Overall Internship Experience
Well, we are indeed living in a new normal with the advent of COVID-19. But that couldn’t stop Intuit from providing me a truly flawless and memorable internship experience. My internship with Intuit was for 8 weeks. Due to the pandemic, I did a remote internship from home. Right from Day 0 on the internship, which started with my virtual onboarding, I was bowled over by the warmth and welcoming attitude of my team at Intuit. These were people who had a wealth of experience in their domains and it just amazed me to see how excited they were to welcome me to their team, even though I was just an intern for 8 weeks. I was given a really interesting project to work on, one which aligned with my interests too. I was assigned a mentor and manager. Throughout the internship, both my mentor as well as my manager were strong pillars of support who ensured that I was on track with my project deliverables, gave feedback wherever needed, and most importantly, ensured that I learned all along the way. The culture at Intuit is so open and transparent that I could reach out to anyone and everyone whenever I wanted to. And everybody encouraged me to do so too. I built connections with the people there which I believe will last a lifetime. I was an active participant in various company town halls, CSR activities, team-building activities, etc. I was given the responsibility of organizing some of these too. This shows that an intern is not there just to deliver a project. But Intuit believes in the holistic approach towards the development of the intern. You might come across various newspapers and websites saying Intuit is a great place to work. Well, it surely is. And I will be forever blessed to have been able to intern at this great company.
Key Learnings and Takeaways From This Internship
Those 8 weeks at Intuit had been a treasure trove of learning experiences for me. Experiences that I am sure will help me both professionally and personally. However, some of the key learnings and takeaways from the internship were:
- I learned how to drill down macro-level problem statements to simpler micro-level chunks which helped me tackle the project assigned to me effectively.
- I understood how to find my target audience for any problem statement and devise solutions accordingly.
- I understood the role empathy plays in devising successful and effective solutions.
- By interacting with various team members, I was able to learn so much about how HR as a function works at Intuit and what were some of their best practices.
- With the novel remote internship concept, I learned adaptability and learning to welcome change and ambiguity.
Learnings From The First Year Of MBA And How They Helped During The Internship
You might be aware that the first year in any MBA program is tough and hectic. Having pursued engineering during my undergraduate, there were many new subjects, many new concepts I had to learn. It was tough initially but with perseverance and support from my teachers and friends, I was able to cope up with them. Apart from the technical skills, what the first year of MBA teaches you is to be resilient and stretch yourself beyond your capabilities. These are qualities that will surely help one during their internships. Coming to more tangible skills, concepts taught in subjects in my first year like Talent Acquisition and Performance Management Systems, helped me a great deal during the internship. Also, having participated in several corporate competitions, they helped me develop a problem-solving mindset as well as refined my presentation skills.
Advice To Juniors
My first advice would be to never stop believing in yourself and your abilities. When the summer placement season begins, it is very easy to get bogged down by pressure and become demotivated with negativity. But it is in these times where you need to keep working and being resilient. Even if you get rejected by one company, numerous others can choose you. Also, don’t judge an internship by the company which is providing the internship or by the stipend being offered. What matters in any internship is how much learning you can extract from it. Stop comparing yourself to others and believe that you have something special to give to the world. First-year of an MBA is tough but believe me, it is fun too. Yes, do have fun along the way. Make memories. Make friends. Don’t limit your learning to only classrooms. Learn online. Learn from your friends. Learn from the environment. You have what it takes to succeed and more.
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