Celebrating the success of our first virtual internship!

The internship program has been an integral part of Microsoft IDC’s ethos to build on its world-class team of coders and software engineers by attracting and absorbing some of the country’s best talents. Every year, the University Relations (UR) team hits the refresh button to recruit a fresh batch of promising graduates. This year, just as the team was about to onboard its summer interns, a countrywide lockdown was announced in India over the evolving COVID-19 situation. With only two weeks before the first batch of PM interns were due to join on April 6, the pressure was on!   

It was perhaps not surprising that several other companies were deciding to scrap their internship program entirely. So, if the UR team were to honor its invitations, the internship dynamics would have to be wholly reimagined. A special virtual team (v-team) led by Sonia Sahgal (UR team) swung into action. The PM v-Team with Arun Rajappa and Sapna Grover and the SWE intern v-Team led by Vijay Mamtani and with Nandan Prabhu, Deepak Nagaraj, Sree Hari Nagaralu and Vipul Gupta, and every other representative of businesses across from E+D, C+AI, and CSEO put in an incredible effort to set up a robust IT setup and internship framework and guidelines in place.  

“We had to look at the program and create a structure that was scalable as we had 750 Interns joining us in a span of two months. The Intern v-Team had to glue the process together and adequately substitute for in-person projects,” explained Sonia.  

“Through multiple brainstorming sessions, we built a robust plan for the first-ever virtual internship. The planning did not compromise any aspect of the internship which would otherwise exist in an in-person scenario,” added Sharon Joseph, India Engineering Intern Program Lead. 

But one of the team's most significant challenges was to ship physical systems to the interns to facilitate a smooth internship experience. Just as the task seemed impossible with the lockdown in place, the team’s partnership with the CSEO teams helped turn things around. A CSEO team was piloting a new virtual desktop solution that enabled a secure, remote work experience from any device, anywhere. The team discovered they could combine Windows Virtual Desktop with Microsoft Azure’s virtual machine capability connected over secure Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute -- a capability provided by the Enterprise 360 team in Microsoft Customer and Partner Experience. It meant that interns could work on their own assigned virtual machines remotely and securely.  

 A few bustle-filled days later, the PM interns onboarded on April 6 as the SWE/ML/UX interns joined us from May 11 onwards. 

A bit like life, with its highs and lows 

 Abhisar Waghmare, 23, from Nagpur, studying computer engineering, had many expectations from his internship, given that he co-founded a company with his friend who works at Microsoft in Redmond. “We are both visually impaired, and I am a blind coder. My friend would talk about how accommodating Microsoft is for people with disabilities. So, I was joyous when Microsoft visited our campus. I was not sure if they would consider me, but I tried and was relieved they saw something in me.” 

A virtual internship may not be very different for a sighted person, but Abhisar needed specific software. “This is where I would like to specify that even the most successful company can face difficulties. Given it was the first time for Microsoft, they also faced challenges, but they did not drop the internship. Their approach was to face the challenge together, and the team was diligent enough to act and solve them. This is what I appreciated about Microsoft – its growth mindset and will to not give up.”   

So, what was the internship like? “A bit like life, with its highs and lows,” said Abhisar. “Microsoft was more accommodating to my needs than I expected. Zubin Sethna and his team accounted for all the resources I would need. Kirti Singh Rathore, my mentor, and Rohit Kshirsagar, my manager, were equally supportive and allowed me to take time off for my exams before resuming my internship. Overall, the one thing that made me happy is the knowledge that my work will be used by others. What I have coded will be pushed on to the global resource management website, so that it will be of practical use to the company. That knowledge has been the highlight of my internship.”  

‘Best learning experiences since college’  

R. Sai Harshini, 21, is a software engineering intern who got a return internship and an offer to join the company. She said it was thoughtful of Microsoft to shift to virtual internship so swiftly, and without delays. 

A person with a disability (PWD) intern, Harshini, is completing her dual degree in computer science from IIT Madras and will graduate in 2021. Having attended the internship previously, she had a unique point of reference for comparison. The virtual internship was different this year, and what she missed most was networking with other interns and going for lunch together. The lack of commute and flexibility around her studies evened out the odds, she said. “I also got more time to spend with my family, which was good.”  

Harshini, who interned in the AGE Blockchain team and worked on developing an application using the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain framework, said “Honestly, I didn’t expect work to be smooth but it was and I didn’t find the efficiency reduced due to the great planning. It was the best learning experience since college. I worked on new technology and was familiarized with Microsoft’s culture. It was great to see Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more in action.”  

‘Thanks, Microsoft for not dropping the internship’ 

For Tezan Sahu, 21, Microsoft has always been a dream company to work with since his childhood as he grew up using Windows, MS Office, and other Microsoft products. Tezan, from Navi Mumbai, is studying B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in CSE from IIT Bombay. “The virtual internship in the given setting was a challenging yet fulfilling experience. It has helped me understand Microsoft’s core culture, work with some bright minds, receive valuable feedback, and improve technical and soft skills. It has definitely given me an upper hand in preparing to embrace the “new normal” that we are heading towards,” he said.  

Apart from work, attending the MLADS conference was the best part of the internship for Tezan though it was held virtually. “I learned a lot through all the 21-22 talks and hands-on sessions.”  

Before COVID-19 hit, Tezan’s expectated to work on the campus, network with lots of people, enjoy all the amenities, and get a real taste of working at Microsoft. But with the lockdown being imposed, all these dreams appeared to shatter, and he even dreaded a loss of an opportunity to intern with Microsoft. “The email stating that Microsoft would honor our Internships was a ray of hope and kept some of my expectations alive. The experience has been a memorable one. From selecting a project to the final presentation and interview, it has been a roller coaster ride!  

“Bouncing ideas off colleagues, getting a chance to use Microsoft Internal tools, networking with some great minds, and finally developing something useful that will help ease the workload of fellow teammates – all these have led to this internship being truly one of its kind,” he added.  

‘If we stand together, we can achieve anything’ 

"For the v-team, the program's structure was built on four guiding pillars: modernizing internship tone, increasing intern empowerment, shifting interns from consumers to producers, and operating with meaning", explained Zubin Sethna, India Intern Program Lead.   

For the v-Team, the process of setting up the virtual internship was to recognize the need for synergies between the Business, UR, IT teams, and the Core Services Engineering and Operations (CSEO) team to land a top-class internship experience. The team created a shared FAQ file to keep adding their learnings, and by the second or third week, the onboarding process became smoother.   

The virtual internship program marked the beginning of other new initiatives as well. In a move led by Annapurna Saripalli from the BEST team, the interns were the first in Asia who were given access to the Giving portal, much like all other full-time employees. “There were also innovative ways of helping interns interact with UR, business, and interns through virtual cafes and co-creation projects. One thing that was very dear to everyone’s heart this year was the intern talent night, where the interns showcased their talents and raised six lakh rupees towards COVID- 19 relief,” explained Sharon.   

 While the team looked into every detail possible while planning the mega virtual internship experience, there were places where they were forced to operate in a reactive mode because of the pandemic. “We look forward to being more pre-emptive in all aspects in the future. The biggest take away this year was that not everything might go as planned, but stay calm, this too shall pass!” added Zubin.  

As it was the first time that the virtual internship was conducted, the setup was isolated. The challenges were mostly unknown, said mentor Anumod Alex Thomas, principal software engineer manager, E+D. “By working remotely and delivering on Azure VM’s, we were able to produce the same output as an on-premises internship. That was a high point for me. Perhaps the only thing we would do differently is to have individual teams try out the virtual environment before the interns joined. But my biggest takeaway is that if we stand together, we can achieve anything.”