Towards the end of my engineering journey, during a day off between my final exams, I started exploring internship opportunities online. Being a student of electronics and telecommunication engineering, I had a number of choices, which was encouraging, and also cleared my misconception that a job in the core fields was possible only through campus placements. Like most engineering students, I was also placed in one of the top IT MNCs. However, I was passionate about working in the domain of embedded systems and started looking for related internships.
Off the IT-route
By the end of my exams, I was still confused as I didn’t want to join the IT job, which was when I received an email from Mr. Laxmikant, CTO, Arcatron Mobility, inviting me for a telephone interview. During the interview, I gave a brief overview of the various projects I did during engineering. I also told him about the projects that weren’t a part of my curriculum, but which I had worked on, out of my interest, such as the LED flasher circuit for mounting on bikes and a working USBasp programmer. I talked about my performance in different contests such as IIT Bombay’s E-Yantra Robotics contest and Texas Instruments Design contest by TI. Furthermore, I told them about the mini-lab setup I had developed in my house, and the equipment I had. I was questioned on Python language and Over the Air (OTA) technology. The interview went well and I was hired from a pool of 280 applicants.
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I joined on July 20, 2016, and I was given the responsibility to look for the appropriate instruments and lab setup equipment. Soon, I was given the ownership for the instruments’ technical data selection and procurement. Working in a startup, I had to don multiple hats which helped me discover my potential. After learning some basics related to analog electronics, I started working on a project. The idea was illustrated and I was responsible for formulating the plan with another intern. The work turned out to be fun as I was given complete freedom to experiment and choose the path to achieve a successful outcome. My colleagues had to actively participate in project plot-related discussions, which gave us a sense of belonging. Soon after, this internship turned out to be a full-time employment opportunity.
Nikhil Sonna completed his B.Tech in Electronics and Telecommunications from Pune Vidyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology, Pune.
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