Motivation
I did my corporate internship at EY during the summer break after the second year. As is commonly known, many students in their second year pursue a more conventional path: taking a research internship. But I had always wanted to see what working in a corporate setting entailed. Secondly, at that time, I was doing a project under a professor at IIT Delhi, so I had some research experience and wanted to try my hands at something different. I wanted to explore all my options and see what suited me better.
Application and Process
There are quite a few ways to go about securing a corporate internship. One of them is to check for opportunities that come through IITD notices. They are primarily made up of IITD startups. In my case, I made use of LinkedIn to go about securing this opportunity. Firstly, I started messaging different alums placed in EY through LinkedIn to inquire if there were any internship openings or opportunities. It was a precarious situation, as you are never sure which person will accept your request and, even if they do, which one will reply, and so on. After some effort and time, my CV was reviewed, and I got an interview opportunity. The interview was not a lengthy one. I was asked a few essential HR and tech questions relevant to the internship. I believe one needs to have the basics cleared when applying for any sort of internship, especially a corporate one.
Experience and Interaction
My internship mainly revolved around the study of order-matching protocols. The stock market can be analysed using this algorithm, and the betting sites also work according to it. I had learned about order-matching algorithms before and became interested in them, which made the whole process a lot of fun.
In my opinion, the work culture, in general, was fun, supportive, and collaborative. I was assigned a mentor to whom I had to report. He resolved any doubts I had and looked over my progress. The corporate and research internships are very different in terms of content and how they are set up. A corporate internship is much more structured and organized. You get more detailed instructions on what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. Overall, it is an experience that everyone should try to have before graduating.
This experience was like an adventure that was quite memorable. I learned a lot about how to work in a corporate setting, which is the aim of almost every student entering IIT. I learned how to work in a team and deal with high-pressure situations. Putting my ideas about different topics in finance and technology into practice helped me understand them better.
Advice
Anyone interested in working in the corporate sector should go for a corporate internship and not worry about how it would look against a research intern. It can teach you a lot and help you understand things better.
Interviewed by - Ayush Agarwal