The Other Side of the Coin!

And there I was standing right outside the Siemens office with an Appointment Letter which confirmed my Internship at Bangalore. All filled with joy, I informed my friends and family about the news and start looking forward to the next three months. I was supposed to work under a vibrant young manager named Kartik. Kartik is a very simple guy who is just worried about the work and likes to spend not more than 9 hours at work.

First Day

WASTED! I spent the entire day roaming around in the big office getting my ID and other details being recorded.

Second Day

WASTED! I spent another day getting my laptop.

At the end of the second day I began to wonder if the HR team actually works.

Third Day

So now I have a cubicle of my own and a working laptop to start with my work. I had a meeting scheduled with Kartik at 9 in the morning. In the meeting, Kartik briefed me about the work culture and introduced me with his team. I was supposed to work as a Business Analyst and to find out glitches and gaps in his existing resource management model.

Having being worked for a period of two and half years before my MBA at Yahoo, I was quite proficient with MS-Excel and most of the reports I was supposed to analyze here were in Excel. I was dumped with 10 different kind of reports about producitivity, clients, billability on the same day. Kartik gave me a week's time to analyze these reports and get back to him with the findings. Believe me at that point all my proficiency went for a toss and I had no idea what was to be done.

After a Week

Days passed by with the reports and I kept making notes of whatever I could understand from those reports and finally the day of presentation to Kartik had come. The meeting went on for half and hour and after the meeting I quite felt like I nailed it. Kartik was very happy with the presentation and extending me a project of automating these reports. I had to sit with the team and try and find ways where in we could save time on such reports.

End of the First Month

Some reports got automated and some reports not. The team was happy to have saved around 10 hours of work on a weekly basis already so they had nothing much to complain about. So my first project ended here and I anxiously waited for my next project. But the next one took another week to come since the whole team was busy solving a client request and had no time to spend on an intern ( which is justifiable).

Library, Table Tennis and Food

So the next few days after my first assignment I had nothing much to do but to explore the office. I sat and read in the library, played Table tennis and ate a lot of food. At Siemens, all the interns get free food and juices coupons so wasting them was not a part of my plan.

Second Assignment and the rest of the Internship

After Kartik got free, he gave me my second assignment and this was a bigger version of the first one. After automation and saving a lot of time for the team. Now he wanted me to sit with each resource and understand where we losing on billable hours. This was a tedious task and definitely not an easy one. At the end of my internship I was supposed to give him a detailed presentation on how things are and how things should be later. Based on my suggestions he was supposed to take decisions. This gave me a good lot of confidence and I began with my work from the very next day. Understanding every detail of the model I bombarded Kartik and other team members with questions. Also with my so called proficiency in Excel i came up with a Forecasting model as to how the work should be distributed and done.

The next few weeks were rigourous and I also ended up staying back late at work to finish this assignment. Finally at the end of it, The presentation went smoothly and Kartik was happy with my progress and outcomes.

Last Day

WASTED! Another HR day at work!

P.S: The title "The other side of the coin!" indicates one side being college and other side being Internship!

 

[Dhruv Bindhani]

This is a candid and relatable account of an internship, particularly effective in highlighting the initial frustrations of corporate onboarding and the eventual satisfaction derived from impactful work. The author's personal reflections and humorous observations make the narrative engaging.

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Initial Frustrations and the "Wasted" Days​

The narrative immediately establishes a sense of relatable anticipation as the author, filled with joy from securing an internship at Siemens in Bangalore, looks forward to the experience. However, this excitement quickly gives way to the mundane realities of corporate onboarding. The repeated exclamation of "WASTED!" for the first two days, spent on administrative tasks like getting an ID and laptop, humorously captures the common frustration of interns with bureaucratic processes. The author's internal query, "I began to wonder if the HR team actually works," is a sentiment many interns can empathize with.

The Business Analyst Role and Data Deluge​

Once settled with a cubicle and laptop, the real work begins. The author's role as a Business Analyst, tasked with finding "glitches and gaps in his existing resource management model," leverages his prior two-and-a-half years of experience at Yahoo, particularly his proficiency in MS-Excel. However, the immediate "dump" of "10 different kind of reports" on productivity, clients, and billability quickly overwhelms this initial confidence, leading to a moment of self-doubt. This accurately portrays the initial challenge of making sense of vast, unfamiliar data.

Early Success and the Quest for the Next Project​

The author's persistence pays off, as the initial analysis leads to a successful presentation to Kartik. The positive feedback ("Kartik was very happy") and the subsequent project of automating reports provide a significant boost in confidence and a tangible sense of contribution. The successful automation, saving "around 10 hours of work on a weekly basis," clearly demonstrates the intern's value. The subsequent "anxious" wait for the next project, followed by a week of relative inactivity due to the team's busy schedule, again highlights the typical intern experience of fluctuating workloads.

Perks and Deeper Dive into Analysis​

The period of downtime allows for an exploration of office perks like the library, table tennis, and, notably, "free food and juices coupons," adding a lighthearted touch to the narrative. The second assignment, a "bigger version of the first one," involves a more in-depth analysis: understanding "where we losing on billable hours" by interacting with individual resources. This task is rightly identified as "tedious" and "not an easy one," but it also carries significant weight, as the author's suggestions would directly influence "decisions." The development of a "Forecasting model" using Excel showcases a higher level of analytical contribution and proficiency. The culmination of this rigorous work, with late nights, leads to another successful presentation and positive feedback from Kartik.

Full Circle and Lasting Impression​

The internship concludes with a humorous callback to the beginning: "Last Day WASTED! Another HR day at work!" This bookends the experience, reinforcing the ongoing administrative aspects of corporate life. The title, "The other side of the coin!", effectively summarizes the entire narrative, contrasting the student's perception (college) with the practical realities of an internship. Overall, the account is a transparent and engaging look at an intern's journey, from initial frustration to making a tangible impact and gaining valuable professional insights.