I always wanted to work with a technology company and my eight-week long internship with Samsung was the stepping stone towards my dream.
I was in the fifth semester of my computer science and engineering course at National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, when a series of rain showers caught the city off guard. At the same time, we faced a string of mind-boggling tests and interviews. With companies’ visit looming over us, I wrote an average of three coding tests daily. After four heartbreaking rejections, I finally got into Samsung R&D Institute, Bengaluru (SRI-B).
I was elated at making it to a technology company. One of my seniors, who had interned there two years back, had loved the place. Hearing his stories, I had high expectations from my internship.
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Everyone knows about Samsung, and SRI-B happens to be the largest overseas R&D centre of the company. I was excited about working on cutting-edge technology besides getting to live in Bengaluru.
Samsung’s selection process was unique — the first round was the Global Samsung Aptitude Test (GSAT) which comprised Quant, Verbal, and C-aptitude questions. The next round was on coding where we were given three questions. We had the option of coding in C, C++ or Java. The questions were based on basic array implementation. The language of one of the questions was a little confusing (that is where I got stuck!), but it was not a deal breaker as people who got two out of three questions correct moved on to the next round. The last round was group discussion where 70 of us were divided into groups. My GD topic was “Future of smartphones”, or basically, “Next is what”, the Samsung tagline. At the end of it, I was selected as a Samsung intern with 42 others.
The SRI-B office, called the “Phoenix” building, is magnificent. Each floor has its own theme and the top four floors have theme-based cafes. I was amazed to see that the top floor had a well-equipped jamming room! Finally, after much anticipation, we met our teams and were given the option to choose a project of our choice. I opted for a Python-based analytics project and was part of Samsung’s SVoice Server Analytics team.
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Although as an intern I was expected to work for nine hours, I often ended up working more than that because I learnt something new everyday and barely realised how our stipulated hours at office passed!
As the internship was ending, Samsung held an Interns’ day which included a masquerade party and a team lunch for all the interns. My internship helped me develop a better understanding of etiquette and mannerisms, which is crucial for employees and cannot be learnt through curriculum projects.
Before my stint ended, Samsung provided me a chance to join the team full-time. I took a software competency test, followed by a technical interview and a HR round. I nailed all the tests and got the pre-placement offer from the company. As am in my final-year of graduation, I am looking forward to becoming part of Samsung again!
The article has been contributed by Internshala (http://internshala.com).