Summer Internship with LG Soft India – Karthik Rajangam from Shivajirao S. Jondhale College of Engineering (Affiliated to Mumbai University)

Daily Winner for: –  19th August 2013

Name of the intern: – Karthik Rajangam

Institute: –  Shivajirao S. Jondhale College of Engineering, Dombivli, Mumbai University

Organization interned with: – LG Soft India

It was September 2012, when a college friend suggested that we should participate in LG’s first ever Smartphone Ideacamp in India. Though given just for fun, some of our ideas did get shortlisted and we were among the Top 40 selected from whole of India. Thanks to awesome hospitality provided by LG, we reached the final destination – Delhi. Cutting the story short, we won the competition, the first ever Ideacamp organised by LG in India. The participants were mostly from IITs and some were even MBAs, but our ideas seemed most realistic to the LG Global Vice-President and other jury members present there. This is when I got awarded the Internship for being one of the winning team members. And it was a blessing in disguise for an average studying student like me who always had at least one arrear in each semester of engineering.

So during April 2013, me and my friend finally decided to utilize the Internship opportunity. We were about to complete our Third Year of Engineering in June 2013 so this Internship Certificate would be highly beneficial while looking out for jobs in the final year. And thus, by May 3, all the formalities were done and we were to report on 5th May directly in the LG Soft India, Bangalore to begin our 45 days of Internship. Both me and my friend were very ambitious about this Internship because we were from a very low profile college where there were almost nil chances of campus placements. So this Internship Certificate would be of utmost use in finding a job otherwise as well.

On 5th May, we finally reached the company that we were so eager to work with. I was not an academically bright student so I wanted to fully utilize this Internship opportunity in learning something new. Finally came the D-Day. We were asked to meet the Manager of the CS Department of LG. We were all nervous and excited. He asked us our field of excellence and my friend, who’s the best programmer of our college, said Java. And I, left with no other option but to say something, reiterated that. But as fate would have it, he was put up in Android department & I was in Java dept. And the irony is, I cleared Java in my 4th attempt. Sigh!

So immediately after I was told to work in Java, I approached the Android department Manager to say that I’m not that bright a student to work on a Java project alone to which he replied that you could always learn something and utilize your opportunity of getting here. This reinstated the faith in me. And thus, I was finally working in Java department all alone, though my Team Leader Aditya had asked me to count on him for help with any difficulty I faced.

Initially, due to my lack of programming skills, I was asked to go through a couple of reference books on Java. And then, Aditya gave a couple of Utility projects on Java for which I did Google initially but then eventually started learning and could at least understand what I was copying. I used to modify the program according to the needs of the questions given by him. This session helped me in learning a language which I used to hate to the core. Initially, even the working hours of the company seemed sadistic but then I overcame the boredom and got habituated to them.

This Java utilities program continued for a couple of weeks and then, I realized that I was not learning anything new as opposed to what I was looking forward to. These programs were part of my college syllabus only and not learning them then itself, was my fault. And I wanted to utilize this Internship opportunity in learning something new, so that I could have an upper hand over my college mates.

Echoing the same thought, I approached Aditya and told him that I want to do something other than these programs and learn something new. That’s because if somebody asks me what I learned during Internship, then Java surely can’t be the answer. I asked him to teach me something that won’t be covered in my college academics. And then, he asked me to go through the basics of Java Swings which he was sure won’t be covered in college. I actually found it better than Java, more interesting. Aditya gave me a mini project on Java Swings after going through the basics. After a couple of weeks’ time, I completed the mini project with major help from Aditya of course. And gradually, it marked the end of my internship.

When I got the Internship certificate finally, it was a moment of relief. I could finally get out of this corporate world. But there were bittersweet memories. I might not have learned as much as expected, but the learning phase was indeed a joyful one with unlimited free coffee topping the list.

P.S.: All my colleagues from my department, CS-2 of LG need a special mention. They used to throw random treats and always made me feel comfortable. Since the department was mostly full of youngsters, the atmosphere would always be fun and joyful. So the span of 45 days in LG would always be cherished with all those wonderful people around especially, Aditya.

And as our CS Department Manager says, “NOT KNOWING IS NOT A PROBLEM, NOT LEARNING IS!”

Was this interesting? If yes, please hit the ‘Like’ button below and help Karthik become the winner of the month and win the prize (Rs. 5,000/-) that he truly deserves!

If you wish to participate, send in your entry here: http://www.internshala.com/your-internship-story