Hello all, Since you all have now entered IIIrd year, I thought it would be good to tell you

about the internship process and my experiences regarding it. 1. Foreign internships vs Internships in Indian companies This is one thing that keeps most of us confused for a lot of time. Personally, I would say you should try for both unless you are absolutely sure of what you want to do. For those who want to do a MS/PhD after their B.Tech, theres nothing better than a foreign intern. You will make a lot of contacts, get to know a lot about the research opportunities and if you do good work, your professor would surely be happy to invite you in his lab. for MS/PhD. If your aim is to get a job after B.Tech, you should prefer companies since most of them offer PPOs. Nonetheless, also keep in mind that summer intern is the best time to visit and explore foreign countries to the fullest and getting paid for it. So, its totally your choice..! 2. If you have a good CGPA (>8), I would strongly advise you to apply for campus internships selectively. DO NOT apply for a company just for the sake of applying or just because others are doing it. There are plenty of options available. Apply only if you like the job profile, or the company profile. Once you get an internship through the Placement cell, you cannot apply elsewhere (neither through the placement cell, nor by yourself). If you reject the offer that you got through the Placement cell, you are debarred from the placements for the first 10 days of your placement session. 3. Just to give you a rough idea of the scenario of internships last year (summer 2011), heres a list of companies that visited the campus (for EC) roughly in order of their visit :

Company name Weatherford India Adobe

Job location -

Selection criteria CGPA b/w 6-8

Schlumberger

Qualcomm

Barclays Capital

Bangalore/Gurgaon CGPA > 7, Written test of C++, mental ability, knowledge of C++, Data structures in tech. interview Anywhere in India CGPA > 9 or Inter-IIT , performance in GD round and HR interview Hyderabad/ CGPA > 8, knowledge Bangalore of C++ and Communications/VLSI (depending on the profile you choose) Singapore Online form, knowledge of C++,

No. of EC students selected None (the company visited campus in early august. Hardly anyone applied for it.! ) None (A total of 5 students were selected, all from CS. EC people are so incompetent..!!!)

1 (Total 8 were selected, from EC, EE and CS combined this was

Mechatronics Goldman Sachs

Mumbai Bangalore

Data structures, good GD skills CGPA > 6 CGPA > 7, C++, Data structures, GD CGPA > 7, C++/JAVA CGPA > 7, C++, Communications GD, HR interview

IBM ISL Infosys Sharda Univ.

Bangalore Bangalore Noida

the most sought after internship last yr) 2 (One of them rejected) 1 (could have been more, but those selected for interview had little or no knowledge of C++) None (They selected only one, from EE) 1 2

Companies where off-campus applications were selected: Samsung India Software Operations (SISO), Bangalore - 4 Texas Instruments, Bangalore - 1 IISc Bangalore - 1 Notion Ink 2 DRDO 1 And, 14 of us managed to get foreign internships! (in countries like Germany, Italy, France, Taiwan, Singapore, Portugal) 4. If you need an idea regarding how to apply for foreign internships, there are plenty of PDFs compiled by our seniors, giving clear details, as well as the places where its best to apply. You can have them from anyone. You can start applying as early as September, and you can expect an offer till as late as April. The most lucrative program is of DAAD, Germany, whose deadline is Oct end. For 2011, they had limited funds and hence, their CGPA cut-off went to as high as 8.9... Although, all eligible should apply. DAAD cut-offs do vary a lot every year..! Other internship programs are of Univ. Of Auckland (New Zealand), MITACS (Canada), EPFL (Switzerland), Max Plank (Germany), CDS (England), UNM (Mexico), Qualcomm (USA) to name a few.. Just google their websites to know the application procedure, deadlines etc. 5. So, as for the time being, prepare a good resume. Revise/learn concepts of C++. Practice C++ interview questions (google them, plenty of material available on internet regarding companys placement papers), do some mental ability questions too. (Mental ability is a part of every written test, and theres always a minimum cut-off assigned for it). You can always ask me or any senior regarding any company-specific query (which you should normally do a few days before the company is coming to campus for interviews). P.S. I compiled this file just to give you a very slight idea of the internship process. For specific doubts regarding anything, you can always contact me at ankuraggarwal100@gmail.com.

Ankur Aggarwal EC IDD, 4th year Summer Internship 2011 at Politecnico di Torino, Italy.