I was selected to intern with Microsoft for two months, along with roughly eighty other students from all over India. After slowly trudging through the rest of my semester, the D-day finally arrived!
It was with mounting nervousness that I walked through one of the numerous gates. My father who came along with me and my friend from college (who was also selected to intern with me) were the only people whom I knew, in the sea of new faces. We were asked to verify ourselves and directed to another building. After saying an excited-yet-tensed goodbye to my father, my friend and I took a shuttle bus to our building. We'd always complained back in college that we needed buses within the campus. Now, first wish granted. :)
The building was anything but commonplace. Glass doors, magnetic card readers (it's super fun to swipe cards!), the smell of coffee, plush couches, elevators that played the Titanic theme whenever they opened, marker boards, carpeted floors and a pantry on each floor. I was hardly done taking all of these sights in, when were taken into a conference room by our guides, and briefed about the company and how to go about the first week.
In the first couple of days, I was introduced to my team members and was provided with a system. The best part was that you could do work at your own pace, after discussing goals with your team. Nobody kept checking on you everyday to see what you finished. You were expected to do that as a responsible person. That also meant that you had to be very independent and capable of talking to lots of people who could guide you. All this was very different from college, where we did not have to talk to people as much.
We spent the next few days discussing goals with our teams, checking out the library and borrowing a few books to start off with. I became a huge fan of the pantry. Coffee, hot chocolate, iced tea, soft drinks - you name it, it's there. Free lunches, free bus services, and all the Microsoft software. I successfully got lost twice within the building, but thankfully, got back to my cubicle. And the flexible hours - you could come and go whenever you liked and nobody would question you, as long as the work was done. The cafeteria was a busy place, with long, winding queues at peak times (especially the Biryani section!).
Friday was a fun day for employees, who were allowed to bring their kids to work. Apart from all the cute voices floating around in the air, all the interns participated in a flash mob, where we ended up dancing to more songs than we had planned, for about an hour or two! What a way to end a week.
Now that the initial settling down has taken place, it's time to seriously dive into work and start off on a project! Hope you all had a great week too!
It was with mounting nervousness that I walked through one of the numerous gates. My father who came along with me and my friend from college (who was also selected to intern with me) were the only people whom I knew, in the sea of new faces. We were asked to verify ourselves and directed to another building. After saying an excited-yet-tensed goodbye to my father, my friend and I took a shuttle bus to our building. We'd always complained back in college that we needed buses within the campus. Now, first wish granted. :)
The building was anything but commonplace. Glass doors, magnetic card readers (it's super fun to swipe cards!), the smell of coffee, plush couches, elevators that played the Titanic theme whenever they opened, marker boards, carpeted floors and a pantry on each floor. I was hardly done taking all of these sights in, when were taken into a conference room by our guides, and briefed about the company and how to go about the first week.
In the first couple of days, I was introduced to my team members and was provided with a system. The best part was that you could do work at your own pace, after discussing goals with your team. Nobody kept checking on you everyday to see what you finished. You were expected to do that as a responsible person. That also meant that you had to be very independent and capable of talking to lots of people who could guide you. All this was very different from college, where we did not have to talk to people as much.
We spent the next few days discussing goals with our teams, checking out the library and borrowing a few books to start off with. I became a huge fan of the pantry. Coffee, hot chocolate, iced tea, soft drinks - you name it, it's there. Free lunches, free bus services, and all the Microsoft software. I successfully got lost twice within the building, but thankfully, got back to my cubicle. And the flexible hours - you could come and go whenever you liked and nobody would question you, as long as the work was done. The cafeteria was a busy place, with long, winding queues at peak times (especially the Biryani section!).
Friday was a fun day for employees, who were allowed to bring their kids to work. Apart from all the cute voices floating around in the air, all the interns participated in a flash mob, where we ended up dancing to more songs than we had planned, for about an hour or two! What a way to end a week.
Now that the initial settling down has taken place, it's time to seriously dive into work and start off on a project! Hope you all had a great week too!
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