At a glance
College – Computer Science and Engineering, NIT Hamirpur
Place of work – Complex Network Research Group (CNeRG), IIT Kharagpur
Duration of the internship – 6 weeks
Stipend – INR 1250 per week
Research topic – Natural Language Processing
In detail
InterFeel (IF): Please tell us something about yourself. Where are you studying currently? What are your hobbies and interests?
Saloni Bakshi (SB): Hello, I am Saloni Bakshi. I am pursuing B.Tech from Department of Computer Science and Engineering, at NIT Hamirpur. I worked as a research intern at Complex Network Research Group (CNeRG), IIT Kharagpur for May-July 2016. I carry passion for programming languages, web and android development. Apart from computer science, my interests are in reading and music.
IF: Tell us something about your internship including stipend, duration and place?
SB: The process of application is very simple. Every year Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kharagpur hosts Summer Internship Programme, inviting application from students. Applications are open from month of January-February. Students are shortlisted independently by the faculty. Duration of internship was 6 weeks. We were provided the facility of hostel and mess. Fee was quite reasonable. In the end we had to apply for stipend by submitting required documents and CV. We were offered Rs 1250/week.
Duration of the internship – 6 weeks
Stipend – INR 1250 per week
IF: Let’s talk about how competitive the selection process was. Which qualities helped you to have edge in the selection process? According to you, what were the key things that selectors were looking for?
SB: There is no specific criterion for selection. We were asked to fill academic qualifications, past industrial experience (if any) and research interests in the application form. These applications are reviewed by faculty and students are selected if interests match or they find one capable of carrying out their project.
IF: Could you please highlight the work/research you carried out during your internship period?
SB: I worked in the field of Natural Language Processing. My research was on extraction of semantic relations using graph properties. I was working under a research scholar. Work started with thorough study of semantic relations, NLP and graph properties, followed by research done in this field in past few years. We performed various analyses to derive some relation and to prove our hypothesis. Work is still in progress.
IF: Can you give us interesting details about your experience – good and bad?
SB: My internship experience was very good. My mentor was very supportive and guided me all through the way to complete tasks and learn new concepts. We were free to avail all the facilities of labs and library, which never allowed any hurdle in process of learning. Moreover, the campus of IIT Kharagpur is very big, with museum, parks, movie hall, market, hospital and lot more, all inside a single campus. It is one of the oldest and largest IITs. I enjoyed exploring the place.
I got to meet lot of new people from different colleges and from IIT Kharagpur itself. I made many new friends. Everyone was so motivational and helping. They made my stay even more memorable.
Among lot of good experiences there were very few bad ones. First one was weather. It was very humid and hot. As I am from northern part, I had problem in adjusting with the food provided in mess. But there were lot many eateries, so it was not major issue. We were allotted rooms only for 6 weeks, for extra 2-3 days we had to make arrangement in guest house. This created panic situation in the end.
IF: How do you think this internship has helped you grow? In other words, what are your key takeaways from the internship?
SB: It was my first internship experience and it helped me many ways. Apart from the skills and knowledge I attained about computer science, it helped me to grow as an individual. For the first time I travelled alone to a place about 1700km from my hometown. An exposure to different culture and meeting people from different places helped me to learn more about them. I also got a chance to improve my social and professional skills. It made me more confident about myself.
IF: Has this internship had a decision altering impact on your career? Do you now think of a different future path as compared to before doing the internship?
SB: It changed my perspective about research. After being involved in a research activity, I learnt how deeply people in different parts of world are working in various fields which will become growing technology of tomorrow. Before joining this internship, I had experience of only development side of computer science. Now, I can clearly understand how research and development both go hand in hand for advancement in technology. In future I would like to get back to research to gain deeper understanding of concepts of NLP.
IF: Lastly, do you have any words of advice or caution for students aspiring for this internship and reading this piece?
SB: To my juniors, internship provides you great opportunity to learn by working under professionals and experts, so better choose the appropriate one. Do not run for one because your friends are doing it, do what you really want to do. All the best!! 🙂
We’d like to wish Saloni all the very best for the future!