With due course of time I had turned a part of this open office culture of where we had no attendance system. Like I could come & exit at any time if I need, but just need to get done with the assigned tasks in time.
Modern days topics like TV series, movies, games, cricket matches etc were ruling the discussion tables. That’s the flexibility you enjoy in an IT startup!
I was treated with a sense of humbleness whenever I had reached out to them for any sort of doubts irrespective of whether it involved the project or not.
I was so touched with the culture which made me write two letters on the birthdays of two of the co-founders during the internship period. I never regretted those extra miles I had walked for the people I do care for.
My Role
My job as a frontend developer intern was to plan out the UI and UX of the products, which was criticised at times and as a designer I was under a professional pressure to come up with something unique absolutely every time.
Well, today while looking back at it, I find this as one of the life transforming moments, which made me humble and gave me the scope to stitch the loopholes in my existing system. It made me walked through several technical stacks which were mostly not in my experience zone prior to coming to the office.
The best thing about being a part of a startup is that, your personal presence holds some values which is unlikely to be present in the large hierarchy of a mega organization. The startup literally hold your hands and teaches you like everything starting from working with technical stacks, team works to catering the client’s needs with due care.
The life suddenly switched to a different mode, when a lazy fellow like me who never hesitated to bunk few classes in this campus shifted the priority of life to serve 8 hours at a stretch without fail. Those office hours were like the eye opener moment for me to realize how much less I know, about Computer Science!
Dining Etiquettes
Every memeber gets on the lunch at the same time and I seldom found any self-importance in the attitude of any. That makes me love them even more! Dining Etiquettes had become a new introduction to my work ethics. Spoon and forks had turned my best weapon to defeat the food items served on a plate!
I’ve maintained this even after returning to home, as I believe, best practices need to be cultured well enough rather than dropping them once the period is over.
You could have the fun working on a project inside the ideal environment of a college campus with the limited exposures which you would have gathered in due course of time. But the scenario takes a 180 Degree Turn, when you step inside a Corporate Environment.
You get accountable to write production ready codes as you enjoy the benefits of stipend and other perks provided in a start-up culture. And, in return company would naturally expect you to generate profits for them through the set of works you’ve been assigned to.
Once I was sent on an assignment to a coffee shop in Gurgaon for an ongoing project, where I was instructed to take some measurements related to coffee brewing process for 3-4 Hours which would help them in the software development process.
I was like sitting there and going good with my responsibilities and hand in hand on a white sheet, I was jotting down my thoughts on the observations I could make sitting inside that public cafeteria!
The best lesson I’ve captured sitting inside that shop, working in a start-up, visiting Delhi, staying in a PG and travelling over plane. It’s all about people.
Technology and tools will keep on changing with due course of time, but it’s people whom you’d meet everywhere no matter whichever part of the world you choose to move on for a trip or join their workspace.
The stipend I had received was complimentary, but the memories I’ve built alongside some of the finest people I’ve ever come across would reverberate through my ears for the years to come!