Myntra | Internship Experience
This all started one year back with companies visiting our campus for internships. It was 7th August 2019, when Myntra visited and 3 students were selected from our campus after rigorous shortlisting through one online coding round and two rounds of interviews.
I was excited for the coming summer, making plans for what all to do when in Bengaluru. I had even decided which all places to visit near Bengaluru.
The Myntra office is one of the coolest places to work at :)
Fast forward to April 2020, the world was going through the pandemic. All dreams seemed shattered. We were not sure what was in store for us.
I got my joining date as 27th April for the internship. I was sceptical about how it is going to be in the virtual mode. We had a quite smooth onboarding process, kudos to the HR team; followed by various introductory sessions.
We were introduced to our teams and allotted projects.
Team and Work
I joined the ML Platform Team in the Analytics Department. My project was to implement BinderHub integration with Bitbucket repository. It required knowledge of technologies like Kubernetes, Docker, and BinderHub.
These were things that I had never heard of before because our college projects usually revolve around Web Development, Android, and Machine Learning; so I was completely new to these technologies.
This project helps the ML Platform team to initiate the Model training pipeline. I was excited to work on something that would be in production and help the data scientists to automate the process, and save precious man-hours in the long run!
Since this technology is still in infancy, there were fewer resources available to help me resolve errors. Also due to remote work, it was not as easy for the mentor to help as it would have been in case of the normal in-office internship.
I had many sleepless nights to resolve those nasty bugs trying out various methods to solve any issue. But this all hard work was worth the experience and learning!
With the constant support of my Mentor and the motivation from the complete team, I was able to read, learn, and implement in order to finish the project in the stipulated time.
You can refer my blog “Kubernetes: Overview and Working of all K8s Components” if you wish to know about Kubernetes.
I am planning to write a separate blog on the jupyter notebook extension that I developed during my internship, as part of the project!
I feel fortunate enough to get this project, which introduced me to these new and current technologies; and also the super-awesome team members, without whom this would have been only a dream to achieve!
I have met some of the most brilliant people here. Witnessing them ignites a fire inside you which forces you to transcend your boundaries. This would always keep me motivated to continue my self-learning journey to become a software developer and a better person!
Talks & Presentations
I love attending developer meetups and give talks. I had been missing all this since colleges were closed, and nearly all meetups and talks were being canceled due to the lockdown.
I got to experience that again here as I got a chance to present my work to the team and also gave a talk in “ABCT-talks”.
ABCT: AnyBody Can Talk
“ABCT-talks” is an initiative where any Myntrite from any team can present the work. This provides everyone to know how different teams work, and the awesome work being done by everyone around Myntra.
So my journey ranged from attending the ABCT-talk in my first week of internship, to give a talk there towards the end :D
EORS
EORS is the time of festivities here at Myntra. I feel privileged to have experienced the 12th edition of EORS from behind the curtains.
What seems a 4-days sale to any user, actually involves the sheer hard work and coordination of all the teams!
Presenting India’s biggest Fashion Sale, Biggest Deals, Biggest Brands, Big on Style, and Bigger on Safety!
This time the EORS was also unique, as it was taking place after a long lockdown in the country. This was an attempt to revive hopes in the hearts of consumers, producers, retailers, and the whole fashion and e-commerce industry.
Every Myntrite was equally excited and felt the adrenaline rush during the EORS. The EORS extravaganza also included the Lagori Band virtual concert and the virtual Standup-comedy by the very witty Rahul Subramanian, for all the Myntrites to rejuvenate!
Fun Sessions
Since everything was being done remotely, we all missed the fun that would have taken place when meeting everyone in-person. To counter this, regular sessions were organized like weekly Fun Fridays and The Virtual Happy Hour sessions, where anyone could display any talent, or discuss anything apart from the work.
This provided a chance to know each other better. You never know the great Data Scientist sitting beside you might be a great Standup comic, or a Guitarist, or an awesome photographer!
We even had such sessions for our team and I got to know about the talents of the 7 gems of the ML Platform team XD
Tips & Takeaways
I would like to give the following tips to anyone going who is planning to do an internship in any organization:
- Be hungry to learn: Your prime focus should always be to learn as much as you can, without thinking much about anything else (like Placement, PPO, package, etc). Once you have the right skills and knowledge, you will surely land up at the right organization!
- Don’t hesitate: It is okay to ask doubts. The people working there have gone through your phase already and know how difficult things can be. But ensure to do the research yourself before approaching anyone for help. Give your perspective to solve things, you never know that you might end up suggesting some better way that your mentor couldn’t think of :D
- Know your Team: It is good to know all members of the team. Interacting with everyone gives you a bigger perspective and you also get to know whom to approach in what situation.
- Plan well: Track your progress yourself on a daily basis so that you know where you need to improve. It also lets you ensure that you give your best.
- Documentation: This step is as important as is completing the project. Documentation also helps the team to take forward your project in the future and work on it.
- Have Fun: Many times we tend to forget this. But believe me, you can work even better when you enjoy the work. Take the initiative to conduct team meets to know people better, interact with everyone!
- Be Yourself: This is the most important step. Don’t try to fake things. Do things your own way. People would always admire you for the work you do, no matter how you do it.
