Internships: Expectations vs. Reality
Pre-Scriptum: This article has been written by an individual who is a firm believer in not cribbing about not getting good internships. Any contrarian views are welcome. This is written in the best interests of the author (despite utmost efforts) of not offending any of those smart people who do not have to go through the struggle of… Read More »
Pre-Scriptum: This article has been written by an individual who is a firm believer in not cribbing about not getting good internships. Any contrarian views are welcome. This is written in the best interests of the author (despite utmost efforts) of not offending any of those smart people who do not have to go through the struggle of getting one.
Moreover, the possibilities of the author’s brain to be hardwired to write anything that looks like what it is supposed to look like are high. Therefore, the originator should get some help, perhaps a (non-internship) vacation.
A perfect start to the vacations, you are nicely sleeping in your bed, leaving behind all the sorrows of the world (college being 83% of the total). Birds are chirping. It is a pleasant morning. Nobody is asking you to wake up early in the morning and leave the bed. The world is finally healed, and a better place. (Micheal Jackson doesn’t need to worry now)
Then you close your eyes for a second.
Time for a Flashback 🙂
“What am I doing? Why am I checking this column? Why am I researching so much, just for an unadorned write-up? Is it the part where I got too serious about studies?
Nah! Couldn’t be, that only lasted for 2.48 seconds. Then what is this? Let me centralize more on the heading of this column. Holy mother of GOD!! Am I lurking again on the internship opportunity websites? Seriously? What happened to my inner Happy soul? Did it get run through by some truck?
You unexpectedly recollect the ‘necessary mistake’ you made. What was it? Sending the application for an internship!
Lying on the bed like a poor soul, “Oh lord! I could’ve ignored it like a boss. There was no need of acknowledging that internships are an inevitable part of a student’s college life.”
The Reality of Getting an Internship
If you are under the impression that your college has any interest in getting you good internships, then maybe you are wrong.
If you think you will chill around during exams, get a not-so-good-looking GPA, and send in your CV to the firm you want to intern in, then maybe you are wrong.
No, my poor child. You are 100% wrong.
Requirements for Getting an Internship
- A set of parents, who should have good connections.
- A decent looking GPA on your mark sheet
- Some work-experience, so you can get this internship and get some work experience.
- Most importantly, the will to go through the slavery-period of 21 days.
If you have all these, you are, by all means, pertinent for getting an internship.
If, by the grace of God, you are triumphant in getting the internship, Do not jump in joy. I repeat, DO NOT JUMP IN JOY. This is just a delusion of happiness you are drawn towards, exactly how moths are drawn towards the flame. You know, the end. 😉
If God decides to save your soul from damaging, perceive it in the right way. There is nothing to be sad about. You should not worry about it. There are a lot of things that you can do during the vacations, productive as well as fun things.
You can join various certificate courses. You can attend seminars. You can go to workshops. You can also do things like watching movies, going on dates, trying out new cuisines, shopping, etc. So it is not like you are wasting your vacations.
SNAP! SNAP! Come back to real life.
First Day of Internship
You get up from the bed as you remember your ‘Internship’ starts from the next day.
Now I am going to tell you the theory of the labouring of the human brain in the most precise way possible ( in the league of the author’s imagination).
The human mind is like the crystal ball that contrives the impeccable, unmitigated projection of the predicament about what is going to transpire in future.
There is a continuous contradiction of the situations for the people who have high hopes for Expectation and Reality.
Life Tip:- Have zero expectations, period.
CHIRP CHIRP! IT’S MORNING 🙂
Expectation
You will wake up early in the morning, on time. See your parents’ faces, so might think about going to the temple (pretending to be a pure soul), and foolishly believing your day will be good. Atheist alert!!
You eat nice breakfast your mom has made. Everyone is sitting on the dining table to watch you eat, to show you their support. (or maybe they don’t believe that you woke up on time and have gotten that serious for work)
Your mom and dad and siblings come to the main gate to drop you. You turn around and say BYE.
Reality
There is this horrible siren playing in the background. You open your eyes screaming swear words for no reason, in the back of your head realizing that you are home and you are a good child and you can not afford to abuse here. Then you realize that you are already 15 minutes late to the office time. You are rushing here and there in the house making the decisions of your life –
Whether I should bathe or eat? Eating will help me stay alive, bathing will help me not be avoided by other people (you know what I mean). Let’s leave both and just be there as early as possible!
(LOL)
You spend the whole day waiting for the supervisor to give you some work. Oh, wait, correction. You spend the whole day waiting for the supervisor.
Encounter with the supervisor
You roam around in the office with other interns, making conversations with random people. Oh, look who’s here! The supervisor! yippie! Now we are going to get work, finally!
“Good Morning sir!”
“Hey good morning, can you please quickly run downstairs and get a coffee? Thank you.”
A supervisor is a person with special superhuman powers.
It is really easy for him to get you down (because obviously, you do not have work ethics) when you have topped in school all your life and had built that unbreakable confidence and self-esteem. It can be hard.
The second superpower – If anything goes wrong, just blame the intern 🙂
The word “wrong” carries really broad perspectives regarding his life. This can range from work-related problems to his divorce. Just blame the damn intern.
You are confused if you should consider as ‘internship-related work’ or unalloyed slavery. NEVERMIND.
The first week forwards this way.
First Impression
You might have read various internship experience archives on the internet. AH! That sugarcoated stuff is so entrancing. You just can’t help yourself but have a desire of experiencing it. Ever heard of this thing called poisoned chalice? Google is of great help.
Expectation: You will reach the office, a multi-story building. You will feel shy of walking on the floor as it’ll be so clean. That fear of making it dirty with your shoes will be there. The receptionist will greet you. You will ask the way to your working space. It will be a room as pretty as a picture. You will meet your other co-interns there. All will be very smart.
Reality: You will not find the way to your office building as it is not famous at all. Nobody knows about it. You somehow manage to find the place. You will find the receptionist who will direct you to your working-space-cum-records-room. Then you will have to differentiate your co-interns from the huge racks loaded with files.
Things you Learn in an Internship
Cynicism becomes one of your trademark traits. You learn how to control your avarice when you are not even sure that you are getting paid, and you are too afraid to ask.
The realization that you have to stop doing things you like your own way. For eg. Stop day drinking (just for the sake of it 😉
Stop wearing what you want because ‘it doesn’t deem fit for the job you are at.’
As you get done with week 1, you realize that it is so easy to start thinking about all the exhilaration that comes with the idea of working with the firm of your dreams is rather deranged.
Some Random Philosophy
You get a break for 30 days out of which one usually interns for 21 days. Corrections. This holiday-spoiler is not supposed to be called a break. No offence.
All you have left to do after that break is – College, Assignments, Impositions, Mid-semester tests, Submissions, End-Semester exams, Death.
So you decide to live the few days of life you have. There is no insufficiency of the ideas you have, in assorted ways you can enjoy the holidays. Pro tip: Do not tell your parents that you are not going to the place you are leaving for telling them about.
My personal favourite is going to the eateries around the town and having a taste of as many dishes as possible. Food is love.
P.S. – Only very few people are able to survive an internship for more than a week. So its okay if you happen to be one of the species of people mentioned above. You at least have a life.
