Written by: Lester Liew

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• What is your role and your responsibilities
• Why did you join Ant International?
• What did you day-to-day look like?
• Wait a mentor? What’s the mentorship like in Ant International?
• I’ve heard of the unsatisfactory work environment in Chinese companies. How does Ant International fair in this regard?
• What technological stack did Ant International use?
• What were the challenges you faced in Ant International and how’d you overcome them?
• How did you prepare for the interview?
• What was your greatest achievement in Ant International?
• Were there any fun events or social activities at Ant International?
• Would you guys recommend Ant International to your juniors or batch mates?
• Anything else you’d like to add?

Introduction

Ant International is one of the biggest financial service providers in the world, originating from Alibaba Inc. in China and now independently owned and operated globally. It has four main lines of business across 50 countries, including WorldFirst, Alipay+ (yes, that Alipay+ under which Touch N’ Go eWallet operates), Bettr, and Antom. Their main R&D hub, along with their headquarters, is in Hangzhou, China, but that hub primarily targets the Chinese market. Their global R&D hub, however, is located in two places: Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. They opened their Malaysian office at the beginning of 2024 and recently relocated to Tun Razak Exchange (TRX).

What is your role and your responsibilities?

My role was Frontend Engineer Intern, as part of the Frontend Development Team. Our main job is to assemble the frontend part of a website so that the user experience is as smooth and usable as possible. My main responsibility during the first half of my internship was to fix bugs present on the frontend, while the second half of my internship involved leading the planning of the frontend for a classified internal application that will be used by Ant International employees.

Why did you join Ant International?

If you’ve ever dipped your toes into Chinese social media or at least read the news, you’ve probably heard of Jack Ma before, the richest man in China and the founder of Alibaba. Well, that was when I first learned about Ant International (or its past life under Alibaba, anyway). The other instance of learning about Ant International was probably when Touch N’ Go eWallet announced its collaboration with the company to provide seamless eWallet usage across multiple countries. This, I believe, is when most Malaysians started to hear about the company.

I mainly joined because of its advancements in the technological financial sector as an industry leader. As you know, China has progressed in many ways at an unprecedented speed. Their primary payment application, Alipay, is developed by Ant. Needless to say, I was intrigued by how the development works behind the scenes.

What did you day-to-day look like?

(Do note that this took place before they moved to TRX, so the experience may vary.) I usually arrive at the office between 9:30 am and 10:00 am and occasionally hang out at the pantry, sipping coffee or Milo if there’s nothing urgent. Then, I’ll read the emails and requests sent by my mentor to check for any tasks assigned to me. For lunch, the Frontend Team usually goes out together to enjoy meals around the KLCC area. We try to save money by eating at food courts, but we do splurge on special occasions, such as celebrating the conclusion of a project. Every day at 3 pm, it’s basically a Hunger Games scenario in the Ant International office, as the pantry is restocked with snacks that are only available for that day. Everyone keeps an eye on their watches around 2:55 pm and rushes to the pantry as soon as the clock hits 3 pm to grab those sweet treats. Finally, at 6 pm, I leave the office to head home (honestly, the HR team prefers interns not to stay overtime, as it’s stated in the agreement). There are also weekly meetings that every team member is required to attend, as well as a special monthly meeting to celebrate birthdays for that month, held jointly with every office in China and worldwide through our own version of a Zoom meeting.

Wait a mentor? What’s the mentorship like in Ant International?

Right, that’s one of the unique aspects of Ant International. Although you are mostly expected to complete your tasks independently, the company believes that employees work better when they have a companion to collaborate with. For interns, these companions are referred to as 师兄/师姐 (transliterated as Senior), and some of them might actually be based in China! My companion is located at the headquarters in Hangzhou, China, and she is responsible for guiding me through the project I’ve been assigned. You can definitely rely on the seniors for help with problems you don’t understand, as most of the assigned companions have extensive experience in the industry.

I’ve heard of the unsatisfactory work environment in Chinese companies. How does Ant International fair in this regard?

Contrary to popular belief, Chinese companies are often thought to be plagued by the 996 work culture or the inequality faced by different ranks within the organizational structure. However, to my surprise (yes, I braced myself for the possibility of a toxic work environment), this was not the case at Ant International. From my perspective, Ant International’s work environment and culture were, safe to say, both comfortable and professional in their execution.

Although the top management levels are still mainly from Mainland China, they have promised to adapt to Malaysian culture and avoid bringing in any toxic influences that might exist in China. They don’t enforce overtime (though it’s a different story if there’s an actual emergency or if you just want to hang out), and they don’t punish employees for non-critical errors. Instead, they focus on educating employees about the mistake and how to fix it. Deadlines still exist, but that’s to be expected in any functioning company. They even provide laptops for every employee and offer services where employees can request peripherals such as monitors, mice, and keyboards at no additional cost!

What technological stack did Ant International use?

