Motivational Mondays : Summer Internship interview by Atit Shah

Where did you complete your summer internship? What was the size of the company?

I did my summer internship at Syntel Ltd., which aims at delivering high end solutions to its almost 2000 clients in a more efficient and innovative way.  In the duration of my internship, i learned how to get insights from the customer requirements and business and then to apply innovations into operations. The company has around 25000 employees worldwide. Syntel's ‘Customers for Life’ philosophy made me focus on hands on experience along with business results.

What project did you work on? What was the timeline for execution of different stages of the project?

I was fortunate enough that the Company trusted me and gave me an opportunity to work on an important project, where I was a key responsible person. I was working on an internal project to design a web based portal for the company. The Analysis & Design stages of the portal were expected to be completed in 2 months. In the entire two months, the portal has to be developed from scratch and later made functional on the front end.

Please share your project summary.

A web based portal was required by the company to manage its routine operational activities. My key responsibility was to analysis & design this web based portal. As part of the designing, I was required to prepare various artifacts like database model diagram, business process modelling diagrams, user interface layouts and system architecture design. I also had to guide the developers with the development of the portal. Being a part of the Designing and Technical department, the only summary about the project was to develop a portal for a company to maintain its daily business functions.

How did you executed on the project? What was your stratergy?

My strategy was to focus on the project completely. The focus was  to make sure that not even a single feature or program of the portal is left out.  I completed the Analysis & Design stages of the project and also helped the developers to kick-start the Development stage.

What were the key challenges that you faced during your internship?

The project was quite challenging as the portal had to be made from scratch. In the Analysis stage, I had to engage with various stakeholders for understanding the existing processes, which is important to know as you have to work on the same business and functional models which the company is following.

Within a short time span of 2 months, I had to learn, understand, develop and deliver the project which was challenging.  Also, translating the requirements fetched from the Analysis stage into various design artifacts was a challenging task. But the project was delivered to the expectations of the clients, and that is all what matters.

What were your learning’s while doing the project and experience after the completion of the project?

I learned a lot during my internship at Syntel, it was an experience, an opportunity and a challenge that made me have more confidence in myself. During my internship the project gave me great insights on how to design IT systems along with an exposure to IT project management. After the completion of my summer internship, I was prepared to face the challenges and actually was more open to accept them, work hard and achieve results.

How did your corporate mentor supported you to execute your internship? How did you connected with your academic mentor?

My corporate mentor at Syntel was very experienced and cooperative. He guided me throughout the project. If I use to get stuck somewhere, he was always there to support, guide and motivate me. We had daily reviews of my work which helped me to deliver quality output within the stipulated time frame. I used to connect with my mentor via emails on a weekly basis and use to share reviews and other outputs.

How was your interaction with other employees during your internship period? Would you like to come back to the company for a job?

We use to have both formal and informal interactions every week. My seniors and colleagues use to have this interaction so as work burden could be shared, problems could be discussed, and technical issues could be handled along with other motivational talks.  The work environment was very good and supportive. I would definitely like to join the company and work towards my aim, get challenging opportunities and grow along with the organization.

Share a memorable incident from your internship days.

In the end of my internship a surprise farewell party was organised by my colleagues which is quite memorable. I still miss working under the deadlines, the fun at lunch, gossips, discussions and exposure to new learnings.