given an assignment, I try to do it myself first before I go and bug them. That’s because I don’t want to interrupt them while they’re focused on something else. But also, the sense that I feel like I need to be able to do this kind of mindset is making me stuck on this one part of the assignment or one task. I found that that was not really helpful for me and for Snaptech, so I was really thinking about why am I being stuck? And I learned that not reaching out for help could be some kind of arrogance that I had in my abilities to be able to finish the task, but if I was going to be open about my vulnerabilities and my weaknesses and be humble enough to send a Slack message, then all the problems would be gone. So, that’s something I am learning and working on. To be able to accept the fact with humility that I don’t have the answers to everything is how I’m slowly solving problems for myself and making my weaknesses into strengths.
I would say that makes you very considerate, because you’re aware of other people’s time, which is wonderful, but I like that you’re working on that and realizing that you need to ask the questions in order to do the task fully. I don’t think that’s you being arrogant; I think that’s you being considerate and trying to mind people’s time, which is really nice. But you’re also the intern; it’s your job to ask us questions. It’s a short time that we have you, and we have a lot of knowledge to pour into you, so asking questions is what you’re supposed to be doing. Keep doing it.
Yeah, but honestly, I think it was Mik and Steph, they were just so open to receiving questions, and I just can’t thank them enough.
What soft skills do you feel are needed for marketing that can’t be taught in school?
I like to think about why. For example, the question I just answered, I would catch myself being stuck in a task and not being able to reach out easily despite Mik and Steph being open to questions and I would ask myself why. Thinking about why makes me calm. Thinking through that solution and having to push myself to do something I’m not at all comfortable doing is something that is not taught in school.
What is something you want potential employers to know about you that would be hard to communicate in your resume or on a job application?
I never miss deadlines. I’ve done a lot of school in my life. I have a bachelor’s degree and my BCIT schooling and I’ve never missed deadlines. That’s something I’m proud of, because I’ve been involved in other clubs and things in my life, I also have a family, but I still managed to get things done on time. Time management really serves me well, but I guess those kinds of soft skills don’t make it onto the resume.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love playing soccer. It’s a weekly thing. Friday nights are soccer time with my friends. Also, I like cooking with my wife. These days, after I started interning here, she usually cooks lunch for me, and I usually do dinners. But cooking together is our bonding time because she’s so busy. She’s so busy with her studies; she goes to pharmacy school, but it just works out that, I mean, we need to eat, right? There are barely any good restaurants out here at UBC, so we just adapted to cooking our own food, watching food videos, and trying to imitate what it was.
What do you guys like to make? What’s your favourite thing that you’ve been making?
Our go-to is Korean and Japanese. She loves udon, so we make a lot. I’m usually the one dealing with meat. The most recent thing I made was Japanese-style curry with caramelized onions.
What’s your favourite Korean TV show or genre?
Side note: Andy and I have already discussed all the shows we’ve watched and exchanged recommendations.
Other than Culinary Class Wars, I don’t watch a lot of Netflix these days, but there’s a comedy-slash-reality show called Infinite Challenge that’s just a bunch of guys doing stupid things. It’s really popular in Korea. I don’t know if a lot of Canadians would resonate with the show. My go-to is on Netflix: Reply 1988; that’s my favourite. I go back to it every Christmas.
Interested in learning more about our interns and their experience at Snaptech? Check out Moon’s blog about the internship experience and her tips for working remotely as an intern.
About the Author
Sophie Allen