Its been nearly 3 months since I have posted anything. I wrapped up my long internship and after a twenty hour long journey arrived in Mumbai to squeeze in yet another short stint in an investment bank for the next 5 weeks. Not much break between the two. Thanks to all who have written in with their comments, and for those with queries, I apologize I haven’t written back though I will do so ..slowly but surely. There’s something sinister about this summer. I just can’t get myself together to write. I scribbled and scratched over these months to write about something but it was a very superficial effort and so is this. Its only after I reached Mumbai that I had time to reflect. I was not able to crystallize the reasons as to why I did not want to write during these last couple months during my internship; it just felt good not doing so. Without giving away much details about the work that I did (just because I signed so many documents promising not to do so), I have written something for the sake of writing and by not belaboring on the more commonplace takeaways of an internship.
The internship felt like an escapist resort, not adhering to any day-to-day rules that I usually would, during any regular quarter at school. There wasn’t the regular stress of any assignments or projects in the academic sense or even exams. There was no pressure to regurgitate the course material in three hours of a final exam or in a project. Sure, the pressure was there to perform, but it was a different kind of pressure. The mindset was that of unadulterated learning. The mindset was that of juxtaposing what I had learnt during the course of the year with how things were going on in real world. The mindset was that of a corporate groupie mingling with anyone and everyone. The internship could not have been done at a better time especially when the deepened sub-prime is part of prime time. (i know..that’s cliched but I had to use it anyway). You get to hear everyone’s views including the company’s chief economists’.
My goal during the internship was not just business as usual, but also some networking. I tried hard to network. This is one opportunity when you can talk to anyone in any department. Sure, if you are crossing the chinese wall, then its better to do so during the end of the internship so that ‘Compliance’ is okay with it. Still a skeptic in this networking mantra, I prefer to not just go out and blatantly smooth-talk with people just because the school has drilled you with the importance of networking or just because of the feel-good factor. I have learned that networking is really a game of marksmanship; its akin to throwing wet paper towels on the wall trying to see which one sticks, while at the same time, taking care not to make a big mess on the wall.
As an intern, I also learnt that besides ‘Attention to Detail’, ‘Availability’ is a big factor in gaining visibility. They don’t call it face-time for nothing. An intern really has to be the first one to come in and the last one to leave. There were at least a couple meaty side-assignments I got only because I was hanging around late night and because I was known for soliciting work even though my plate was full.
During my internship, this company laid off a bunch of people. I ought to graduate by next summer if I ever want to join this company full time. Although doable, this will be a bit tough, since I took only two courses last quarter and was working full time midway through the quarter. This company is no Soldman Gachs for which I feel imperative to hasten my graduation. In fact, given the current economy and the rather not-so-upbeat feeling on recruitment for next year, I feel its best to delay my graduation a bit. This is probably the biggest advantage of a part time MBA where you can time the market (to an extent) and tweak your shelf life. The full-time students have no choice in this one. They have to graduate next summer.
Either ways, with just 4 weeks to go in Mumbai before I head back to Chicago (and I am not looking forward to Chicago yet), this summer has signs of giving me a baptism-by-fire experience.
