How I finally got my dream internship!
About the Author: Suman Das is pursuing B.Tech in Information Technology from VIT University, Vellore. He recounts his struggle of finding an internship and how he finally got his dream internship.
An internship is an absolute necessity in a student’s career. It’s not just for fulfilling the college requirements of doing an industrial training or internship; the main purpose is to get a good exposure to the corporate world. Through an internship, you not only understand the world beyond your college but also get a chance to actually be a part of it, contribute actively, and learn new skills.
I was keen on doing an internship right from the 2nd year but it was very difficult to get an internship unless one had proper ‘contacts’ in companies. I couldn’t find any internships but as the semester got over, I came to know about Internshala from my seniors. I was interested in Web Development and Internshala had a lot of internships in that particular domain. However, getting an internship was no piece of cake. I applied to 37 companies but got rejected by all. The opportunities at Internshala were many, and I decided to keep trying as my skills were also developing with time. Finally, I made three major changes in my approach in the 3rd year:
a) Updated profile – During the period of 6-8 months when I was searching for internships, I participated in events, gained technical skills, and did projects in college. I made sure that I kept updating my profile on Internshala so that the employers could get a complete picture of my skills, abilities, and experiences.
b) Why should you be hired – This is a mandatory question when you apply for any internship on Internshala. Initially, I didn’t know how to write a good answer and made many mistakes. When I got rejected by many companies, I understood how important this question really was. Finally, after reading some articles on the Internshala blog and some resources on the internet, I was able to write good, crisp answers, unique for every internship I applied to.
c) Online training – I did an online training and learned some new skills including PHP framework. Fortunately, Zersey, a rapidly expanding social media platform, was looking for someone who had sound knowledge of exact same framework that I learned and, thus, I had an edge over the other applicants.
I was shortlisted and hired by Zersey. The selection procedure consisted of creating a small web application to assess my skills, followed by a telephonic interview. It was a virtual internship for a duration of 2 months with a stipend of 8000 INR per month.
It was the perfect opportunity for me to not only learn new skills but also to grow along with the company. As it was a work-from-home internship, we had our team meetings over Skype. I was hired as a backend developer and the team I worked with consisted of some of the finest developers I had ever met. Not only were they talented but down to earth and helpful at the same time. I worked on various modules of the main website to revamp it. Some of the modules included – real time notification alert system, one to one chat module, database designing for different modules, and implementing third party APIs to the main website (especially blogging APIs like Tumblr and Blogger). I learned a lot of new concepts and got introduced to technologies which I hadn’t used before like Node.js, Amazon Web Services (AWS), SSE events etc. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and it not only enhanced my skills but also gave me a lot of confidence before the campus placement started.
For all the students out there looking for internships, the only thing I want to say is no matter what happens, never lose hope. You should never stop believing in yourself. Internshala is probably the best platform that I’ve come across for finding internships; just be patient and use it well to get your dream internship.
Are you also planning to build a career in web development? Check out these cool web development internships and computer science internships.
