Basic Information

  • Name: Rishabh Ravi
  • Curriculum: EE Dual Degree
  • Year of Study: 4th year
  • Company/University of Internship: Qualcomm
  • Year of Internship (eg. ‘23 Summers, ‘22 Winters): 23’ Summers
  • Mode of Internship (Online/Offline/Hybrid): Offline
  • Duration of Internship: 9 weeks

Getting into the Internship:

What specific domain or field did you target to get an internship in?

Particularly targetted hardware/signal role for the internship.

What resources did you utilize to prepare for the tests/interviews?

  • EE229 Lecture slides for signal preparation
  • EE224, EE214, EE309 notes for hardware prep
  • Practised a few ‘interview questions’ from the internet

Can you elaborate on your interview and the type of questions which were asked?

The interview was predominantly signals oriented as the role was modem firmware. They first asked me a few logical questions, fairly simple no need for any preparation. A bit of C programming that was already covered in CS101. Following this I was asked on a few fundamental questions on signals such as the multiplication-convolution property in Fourier transforms, etc.

Were there any significant roadblocks or challenges that you encountered during the internship application and selection process? If so, how did you navigate or overcome them?

Qualcomm only shortlists Btech for hardware roles and DD for modem firmware/systems roles and I didn’t really have much of a choice here.

How did you handle any rejections that you faced (If any) during the internship application process?

Getting rejected by Sony kind of crushed me, I reached a point where I would settle for any intern which led me to take a signal profile when I preferred a hardware role. I would say I handled it poorly.

During the internship:

What was your specific profile or project topic during the internship?

More of a software developer, more than a signal engineer. Had to work on development of a new modem firmware.

How would you describe your overall experience as an intern?

Terrible, none of the other interns here (at least the ones I spoke to) seem to enjoy the work, there is absolutely no use of core here. All roles are predominantly software oriented, and the work environment is kind of depressing. The work assigned also didn’t seem intellectually challenging, more of an errand for the full-time employees. Easy work, but definitely not what we were looking for.

Could you provide insights into the organizational culture of the company/university and what your peers were like?

Each intern is assigned a mentor and manager who you report to. You work in a team, and this team could also have members from other parts of the globe. You collaborate on the work and try to get the assigned task completed. The other interns from other IITs were pretty cool to hang out with, there were always something organized for the weekend by us. Regarding the team you work with there was no interactions apart from official ones.

Were there any networking opportunities or professional connections that you established during the internship?

Yes.