Initially, I felt very overwhelmed with the work and the sheer number of things I had to handle and skills I needed to learn. It was obvious very early on that the reality of management on the operations floor is very different from the picture painted in our books, but it was a welcome change as I now had the chance to try, experiment and learn from my mistakes. It was too much, too fast, too soon and although it was a daunting task, the excitement for me as a fresher was enough to push me to work doubly hard. I was able to build a good rapport with the operations team and was making good headway with the project. I felt very included and had lots of opportunities to learn a lot about the ins and outs of an IT behemoth like Wipro. My mentors would allow me to be present and take notes during national level conference calls, team meetings and so on and I was given the chance to learn first hand from industry experts and discuss my project with them for guidance and feedback. It was a truly enriching experience.
I also liked the corporate culture and the so-called corporate family that I was able to be a part of. I met several other interns from other b-schools who I enjoyed spending break times with and having discussions on a plethora of topics. I enjoyed having meals with my project and operations team after every team meeting. I was delighted when I was invited to my mentor’s housewarming party. There were many such experiences that made me feel right at home in Wipro and helped me maintain my composure in the face of work. I never felt the pain of being away from home as I had a new family here that supported me through my work.
I faced many challenges, the operations team’s software changes meant I had to scrap and redo my entire project many times, collecting proper data and getting it validated in time to make any meaningful recommendations was a grind, learning to use several different software I had no idea about as a commerce graduate was a daunting task. Nevertheless, each hurdle now helped meet better and ready me for the corporate life ahead. With each small victory, each positive feedback, each validation, my will and interest in my project grew and I continued to work. The last few weeks where I was involved with knowledge transfer about the usage of my digital VSM and dashboard with the employees was a great and fun experience where many new suggestions and applications of my work were discussed. By the time of my final review, I was confident in the results I produced and the feedback I had gotten and the feeling of working on something that will eventually be implemented and help the operations of such a large team gave me a very fulfilling feeling.
As the internship came to an end, I was torn between feelings of delight and despair. Delighted to be going back home, sad that it would take me a long time to visit Pune again; a city that had grown to mean so much to me. Happy that I was successfully able to complete my project, said that I could not do much more. Happy that I finally had some corporate experience under my belt, sad that it had come to an end so soon. In closing, I enjoyed every moment, absorbed all I could learn and I am now determined to be the best I can be in the coming year. Ready for the next stage in my life.
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Avilash Padhi
Class of 2019
Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar
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