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The Pre-Intern Dilemma
Third semester was settling in and all of a sudden there was this new buzz among my classmates: The Summer Internship. We were told by our seniors that only the top 10-15 ranks in each department would get foreign internships through the Placement Training Cell because the majority of the universities who visit the campus for internships only look for that one magical number on your resume; your CPI. Although, exceptional resumes are known to draw some attention. I wasn’t in the top few in my department. So, like everyone else, even I started garnering apping fundae from seniors. However, I remained optimistic about PT Cell as I was aware that I had good credentials.
[pullquote]A little introspection made me realise that theoretical research was not my field of interest and there was no point in apping any further. I think it’s important to keep your interests clear in mind. [/pullquote]
Following the herd, I began sending meticulously drafted mails to professors. However, I did not find any luck there. Around September, I got shortlisted for TU Braunschweig through PT Cell. Even though I had a nice interview, I did not get through. A little introspection made me realise that theoretical research was not my field of interest and there was no point in apping any further. I think it’s important to keep your interests clear in mind. You shouldn’t apply for research positions in universities just for the sake of going abroad. I mean to say that, sometimes, we are so caught up in the internship application process that we unwittingly pick universities just because they are in a foreign country. Don’t fall prey to this. You will get many opportunities to visit foreign countries later in life. While shortlisting intern JAFs, give first preference to the work profile and the company.
The Selection
[pullquote]In fact, the questions were so easy that I remember telling my friend, ‘Either these guys have made up their mind to reject me and are having the interview as a formality, or else they have decided to select me for certain and are having the interview as a formality.’[/pullquote]
I’m now interning at WorksApp. WorksApp offered a profile which perfectly aligned with my interests and was also the only company intern for sophomores having its workplace abroad. The company was open for second and third year students of all engineering streams. Round 1 comprised of a coding assignment that needed to be completed in a week. The questions were tough, but since it was a home assignment, almost everyone managed to do it. Six people were shortlisted for the second and final rounds; the final round being a live coding round. I studied the questions from the first round in depth and also revised some DS concepts. My interview was scheduled at 8.45 in the morning and they asked me to be online by 8.15 am to test everything and be on time. The company is Japanese and the Japanese are impeccably punctual. Even though I was pretty confident, I couldn’t manage to get proper sleep the previous night. My worst nightmare came true when I woke up to a call by WorksApp in the morning at 8.47 am asking me, why I wasn’t online. Damn! I immediately got up and switched on my laptop. I quickly got ready in my formals. To add to my miseries, Windows started with it’s update. It took me around 10 more minutes in all to get online and the interview began around 9 with my desperate apologies. The questions asked were pretty easy and I could solve all of them within the given time limit. In fact, the questions were so easy that I remember telling my friend, ‘Either these guys have made up their mind to reject me and are having the interview as a formality, or else they have decided to select me for certain and are having the interview as a formality.’ Fortunately, it was the latter and my summers were fixed at Works Applications. My intern was earlier supposed to be at Japan but later got changed to Singapore. I learnt a lesson that day- You cannot predict or prevent accidents but, it is very important to keep your calm and stay composed.
The Internship
Now, I am here in Singapore. My travel tickets, accommodation, visa, etc. were all handled by the company. The only thing I had to do was provide them some documents online. Visa process albeit took a bit longer than I expected. Once I joined here, I was expected to clear a Training Bootcamp so that I would learn the technologies they use. It was a nice experience and we were expected to do everything systematically, including JavaDoc tags. It was a disciplined coding activity and I felt good to make things work without any workarounds. Majorly, Javascript and Java are used here in development for client and server side respectively. I also learnt about new libraries and frameworks like Google Closure, Apache Maven, Spring, Cassandra etc., to name a few. After clearing the Bootcamp, I joined the HUE team. HUE is a big product of WorksApp which shall be a next-generation ERP* product. Basically, I have to work on a tool that the company uses to analyse performance of HUE’s various modules. The company has automated their entire testing process and made tools even for making test cases. We have a saying here at WorksApp- ‘Developers are lazy, tools are easy’. One of the tools that I am working on, records your actions on browser and plays them back for you while another one analyses the speed of your webpage and suggests improvements for the same. You get this altogether different feeling when you realise that your code will be deployed in the final release of the product which will be used by a number of companies. Another important thing that I learnt here is teamwork. When you work in the actual development cycle, you start appreciating the beauty of Git.
[pullquote]We have a saying here at WorksApp- ‘Developers are lazy, tools are easy’.[/pullquote]
I really enjoy the work culture here. You can hear the continuous clattering of keyboards all the time since most of the team is involved in development. It’s nice to learn tips and tricks from each other. You are given a lot of freedom to think and come up with innovative ways to deal with the task at hand. We don’t have any dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dress code, so insti dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dresses.html”>dressme.co.nz/ball-dresses.html”>dress code works just fine 😉 The only thing they are rather strict about is time. The work hours are 10 am to 7 pm. You have to reach on the dot. Even if you reach by 10.01, you are marked absent for the day. However, people stay well past 7 in the evening till as late as 8.30-9.00pm of their own will. I must say that this internship has made me significantly more mature and more disciplined in my coding style.
[pullquote] Even if I did get to go back and am served every opportunity on a platter, I would still pick Works Applications because it is perfect for a guy like me who isn’t inclined to theoretical research but rather prefers spending late-nights on coding and developing things![/pullquote]
Singapore Travelogue
Singapore is one of those places (much like Mumbai) with which you quickly fall in love. Like most developed countries, the roads here are spick-n-span. There aren’t any food-related issues too, even for vegans. You have a food court in nearly every locality. Language is not at all a problem here. English is the primary language and almost everyone is comfortable with it. Malay, Tamil and Mandarin are also spoken here. The transportation system of the city is one of the best that I’ve ever seen. You just need to make one cash card which you can use everywhere. You also have many places to visit like the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Sentosa Resort, Universal Studios, Gardens by the Bay.. and the list is endless. I hope I can cross-off all the places from my list by the end of my stay here. For enthusiastic travellers, there are countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, etc. not too far away. It is easy to get a tourist visa for these countries and flights are quite economical too. I too went to Vietnam and paid a visit to my relatives there. All in all, Singapore is a amazing place to explore and travel. So, make the most of your time here!
In Summary
Looking back, WorksApp was the best thing that could have happened to me. Even if I did get to go back and am served every opportunity on a platter, I would still pick Works Applications because it is perfect for a guy like me who isn’t inclined to theoretical research but rather prefers spending late-nights on coding and developing things!
*Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is business process management software that allows an organization to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate many back office functions related to technology, services and human resources. ERP software integrates all facets of an operation, including product planning, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing
If you would like to share your internship stories on Insight’s Summer Blog, feel free to email us at insight@iitb.ac.in. To read more (dis)similar internship stories written by IIT Bombay students over the years visit http://summerblog.insightiitb.org/.
