Internship at Microsoft Research – Dhruv from IIT Kharagpur

Next time you think of saving electricity, read Dhruv’s (in yellow T) research paper. Apart from interning in an amazing organisation, he also talks about the work culture and environment that is hidden behind this big name. He loves the city and is happy as he is interning in his dream company.

Getting an opportunity to work with Microsoft Research was once in a life time opportunity. It is an amazingly vibrant organization. Technology innovation can, and does, make a positive difference in the lives of people all over the world. It feels good to be a part of that.

I am Dhruv Jain, 4th year undergrad at IIT Kharagpur. I interned at the Microsoft Research, Bangalore during summers of 2015 and I could say those two and a half months were the best time of my life. I travelled all the way from Indore to Bangalore and every mile was worth it. Microsoft Research, my dream company is a perfect place to work where every bit sounds of innovation. I was attracted to Microsoft Research because so many brilliant, accomplished people were tackling really hard problems in their fields to make a difference for the company.

I worked with mobility, networks and systems group mentored by Mr. Krishna. The projects that we were focusing upon were really exciting. We worked on “”Smart HVAC”” project which we saw as a part of newly emerging smart building stuff of Internet of Things. We were a team of 3 Researchers, two co-interns and one Research Assistant. The project aims to save the power consumed by HVAC in commercial buildings by applying machine learning techniques, I can’t disclose the full work as it’s still going on and we are aiming for some publication. So basically we integrated with the building management system of the MSR-I building itself, did some experiments , made an app by which user can control the temperature of their room and work station, did the diagnosis of the HVAC system as most of the system is malfunctioning and detecting it is itself a task.

Uhhhh… Besides my project I enjoyed a lot in the activities that used to happen in the lab like many informative talks delivered by top notch researchers all over the world. Then I got a wonderful opportunity to meet so many knowledgeable people in variety of fields. All work and no play makes “ME” a dull boy, so besides work we used to spend our afternoon and evening in playing. The work culture is one of the best. You can work at any time which is comfortable with you and you teammates. I sometimes used to work quite late and play Xbox, 5-6 times I have even slept in the office, thanks to the nap room and the plenty of bean bags. Coming to the beautiful city of Bangalore, one of the best cities I have been to. During my internship we used to go for outing almost every week. I visited almost every place inside the city namely Iskon temple, wonderla, Banerghatta National Park, Lal Bagh, great eating places like food street and lots of places nearby Bangalore like Mysore, Ooty, Coorg, Shavanbelgola and many more!!!!

So all in all it was fun. The last week of my internship lead me in something called stockholm syndrome. I fell in love with the place and all the folks especially foosball. Last night we all played Mafia and all of them departed me!!!

If Dhruv’s experience motivates you, you can check the latest internships in Bangalore and latest Computer Science internships.

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