What do you think should be done in college to enhance your resume?

One should Work hard to get a high GPA. An important aspect is to work on side projects as well-course projects or your own projects. Small projects help you understand and complete learning. It is ideal to contribute to Big Open Source repositories to understand big projects. Best thing is to try to leverage these projects into your first internship. It is more important to learn one language properly rather than every langauge and not master any one of them. Ideally, one static - compiled language like C,C++, one dynamic language like Python or ruby and one esoteric language like Haskell, Erlang should be learnt properly. The final Goal at the end of the day is to translate your thoughts into code and knowing a language thoroughly helps in that immensely.

How to apply for internships - on and off campus, research and industry?

Be on the lookout for opportunities through class groups or club groups and always apply irrespective of what you think of yourself. Have a habit of saying yes. Try to use online resources like LinkedIn, sites like Internshaala. Do research. Try to have a rapport with a professor-ask him questions about his research and then follow up with your doubts and then as you have more questions, ask for an opportunity to work for him. It’s a good way to show interest with the professor and so when opportunities come across, you have a short and concise resume. Have one thing which sets you aside from the others-something technical; some unique skill should be there in your resume.

How was your experience in both your internships?

In some ways, a research lab is where you’ll do something normal and be free of trying to create a product while in the Industry, there is usually an end-goal. Research is a lot more open ended. A startup is different from a company though; there is always a high learning curve in a startup. There you will learn to play a variety of roles while industry teaches you the structure and allows you to solve the problem systematically. Meanwhile, in research you have a higher sense of autonomy where you can make more design choices of your own will.

What is your suggestion to the juniors who will be applying this summer for internships?

For any internal applications, make sure you have a high GPA. Have one topic you deeply want to pursue so that you can write a good SOP for yourself. So if you’re in one particular specification, you can easily talk about it. Ask seniors if they can refer you at their previous internship workplaces; ask your professors for openings in other universities. Make sure you have a technical resume which doesn’t not include unnecessary things like 8th standard grades. A clean resume is very important and it makes you distinguishable from the others.

How useful is an winter internship ?

Internships in general are useful beyond a classroom. The skills acquired are very different and gives you a new experience which is very helpful. One month isn’t quite a lot of time but it does make you grow, especially if it’s something different from what you’ve done earlier. It’s always better to spend time fruitfully rather than staying home and doing nothing.