The fun-loving App developer at Grabhouse Pvt. Ltd – Raja Rajan from DSCE
About the Author: Raja Rajan, a student from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering (DSCE), made the most of the opportunities presented to him. Read on to find a candid account of his experience as a web developer at Grabhouse Pvt. Ltd.
My internship story is about my experience at a well-established real estate brokerage website called Grabhouse Pvt. Ltd. It was quite a roller-coaster ride, so you might want to grab a drink and strap your seat belt to your chair before you start reading this.
A few months ago, I didn’t even know about Grabhouse until my friend told me about this 24-hour hackathon that they were conducting. Even then, I was extremely reluctant to go considering it would be my first attempt at a competition of this sort. And you know what they say, you never forget your first. So, I thought long and hard about it. Something pushed me to register on the very dot of the last hour before registrations closed. Thanks to BSNL, and their ‘wonderful’ internet services, I was kicked off the grid for the remainder of the hour, making me kiss my chances of attending the Hackathon goodbye. But in all shock and awe, my friends called me at the last second and somehow got me registered under their team. Once again, I was back in the game! Given the last minute surprise, it really gave me a good feeling about the competition. I couldn’t sleep that night; I stayed up memorizing the Android Developers documentation and running through the basic principles of UI and UX Design.
The Hackathon Day arrived and we rushed into the office located in Koramangala. We glared inside the white cubicles that did not fully cover the face when one sat there, so as to keep a friendly and humane environment. We spotted one of the really cool looking cubicles with a bean bag inside, which we soon started fighting over as if it were Sparta. For the hackathon, we created an app that would remove the need for a physical key or the owner to be present in the premises while an ‘open house’ was being shown. Instead, we digitized the process by allowing the owner to issue a digital one-time key that could open locks using NFC Technology. It was beautifully designed if I could say so myself. While we didn’t win the first prize, the judges definitely liked our app enough to give the designer of the application (who’s yours truly) a job offer.
Since I was just a student, and still am, I decided to request them for an internship during my winter break, and they were more than happy to oblige. They took a small interview, where they reviewed my design and gave me some constructive criticism on the app that we had built. We left the office almost 48 hours later, after the prize distribution ceremony, individual interviews, and the insane amount of food that we ravaged through. It was time to go back home for a good 2 days’ worth of sleep.
The Hackathon was in the month of November and the internship was scheduled for January when we had our winter holidays at college. The original plan was that I and my friend would be interning together. But at the last minute, a surprise came afoot when I was the only one selected for the internship. I was almost about to reject it, given that I was afraid being there on my own, for a month. After thinking things through – I puckered up, suck in my gut, and accepted the internship offer. I started taking the long and traffic-ridden Silk Board commute to and from work every day. In the beginning, it all felt like a fairy tale. In the first few days itself, I fell in love with the work culture and office environment. It felt wrong to even call it a corporate office. There were colorful artworks, motivational posters, and some not-so-offensive one liners put up here and there. My eyes couldn’t stop wandering at the crazy patterns running through the office floor and ceiling. One could go on and on about the architecture of the place.
When the HR came to speak to me, she was the sweetest lady I had ever met, contrary to what many people consider HR managers to be. The welcoming was a smooth process, wherein I was introduced to everybody in the office. I was the youngest and dumbest person in the room full of talented, experienced, and young (but not as young) individuals. Every employee there invited me with open arms and made me feel at home. The first day ended quickly, with my introduction, the issuing of my workstation, and a tour of the pantry and cafeteria. Little did I know, this was going to be the place I spent most of my time at. Before you jump to any conclusions, no, I didn’t have to get coffee for any of the employees, but I did it anyway because we grew on to become friends.
I got to work on exciting technologies the very first week, ranging from JavaScript Web Development to Python Bot Automation. I even dabbled with PHP Frameworks for a while. I worked on everything that they asked me to, even if I didn’t know it. I used to take my time to get used to it and try my hand at it, anyway. They gave me plenty of freedom to work on the projects that I was interested in doing personally as well.
To keep the body fit, they used to conduct contests in the office that required employees to hit the gym every day. The person who used to work out at least once every day used to win some goodies. Needless to say, being the intern, I felt like I needed to take as many opportunities as I could out of the one month that I was going to be there. So, I hit the gym every single day. One month later, guess who won a T-Shirt that doesn’t even fit him after all that exercise? It’s this guy (points at self)! It wasn’t for the T-Shirt or the exercise, it was for the fun of experiencing new things that I wouldn’t be able to do after that one month. This thought motivated me to do a lot of other crazy things in my one month at Grabhouse Pvt. Ltd. I used to spend quite some time at the pool and table tennis table as well, where I used to challenge all the other employees. I wasn’t good at it at first, but spending a fair amount of time at anything can get you to a pretty decent level. Given that this was all in the first few weeks, I was allowed to utilize my time in activities like these because I hadn’t been assigned any major work till then, and I wanted to make the most of all the free time that I had.
I am someone who loved what he did. I spent my month at Grabhouse doing projects that I had never even thought of before. I worked on languages I didn’t know and spent a considerable amount of time with people I hadn’t even met before. Even though I was an intern, there was a moment when I was knee deep working on something new and left office at an ungodly hour of 1:00 am! Despite what people might say, it was the happiest and most memorable day of my life. I got scolded by my dad at home for coming home that late, but it was all worth it. There is a certain pride that you feel when you work with your colleagues with a sense of comradery.
It had been almost close to one month, and the workload was getting heftier. I couldn’t fathom the fact that there were only a few more days to go, after which I would have to go back to college. The coffee machine, the evening samosas, and the high-speed internet – I was going to miss them all! Even though there hasn’t been a lot of experience on my CV, today, I can stand taller and happier in front of the world.
Editor’s Note – Inspired by Raja’s journey? Apply to these cool web development internships and app development internships and take the first step towards your dream career.
