The Vacillating Phase

Hey! Its Shuvam here. Hope you are doing well. This is a write-up about my KITES internship experience at ITC in the summer of 2019. Hope it will be a good read.

Beginning of pre-final year

This is definitely a very indecisive phase for most undergraduates. As soon as college started for my 5th semester (16 July 2018), I too, was confused as to what to do for my upcoming internship.

The entire summer of 2018, most of my peers had been practicing competitive coding, but I never really liked coding as a full-time job. Most of my previous work and projects had been on areas of core Electrical Engineering (Power Electronics to be specific); hence I couldn't decide whether to apply for an FT (Foreign Training), which was relatively easy to get for my field or to apply in CDC (Career Development Center) internships (since most of my peers were doing so).

My 3rd year had just started and I had to make a decision about my 2019 internship one year in advance. It meant two things:

• If I opted for a CDC internship in a company, there could be a prospect of a PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) and hence I should apply in a company where I would actually like to work in the future.
• On the contrary, if I opted for an FT, that would be a plus point if I wanted to go for higher studies in my core field (which I actually wanted).

I had never thought so seriously about this issue until the last day of CDC applications, when I registered myself for the CDC internship process.

What I finally decided

I decided to apply only for "good" companies, i.e those that are well known and have a good enough pay. I knew that even for the FT applications, I had to wait till September. So, in the meantime I might as well apply for some of these companies. I wouldn't really be at a "loss" irrespective of whether I get selected for that company or not. In case I didn't get selected, I would have the option to apply for several FT schemes like Mitacs, DAAD etc. Also, let's face it: peer pressure does play a role.

Hence I applied for Microsoft, Texas Instruments, Goldman Sachs, ITC, Blackrock and a couple others. All these companies came in the first week of the internship season.

The First week of August 2018

I had submitted my CV to all those companies, barely knowing how and when the exams were to be held. (Yes, I did not inquire about every detail from seniors) I had subscribed to the MFTP group that directed any CDC Notice to my mail. It was really helpful because I realized notices on the CDC board change by the minute.

With everything set, I started getting all these notices about the date and time of exams, the seating pattern and the venue. Mostly, the exams were held at CIC or Nalanda Complex.

The time of these exams was after 22:00 generally. I remember that the exam for Texas Instruments began from 12 midnight! I had also applied for Microsoft, and was selected for the second round.

During this week, classes were also going on from 8 to 5. I had about 28-29 credits, with 3 labs and so for most part of the week, the entire day was engaged.
Meanwhile PPTs (Pre-Placement Talks) were also going on for some companies in Vikramshila. Attending them was, I felt, essential, because that gave an overview of what kind of a job you were applying for.

The Friday

Friday of that week was particularly tiring but I guess destiny has its way.

• I had classes from 8 in the morning
• I had a lab till 5 in the evening
• There were PPTs of a number of companies that evening from 6.
• after the PPTs, much more exciting stuff was to follow, that would extend until the next day noon

Co-incidentally, the timing of the PPT of ITC was clashing with that of Blackrock. I decided to go for Blackrock, because I wanted to know about the investment management role.

After that there was a PPT of Microsoft that lasted till 8. My mind was still peaceful, until Hemant came up to me and said: "Did you see the shortlist?"

"Shortlist for what?" I asked in surprise.

"For ITC".

"But I didn't give any exam for ITC!"

Then he showed me a pdf file with a list of people who had been shortlisted for some exam. I didn't know what exam, though. He said that the first shortlisting was done by them "internally". So out of the estimated 200+ applicants, around 90 were shortlisted. 

On what basis? Does CGPA play a role? I don't have any clue. But there were people with quite low CG who were also shortlisted, so I guess CV was given more importance.

Anyway, the 'exam' was to be held at Nalanda. I was wearing the usual jeans-tee, and cycled my way to room NC231.

Reaching there I came to know that it was a psychometric test and there would be no eliminations. Also, I saw most of the guys were wearing formals! They informed me that the GD (Group Discussion) would be held just after the test. I was starstruck! I didn't even have formal shoes. I was going to buy them that weekend. What would I do? I called Shyama to get his scooty and come pick me up from Nalanda. I had to rush to my room for a change of clothes after the exam was over.

With that thought in mind, I took that test. It had some 17 questions. All were scenario based MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) and there were no "wrong" choices. It served the purpose of testing the consistency of your answers. So it was expected that one would answer honestly. Now, whether this test had any influence on one's selection, I am not sure. But again, you never know!

As soon as the test was over, I rushed to Patel Hall. Changed to my formals and inquired every room for a black shoe that would fit me. Nobody had one! 

Helpless and about to give up, Hemansh came up to me with his formal shoes. Life saver! I rushed back on the scooty to NC231, only to find no one there!

I paced back and forth, made a few calls and discovered that everyone was shifted to NC131. 

GDs of all companies was about to start by 23:00. ITC, HUL etc. So everybody was gathered there.

A few Placement Committee members were also present. They were announcing the names of the group members for the GD. Now whether they were making the groups or just announcing the names from an already made list, I am not sure.

So I waited there for quite sometime. My second round exam for Microsoft was from 00:00 midnight. I hoped the GD would be over by then. 

However, my GD did not start on Friday. So, I couldn't take the Microsoft test as well.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, my name was called along with six others. Yes, they were creating groups of 7 for ITC.

We were asked to go to room NC231, where the GD "setup" was ready. I was nervous obviously. Didn't know what was going to happen. Never had I practiced GD before. I liked public speaking though. That was the only source of confidence.

So, Saturday it was, just past midnight.

Anxiously, we waited.

Stay tuned for the next post!