Hello everyone! I am Siddhi Bagul, now a fourth-year student in B.Tech, EE. Let's start this blog with some background. Since my first year, I have been interested in core electronics. I tried Syscon minor in my second year but did not like it much. My second-year courses piqued my interest, particularly in the Analog/Digital domain. That lead me to pursue honors in EE. I decided to go for the internship season targeting usual elec core companies. I did not do an internship in my second year summers. Instead, I took 'Digital Design and Computer Architecture' under Summer of Science and polished my skills on VHDL. I was pretty sure that I would get into one of them. But always expect the unexpected! I gave my first interview for Texas instruments, and I bombed it. The interview started with direct technical questions and involved designing circuits with Flip Flops - Pen Paper design, not the VHDL code. The same questions which we were used to doing in our EE113. I regretted not revising the basics. That followed a wave of underconfidence, and I got a few more rejections ( Including Qualcomm, Google, and Micron). Core companies were draining out, and I decided to give a chance to external apping. But only then did Atomberg comes via PT Cell, offering embedded systems profile. The profile I always wanted to explore!
Selection Procedure:
The interview shortlist was resume-based. The interviewers were pretty friendly. They asked me a few questions about my projects, some basic C, and general electronics questions (on Opamps, I2C, SPI, etc.). The questions were more practical than my typical quiz questions during other interviews. Questions were to gauge your response to a problem in an actual circuit. For example, one question was on using LED drivers to interface LEDs with a microcontroller. On a scale of 1 to 10, I think this was the best interview I had, giving myself a 9. I also had a Bajaj interview on the same day and an externally applied Nvidia interview scheduled for the day after tomorrow. But soon, I got a call from IC that I would have an HR round with the CEO of Atomberg himself. And I realised that this was it.
Internship:
I was pleased to get shortlisted for the profile. I had done some work around embedded systems, so I tried to be positive and confident during the selection procedure. The internship was offline in Atomberg's Chakan Plant, Pune. Working in an operational plant was something new to explore. I roam around the plant - Production line working, Quality Checkups, Testing, Design aesthetics, etc. Pune as a city is good, but the area I lived in was on the outskirts of Pune (Pimpri- Chinchwad). The company provided transport from home to the plant. Talking about the work, I worked on the upcoming product of Atomberg. I had to design an electrical interface for the proof of concept. I worked on the PCB (Schematics, Layout) and firmware coding. Mentors were supportive, and I was a part of every discussion. We had a few exciting brainstorming sessions on the problems at hand. I also got exposure to the product development cycle. It involved iterations of the work, which sometimes get unpleasant but teach you patience. Though the profile also had power electronics, I got to work significantly less on it due to the limited time duration. All in all, the experience was good.
Final takeaways:
Internship season is students' first crucial competitive event in the insti. It tests your patience and resilience. It made me very confident and proud as I passed the tests life had put before me on different fronts. Just be strong and don't underestimate your capabilities. Happy reading :)