Direct Internship Through Microsoft Engage Mentorship Program 2021
My Journey, experience and suggestions
What may seem doable today, was once considered impossible. I know you guys have experienced this at some point of time in your life. If you haven’t, then the time is coming soon!
Eligibility Criteria for Microsoft Engage 2021
How I got into Microsoft Engage 2021
It was around end of May, when a friend of mine, Bipul Bainwar shared the application link in our common messenger group. I clicked on the link; looking at the form I thought I was not ready. I didn’t even had my resume ready. I didn’t fill the form that day. I basically procrastinated.
The next day I did other things, it was near dusk when it just popped up in my head. I thought why not give it a try, I’ll have to prepare a resume anyway. So, I sat down, opened the university mail and searched for ‘Microsoft Engage’ to get some insights. There I see, the deadline was 8PM the very same day! I saw that at 7.30 PM. Luckily, there was another option to share the Linkedin profile. I called Bipul immediately, he helped me fill up the form quickly.
Then I totally forgot about it. After a few days I got a mail saying that I’ve been shortlisted and there’s an online test on 3rd June from 9AM to 11PM, to qualify for the Microsoft Engage Program. The test was to be taken in one sitting; the length was 45 minutes. There were 15 questions, some were MCQs and some answers were to be written, with the justification for the answer. I think one question asked to write an algorithm and the other to write code in the language I was comfortable with. The questions required knowledge of DSA (Data Structures and Algorithms) and Git. Of course, you need analytical skills and need to write in a way that the reader understands. To be honest, the test didn’t go really well. I couldn’t answer around 4 non-MCQ questions; reason being limited time and less preparation (almost no preparation, it’s because I thought all the questions will be MCQ-type). After the test, I was motivated to learn and practice more, thinking that next time when the opportunity comes, I’ll be ready.
On 9th June, I got another mail saying that I had cleared Phase 1 (Qualify) of Microsoft Engage 2021.
What happened during Microsoft Engage 2021
The program was 4 weeks long starting from 14th June to 12th July. It started with a kickoff meeting on June 14. Then there were a lot of sessions throughout the month which had different motives like giving an insight of Microsoft Work Culture, answering our doubts (AMA Sessions) and familiarizing us with Agile Scrum methodology.
We had to follow Agile Methodology to develop a product. It was a Microsoft Teams Clone. We were assigned mentors (current Microsoft employees) who would guide us during the program with their experiences. I was mentored by Nikesh Bisen and Sagar Agarwal. There were five other mentees who were mentored by them. We had a weekly group call, and a weekly one to one session with mentors.
What is Agile Scrum Methodology
As I understand, Agile Software Development Methodology is a method which is followed by software development companies or individuals to develop software that is accessible by clients/customers in short period of time and the features are updated later. Learn more about it here:
What happened during the four weeks
Here is the summary of what happened:
Note: In Adapt Phase (July 5), the surprise feature was revealed.
Here is the demo video that I uploaded:
How did I get Internship through this program
This is why you came here, right? So here it is. There are some perks for participating in this mentorship program. Here is the screenshot from one of the sessions:
Note: Acehacker is a company that has been working with Microsoft from the start of Microsoft Engage Program (Started from 2020).
So, people were curious because they had heard that people got direct internships without getting interviewed. While the question was raised, they simply answered: ‘There are some internal criteria’.
On 28th July, I received this:
It was mentioned that I had to reply to the same mail within 24 hours to show my acceptance. Luckily, I saw a Linkedin post that day, the author of the post was sharing her happiness regarding her direct internship. I was not confident but I checked my mail if there were some update. Then I saw the mail, it was 2 hours before the deadline.
Soon after on 30th July, I received this:
I think it’s confidential to show the offer letter here. But, I can tell what was in there. The internship would start from May-02 2022 to June-24 2022. And there would be a lumpsum monthly stipend of INR 80000. Also they would do some background check, if everything is fine then they’ll give the final offer letter.
There are a lot of us who got this direct internship, at least 12 are from my university only (I know this because I’m in a whatsapp group) and I keep seeing posts in Linkedin.
My views on why I got this internship (Personal Analysis)
- My interaction with mentors was good; I always asked questions, both formal and informal. Every time I had thought asking a question, I asked myself if I wanted to hear the answer.
- I tried to listen actively for suggestions. But sometimes, I missed. You may have noticed that, when you hear a conversation between two people or a group, there are some miscommunications. The person listening to the conversation from outside knows what’s happening but the one in it might miss. This improves with practice and experience.
- I tried to understand everything that I did in the project. I focused more on learning than developing the product. Of course, I tried to make the product as good as possible.
- The video quality and content was good and the sound was clear.
I didn’t do each and every bit by myself. I took technical help from my friends for wireframes, hosting and video editing. And I think it’s fine to do so until you know what you’re doing; if taking help from google is fine then why not friends? My suggestion on this is feel free take help.
I got this mail on 11th August (its after I got the offer letter):
Final Words
This is the end, my friend. If you’ve read this story up to this point then I hope that you’ve got some good insights on Microsoft Engage Program. Be nice and genuine with everyone including you, good things will happen. Thank you!
