The Workplace: 'I learned how government works in my BTech internship'

By Pranav Raju Savle

NEW DELHI: As the whole world was facing the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I was searching for jobs, internships and programmes – whatever I could find to get experience. At some point, looking at the situation, I began to lose hope of getting a job with a reputed information technology (IT) company. Sitting at home, my routine was to browse websites for jobs or internships all day. Browsing, I came across an online article about the government’s The Urban Learning Internship Programme (TULIP) started by the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA).

As I was in search of a job in multinational IT companies, I was not terribly interested in the government sector and had never tried for any government job. Fortunately, I got an opportunity to apply for the first-ever internship started by the government.

I had a different concept of government jobs in my mind. I thought you could get a government job only through reference and believed the TULIP internship was the same. Still, I browsed the website and found the internship programme outline and positions interesting and so, I decided to apply for the internship programme at Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited. I applied for all the openings in the IT Sector. Because I harboured those beliefs about jobs in the government sector, I was not expecting any call from the company. I started applying to other private companies.

After a month, I got a call. The caller said: “I’m calling from Pune Smart City and your profile has been shortlisted for the interview.” I was amazed. How did my profile get shortlisted from the thousands of applications and that, too, in the government sector? I accepted the invitation for the interview, cleared the interview by god’s grace, and got an offer letter for the IT engineer-intern position for a period of six months. This pandemic ate up the jobs of most of the employees but fortunately, it gave me a job, and that too in the government sector.

A friendly mentor

Finally, the joining date arrived. I joined the internship programme on September 1, 2020. I got a mentor who has 25 years of experience in the industry, is highly qualified, and a senior member of IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]. Looking at the profile of my mentor, I was stressed thinking my mentor would be very strict but then it turned out to be the opposite. He created a friendly environment and a good rapport grew between us. To be frank, I was not expecting a cool mentor like him in the government sector. His mentorship was not just for the projects that were assigned but he turned out to be a mentor for life.

The internship started with an overview of what a Smart City and the Smart City Mission are. I was not aware of either and was feeling bad for the same. The most exciting part for me was to adapt and to learn how the ‘work’ works – how things get done – in the government sector. As the days passed, I adapted to the workflow and I was assigned my tasks.

Learning and contributing

I got insights into all the IT projects and was privileged to work on projects with huge budgets. Even though I was an intern, the company believed in me and offered me responsibilities to handle the projects on an individual level. It augmented my management skills as well and I got to know the innovative technologies used that are installed. I am currently working on a project like Pune Telemedicine Application and Health Management Information System. I and my fellow interns are doing the User Acceptance Testing (UAT). I am also working on a project in the education sector, a web portal and mobile application for students and teachers of public and private schools. Since I have joined the organisation, I have come to know that to make the city smart, there is a tremendous amount of effort by thousands of hands behind the scene.

As the government is trying to make the city smart by adding amenities, luxury and essentials, society should take the responsibility of using and keeping them clean. The city will become smarter also if the people living in the city become smart.

The internship at Pune Smart City has improved my communications skills, management skills and technical skills. Because of this internship, I was able to meet dignitaries whom I could only dream of meeting before.

This internship programme has added colour to my career. As an intern, I got an opportunity to give a little from my end to the land where I was born and I want to make this occasion memorable in my life. And I would like to encourage the youth to contribute their skills and ideas for the development of India.

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