ICE Intern Talk — Western Digital
Venkatesh is a very amicable, jovial and a fun-loving person. His witty nature and his intellect in sports is something which his peers rave about. He is an avid DOTA enthusiast who spends most of his free-time playing the same. He is an astute individual who is pretty much adaptable to the situations and accurately assesses them. Let’s get into an interaction with him to get an insight of the internship process of Western Digital.
Hi, can you please let us know of your process in which you were selected for the internship?
Three steps:
a) Shortlist based on CGPA,
b) Online Test consisting of Aptitude, Tronix and Software MCQ. (No coding round)
c) There were two rounds of Interview. Technical (we were asked questions based on our projects or internships and few puzzles) and HR.
What domain does your project belong to? Can you explain about it briefly?
I worked in the Firmware Development Team and the project (Python) I worked on was a debugging tool used to analyse certain log files by creating a graphical framework.
How was the work culture? How different was it from your perception?
Work culture was fantastic. We were told the attire was Business Casual, so I thought I had to wear formals everyday which was not the case. You can come and go whenever you want as long as you can complete whatever work you have been assigned(I expected some sort of attendance criterion). Everyone was really friendly and approachable.
Cricket League and Badminton Tournaments were organized and TT tables, Foosball tables, Carrom boards were present near the Cafeteria.
How did you prepare yourself during your internship for the tasks that were given?
My mentor was a 4th year (He was an intern too!). I had to make changes (feature additions, bug fixes) to his tool. He gave me time to learn Python and helped me whenever I had any queries. So, I spent two days on learning Python basics and understood the code within a week. We had Intern Project Status Meetings every week with the manager. We had to set targets and work towards accomplishing them on time.
Did being a part of any club in college help in attaining the internship?
No. I am not a part of any technical club in college.
What was your previous work experience in projects, internships, and how much it helped you in this internship?
I did not have any projects. I had done only one internship before this, working in R&D(software) team of a company. During interview selection process, having good internships/projects will make you stand out.
During the internship, you do not know what project you are going to get to work on, one has to be able to adapt and learn quickly. Do not expect things to be spoon fed. If you are stuck somewhere, try all possible ways of solving the problem yourself.
What are the required topics to be learnt for attaining this internship?
The Online Test consisted of aptitude questions along with Electronics and Software. Domain during your internship, i.e. Electronics/Software will depend upon your performance in each section.
A good Aptitude score is important and your basics need to be strong.
Any piece of advice to juniors who would be sitting for company interns?
Keep an answer ready for the most commonly asked HR questions. Be confident while answering questions during the interview phase.
Feel free to contact V.G. Venkatesh for further queries
Phone @ WhatsApp— 9444947251
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/venkatesh.gopalan.9
Mail — venkateshgopalan5@gmail.com
Interviewed by Venkatesh Bharadwaj. S
-An initiative of SENSORS, the technical symposium of the Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering.
