Internship at JioSaavn: Going backstage and learning about the making of a music app
About the author: Satyajeet Sarfare is pursuing B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from SRM University, Chennai. He shares his learnings from a one-day internship at JioSaavn.
A few months back, I was going through my emails when Internshala’s one-day internship campaign caught my eye. However, I was unsure about applying to any of the internships, so I researched about the campaign. I realised that this was their second edition and decided to give it a shot.
There were three companies that invited applications – JioSaavn, Bhumi, and Decathlon. Being a computer science student, I was most interested in applying to JioSaavn. I wanted to learn about the organisational structure of an IT company first-hand.
To a user, JioSaavn is an app that streams music. Behind the scenes, this involves the work of smaller cross-functional teams. I was keen on learning about the SDLC of different products created for iOS, Android, Windows, and the web. Moreover, I wanted to understand how various departments, such as advertising, branding, business analytics, artist, product, and finance, communicate.
The selection process consisted of two rounds. The first was a conventional resume screening with one additional question – What did I like about the company? I answered this with ease because I am an eclectic music lover who has tried all major audio OTT platforms. Hence, I listed the features that set JioSaavn apart from its competitors. I also added a suggestion about targeting audiophiles, which I believe made my application stand out.
Two months later, I was informed about my selection for the second round. This round was a mix of traditional and unconventional questions. I was asked about my interests, ideal workspace, and soft skills. Additionally, I was asked to suggest ideas for increasing the number of pro-subscribers and getting brand partnerships from three different sectors. I did a bit of market research and framed my answers.
A few more weeks passed, and I received a congratulatory email from Internshala wherein I was given the details of the HR representative from JioSaavn. When I got in touch with her, she asked me to share my interests so that the program could be tailored to suit my needs! Following this interaction, she came up with a schedule and finalised May 6th as the date for the internship.
The day began with an interaction with the engineering team who told me about the role of front-end and back-end teams at JioSaavn. I learned about server scaling, UI/UX, and ML recommendation models. They elaborated on their deep learning-based model, which uses a hybrid system of audio similarity and user listening patterns. Lastly, they told me about the performance metrics used to measure progress. Next, I connected with members of the product team. They gave me an overview of the features in different platforms and the process for adding each including the SDLC.
The second half of the internship was spent with brand solutions, ads, and marketing team. During this session, I first learned how their platform is made approachable for brands to partner with. Next, I was introduced to their native and showcase ads. We worked on their DataOne platform to draw insights via analytics and learn about metrics such as CTR, impressions, listen-through rates, and so on. Finally, I interned with the marketing representative who told me about their recent campaigns through two case studies – Four More Shots Please! and Bumble Mixtapes. Through this interaction, I understood how to choose the right social platforms according to the target audience.
The last session was with the HR representative, who ensured that all my questions were answered. Moreover, she gave me an insight into the work culture at JioSaavn through The JioSaavn 10, which are the cultural values that each employee abides by. I hope that my future workplace has a similar set of values as well.
Overall, it was an incredible experience that showed me how vast is the career path I wish to pursue. I would have never have imagined that I could gain such valuable insights in such a short time. I am grateful to the JioSaavn team for sharing their time and knowledge. The team was wonderful to work with, and I truly appreciate the confidence they had in me. I would also like to thank team Internshala for providing students with such sublime experiences!
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