This one is a bit tricky to explain. Basically, if you imagine a multinational company and the tools they use to perform their tasks, you’d think of communication apps like Slack and tech stacks like React, among others. However, at Ant International, we use proprietary software for nearly every aspect of the company, all of which is self-developed. We have our own internal messaging app, our own framework based on React (including a spinoff version of React Native), and even our own internal Git and GitHub-like platform for uploading company code. Essentially, for any application a company might use, Ant International most likely has its own in-house developed version.

The only in-house developed solution that is actually available to the public is Ant Design (https://ant.design/), which is one of the most aesthetically pleasing UI libraries I’ve ever come across. However, even if you’re proficient in the programming languages used at Ant International, you’ll still need to undergo training on their proprietary frameworks and applications to use them efficiently and to their full potential.

What were the challenges you faced in Ant International and how’d you overcome them?

Let’s address the elephant in the room. Although Chinese is my mother tongue, the fact that Malaysian Chinese dialects differ from Mainland China’s Mandarin posed one of the biggest challenges during my experience at Ant International. I sometimes struggled to understand what my coworkers from China were saying (purely due to dialect differences, no hate intended). Additionally, while our primary medium of business is English, interacting with coworkers in China required translating all technical terms into Chinese to ensure clarity and understanding. However, this challenge also presented an opportunity for me to improve my Chinese-language Computer Science knowledge. This way, in the future, I’ll be better equipped to understand the technical terms used in Mainland China for business purposes if needed (and, of course, for some casual flexing).

The second challenge I faced was the need to learn new knowledge from the ground up. As I mentioned earlier, Ant International uses its own proprietary solutions and frameworks to develop applications, so it’s no surprise that new employees, especially those with less experience (like me), might struggle to integrate into the system. To tackle this, I studied each solution or framework I needed to use and compared them to the widely-used alternatives in the industry. My coworkers, regardless of their department, understood that grasping these solutions could be difficult, especially when the documentation was in Chinese. As a result, they were incredibly helpful in guiding me through the intricacies and workings of these solutions and frameworks.

How did you prepare for the interview?

The interview process involved three stages: the first technical interview, the second technical interview, and finally the HR screening interview. Depending on the role you applied for, the interview questions would vary based on the primary programming language associated with that role. For the Frontend Engineer Intern position, I was asked JavaScript-related questions. If you don’t perform perfectly on the technical questions—which, in my case, I didn’t answer correctly—don’t worry. You can still rely on your project portfolio as a strong asset. I showcased my project to the interviewer and managed to impress him enough to advance to the final HR interview stage. During the HR interview, treat it like a normal conversation. You can joke a little, but make sure to take it seriously. Most importantly, do not stress out. HR representatives can often sense if you’re tense, and it might affect their impression of you.

So my suggestion to all students that are or will be finding a job, please build your portfolio with your projects, as it actually weighs and shows more of your skills than simple questions or live coding sessions in an interview. 

P.S. Google is your best friend on researching what common questions would be asked in a company interview session.

What was your greatest achievement in Ant International?

The greatest achievement is the sense of satisfaction I feel whenever I complete a task or project, especially the last project that I extended my internship to finish. I was able to experience firsthand what it’s like to lead the frontend development of an internal application. This project allowed me to learn a lot, such as the inner workings of the company’s organization and the underlying code of each component in the codebase, which I had to reassemble to suit the needs of the application.

This experience also allowed me to improve my communication skills with other teams and learn about the methods used by each team, such as the Java Backend Team, QA Team, and HR Team, so I could effectively integrate and meet everyone’s needs for the application. Although I wasn’t able to see the project through to its full completion, I did my best to kickstart the development process. According to the latest status update from my former coworker, the project is running smoothly and is now operational. Knowing this, I still feel a sense of accomplishment even after leaving the company.

Were there any fun events or social activities at Ant International?

Like come on, this lamp is cool, and IT’S SHIPPED FROM CHINA!

Now, from what I’ve seen and heard after I left, there was a huge year-end dinner that every employee, including interns, was invited to (too bad MMU only allows for 3 months of internship, or I would have had to delay it to the next year). So, to say the least, a lack of social activities was not a concern at Ant International.

Would you guys recommend Ant International to your juniors or batch mates?

Definitely yes! It’s worth noting that you might face some challenges if you aren’t proficient in Chinese. However, from what I’ve heard from my former coworker (who is Malay and doesn’t speak Chinese), Ant International Malaysia has been consistently improving their English versions of documentation and developing innovative solutions to enable easier and seamless translations. As a result, he was quite satisfied and still enjoys working at the company. Other than that, the workplace environment was amazing (TRX must be even more impressive), and the coworkers were extremely friendly and helpful. If you’d like to experience the developer life in the financial technology sector, Ant International definitely deserves your consideration!

The sweet view of Frontend Dept. from Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) sourced by my ex-coworker, like even I’m jealous cause I was forced to leave early due to FYP

Anything else you’d like to add?

Remember, build your portfolio and trust in the process. Don’t feel down if there was any failure, as failures are part of the journey towards success. 

Lester Liew, ex-intern of Ant International, signing out yo!

And that’s a wrap for this blog! Got questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out! You can connect with Lester Liew on LinkedIn.