Summer Internship with Philips Electronics Ltd. — Saurav from TAPMI
Wildcard entry for: – 21st August 2012
Name of the intern: – Saurav
Institute: – T.A. Pai Management Institute
Organization interned with: – Philips Electronics Ltd.
As dust settled on the first academic year of TAPMI, I packed my bag and with a great sense of excitement and apprehension, proceeded for an important event in the life of every B-school graduate – ‘Summer Internship’. After attending numerous group discussions and interviews, suffering quite a few heartbreaks and almost ditched after being selected by one company, I was finally picked by a leading lighting firm of India. Although, I was one of the last candidates to be selected from my batch I thanked the almighty for answering my prayers at the end.
As a firm believer of punctuality, I reported well ahead of time at my office in Bangalore on the 2nd of April. Having worked as a supply chain executive for a couple of years before joining B-school, I was so used to the constant hustle and bustle at the workplace and tempers flaring around me in an extremely stressed environment, that I expected the same kind of environment to welcome me at my internship. But the reality was in stark contrast to my expectations from the moment I stepped inside my new workplace. The atmosphere was relaxed and calm. Since I had reached well ahead of time, my project guide had already asked another intern, who was from the same undergraduate college as I was, to help me settle down until he returned. I felt at home right away and was helped with all the formalities. I was really impressed by the professionalism at the firm. What took me four months to get my own PC in my previous firm was reduced to just four hours over here!
Interestingly, I was the only other marketing person apart from my project guide in the entire research wing which was filled with technical experts. Hence, you could always expect a few technical terms flying around you, a few formulas and values shooting past you every now and then. I even had a technical meet with the head of the team to get the technical knowhow of the product for which I was supposed to do a market feasibility study. At one point of time, I felt I was back to my engineering college days when I was always surrounded by equations; I was brought to reality by my project guide. I had to prepare a questionnaire. The marketer inside me suddenly sprung into action as I was eager to prove my mettle in this first task assigned to me. Thankfully, the questionnaire was approved and I set out for the primary data collection. My project had begun!!!
Right from the onset of the internship I was exposed to a corporate culture unlike my previous manufacturing firm which was still in the evolving stage. Terms like EOD, deliverables, takeaway etc. which were unknown to me became a part of my lexicon. I always found myself in the middle of some event or the other like team lunches, informal get together, weekend outbound programs, birthday celebrations, and even friendly cricket matches! The work environment was pleasant and cheerful. My project guide initiated the publication an internal newsletter – the concept, design, and content of which was decided by me. I even wrote the basic theme for the newsletter which received accolades from the department head too. It was another proud moment for me. Now, I could even boast of having been the chief editor of a newsletter!
Although I made a few good friends during these two months and have a plethora of pleasant memories, I was also exposed to the harsh reality of facing consequences for unknowingly not following the line of command as per the corporate hierarchical structure. My project guide even went to an extent of saying that someone else might take the credit for my hard work. I was eventually exposed to office politics. My relationship with my project guide was formal yet personal. Though we had a professional relation, still we ended up sharing our personal lives at times. During the fag end of my internship period, he even gave me insights about my strengths and weaknesses which will definitely help me in the long run. The dream of being associated in a live project with a famous brand name had turned into reality. My inputs were used to get marketing insights by the technical team and hence I had to be always on my toes during the internship period.
Not only did the internship fill me with a sense of pride but also made me a responsible and matured person. I made quite a few friends at my workplace and shared a special rapport with my project guide. In a nutshell, I feel privileged to be associated with such a reputed firm and I believe that this experience will help me enter the corporate world with a matured head on my shoulders.
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