Sanya – Crisil
Hey everyone,
Sanya here, third-year student from Chemical Engineering. This
is an attempt at describing my adventures during the summer (If
only it were like an Enid Blyton novel).
After that, the Deluge
I was thoroughly confused at the end of my second year, torn
between pursuing a glamorous (so they say) corporate life or
taking the honorable path of research and academia.I felt like
both areas had something substantial to offer and I didn’t want
to miss out on any academic/personal/character growth by just
choosing my path early on. Due to 1.5 semesters being online, I
felt like I didn’t have the sample space of experiences to
actually compare the two and decide what fits my personality the
best.
POA- Plan of Action?
Act I
So, I decided to do what most people would probably warn you not
to do; I decided to take a taste of both during the summers
(needed my vacation to be as hectic as my semester :P). I
applied for the position of trainee intern in CRISIL’s GIX and
Advisory Department and got through after a couple of
interviews. The role they were looking for was perfect for me as
it sat at the intersection of the chemical industry and finance;
they needed someone to assist in analysing the specialty
chemicals industry in India and pan out its future.
It involved analysing the financials and overall performance of
companies present in the polymer additives sector and
agrochemicals sectors. Work would usually revolve around reading
and understanding economic macro trends of India and the world
and fitting them in the context of the industry of interest. I
had amazing, surprisingly chill mentors who recommended all
sorts of chemical journals and books to me. A typical day
involved going through balance sheets and news articles and
consolidating presentations in the evening/afternoon time. One
or two review meetings every 3 days or so kept things lively and
rewarding.
The office building was beautiful and the environment was quite
different from college. However, the most important thing that I
got out of my internship was was the experience of interacting
and networking with people from different backgrounds.
Connecting with people was something I did pretty late into my
internship for a variety of reasons. I felt out of place since
everyone else working around me was a MBA graduate and for a
good part of my internship; I focused more on deliverables than
actually connecting with the team. I took care of it in the last
two weeks but that is something I wish I had done more. It was
amazing to see how many women leaders were spearheading their
sectors so well at CRISIL.
Some secondary information that made it possible for me to carry
out this internship: The office was 5 minutes away from campus
and I used to love the morning walk to the office and back to
campus in the evening for project work. There was also a ton of
flexibility under which you could opt for work from home for 2
days every week.
The tenure for the entire internship was 1.5 months, but I got
it extended by 2 more weeks after I was handed a new task on my
request. So do look out for the kind of roles you’d like to take
up, it’s possible some of them are just around the corner and
most companies are usually flexible enough to accomodate such
requests. CRISIL was a great place to work, and there were
plenty of food festivals, themed get-togethers, and informative
webinars where you could interact, have fun, and learn new
things.
Act II
Now coming to my research project, it was in the MEMS department
and was a hands-on lab project. It involved synthesizing batches
of silver nanoparticles and their subsequent characterization
through SEM, XRD,TGA and other such tests. I had approached the
professor at the end of my fourth semester as I wanted to get
some experience working in the lab. I had told him and the post
doctoral student I was working with about my internship. We
agreed on the evening time for my share of lab experiments and
that worked out smoothly. I feel it’s very important to
communicate to your guide about the kind of work commitment
you’re looking for and what else is occupying your day. Most
professors in institute understand students’ dilemmas and
suggest solutions accordingly.
Working in a lab added another dimension to my vacations. Lab
culture was completely different from corporate culture and that
needed me to evolve and learn fast. Research is a more long term
commitment (on I’m still involved with xD) and I found the work
to be slow paced and deliberate with a lot of attention to
detail. There was more independence in carrying out experiments
and synthesizing samples but with it also came a sense of
solitude.
So that’s about it, summer went by with days in business formals
and nights in a lab coat. I got used to this rhythm and also
looked forward to the necessary weekends for unwinding with
friends. Lesson in point here, make sure you don’t burn out and
if you do, learn to give yourself time to heal. At times, it did
get stressful for me to manage my time properly and it got hard
to maintain the appropriate work-work balance xD.
In Conclusion?
I know there is immense pressure to be passionate about specific
things in life and to decide your career path as early as
possible. As you might have inferred by now, I was extremely
indecisive back then and found it difficult not to regret the
road not taken. I put in some extra effort because I wanted to
know for sure what I was doing was the best possible option for
me. Looking back, I think I made the right decision. So I guess
I’d urge you all to be comfortable with being indecisive and
just take a leap of faith sometimes, you never know what you’re
capable of until you’re actually put to the test.
Good Luck!
