Hola!! Our InternFeel has equipped with new looks and features to make your experience stand out and help students on the same. Hope you all like it. So today we are here with an amazing intern experience from Mr.Joyjit Chatterjee, Intern from Mentor Graphics. Readout his intern experience below.
InternFeel: Please tell us something about yourself. Where and what are you studying currently?
Joyjit: I am Joyjit Chatterjee, currently a final year student of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Amity University, Noida. At present, I am the University Topper and am aspiring to do an MS abroad after completing my Engineering.
InternFeel: Give us details about your internship – process of application, stipend, duration and place?
Joyjit: I did my Internship at Mentor Graphics, Sector 127, Noida ( A Siemens Business) from May 25, 2017, to July 8, 2017. I applied directly on the Website of Mentor Graphics ( This Internship/Training Program is specifically called as HEP ( Higher Education Program) by the Company.) The application process consisted of providing my current academic credentials, including my CGPA till my 5th Semester as the application process starts way back in February end every year and only pre-final year (3rd Year) Engineering students are eligible to apply for the same. I had to submit my recent Curriculum Vitae, mention my Skills Sets specific to knowledge of Hardware Description Languages (HDLs), basic contact details, University Details and a statement of purpose, as to why I should be selected for this program and another short paragraph on the role I would play if selected in betterment of the Electronics Design and Automation Industry. As such, the HEP program does not offer any stipend but we were provided with Free Lunch, Tea/Coffee, Printed Course Material on Verilog and System Verilog and yes, the big thing, we were one of the luckiest batches to receive a free license to the Questa Simulator for an entire year for educational purpose, which is itself worth thousands of dollars.
InternFeel: How competitive was the selection process? According to you, which qualities have helped you have an edge in the selection process? Also, what were the key things that selectors were looking for?
Joyjit: The selection process was extremely competitive as a total of only 30 students were selected from across India to intern in the Noida/Bengaluru R&D Offices of Mentor Graphics. There were thousands of applications, and among all these, merely 30 were selected for the final show. I believe that the key things which helped me to get an edge over thousands of applicants include my CGPA of 9.62 at the University, which makes me the present Topper of the University, alongside, my extra-curricular activities, including 8 Publications in International Conferences/Journals, my volunteer experience as an Executive Member of the Multimedia Communications Network, IET London. My previous knowledge and certifications I possessed in some HDLs like VHDL and Knowledge of Digital Integrated Circuit Design helped me to hit the target.And most importantly, the Statement of Purpose was the best part which I pondered over for long.
I believe that the selectors are looking for only one thing, your quest for knowledge. If you are willing to learn something and aren’t afraid of spending 320 Hours learning, in front of the Machine, coding, listening to workshops and lectures and in simple words, just diverting your life towards learning System Verilog and Verilog, you are the right fit for this training program.
InternFeel: Could you please highlight the work/research you carried out during your internship period?
Joyjit: I carried out multiple projects in Verilog, including some complex ones like designing a 16-bit microcontroller, UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter), FIFO Buffer and so on. The final Project was devoted to carrying out the Verification and Debugging of an LC3 Microcontroller DUT provided to us, which is as per the course material at the North Carolina State University. One thing I would like to say for sure is that the projects are quite challenging and yes, you do need to work hard to ace them.
InternFeel: Can you give us interesting details about your experience – good and bad?
Joyjit: Overall, the experience has been quite good. I have made some good friends from across the country and got to interact with some of the best minds in the country, as far as the Electronic Design and Automation industry is concerned. One issue I faced was that regularly, I had to commute to and fro to this place as I reside in Delhi and after the 9-7 internship hours, I was quite tired on reaching home and was unable to have any leisure time for myself.
InternFeel: How do you think this internship has helped you grow? In other words, what are your key takeaways from the internship?
Joyjit: I think that this Internship has made me grow as an Electronics Engineer. Meeting and getting to interact with people from Mentor Graphics, during workshops, I got to interact with Senior Manager from NXP, and yes, getting to be trained by a former R&D Group Director in one of the 3 Biggest EDA Companies in the world helped me to acquire more knowledge and yes, it made me a computer programmer too ( I learnt a lot of Linux, including Shell Scripting and other specifications, good coding practices, Object Oriented Programming Concepts and so on, as these were a pre-requisites for the System Verilog Projects and Labs).
InternFeel: 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?
Joyjit: I don’t particularly believe that my decision to do an MS abroad after completing my Engineering would change after doing this program. I think that such types of Internships/training programs would surely attract potential Universities, and yes, even employers who are looking forward to hiring great people. Today, in Academia, very few people actually know System Verilog as merely 0.1% of all global universities teach it. So getting to learn the System Verilog Programming language will give me an edge over others when competing for the Master Admission abroad.
InternFeel: Lastly, do you have any words of advice or caution for students aspiring for this internship and reading this piece?
Joyjit: One line of straight caution/advice, in whichever manner you may take it “Do be prepared to work extremely hard, have NIL weekends, spend hours in front of the Machine Coding, and yes, penetrating yourself into a continuous learning process!”
Internship Rating: 9/10
Hope the experience from Joyjit is more helpful for you all. Remember, “The Experience is the key to success”. Explore more experiences here to shape out your future! Stay tuned. Stay Connected!!
