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, there’s 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, it’s 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), here’s a

list of companies that visited the campus (for EC) roughly in order of their visit :

Company name Job location Selection criteria No. of EC students selected

Weatherford

India

- CGPA b/w 6-8 None (the company visited

campus in early august. Hardly

anyone applied for it.! )

Adobe Bangalore/Gurgaon CGPA > 7, Written

test of C++, mental

ability, knowledge of

C++, Data structures

in tech. interview

None (A total of 5 students were

selected, all from CS. EC people

are so incompetent..!!!)

Schlumberger Anywhere in India CGPA > 9 or Inter-IIT ,

performance in GD

round and HR

interview

1

Qualcomm Hyderabad/

Bangalore

CGPA > 8, knowledge

of C++ and

Communications/VLSI

(depending on the

profile you choose)

2

Barclays Capital Singapore Online form,

knowledge of C++,

1 (Total 8 were selected, from EC,

EE and CS combined – this was

Data structures, good

GD skills

the most sought after internship

last yr)

Mechatronics Mumbai CGPA > 6 2 (One of them rejected)

Goldman Sachs Bangalore CGPA > 7, C++, Data

structures, GD

1 (could have been more, but

those selected for interview had

little or no knowledge of C++)

IBM ISL Bangalore CGPA > 7, C++/JAVA None (They selected only one,

from EE)

Infosys Bangalore CGPA > 7, C++,

Communications

1

Sharda Univ. Noida GD, HR interview 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 it’s 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

company’s placement papers), do some mental ability questions too. (Mental ability is a part

of every written test, and there’s 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.