As a B-school student, one of the major milestones is landing a coveted internship. Personally, this was my first ever interning experience, and I was fortunate to land an internship which linked both my undergraduate and B-school experiences. On the day of my orientation, I was allotted the Ola Electric Mobility division as a vertical. I felt both excited and nervous. Ola Electric is a completely new idea, with the potential to revolutionise the electric vehicles domain with the technology of battery swapping. Being an electrical engineer, I was excited to learn the nitty-gritty of electric mobility in general.
Sadly, I missed being physically present in the office and experiencing the work culture of the company. Virtual internships were the need of the hour, and the company ensured that there were no road-blocks to this. However, we can’t deny the fact that the experience of being an intern and meeting fellow students from other colleges was not fulfilled. This was something that I was personally looking forward to, this being my first internship. A major inhibition I had was whether I would be able to reach out to people in the office and connect with them during my work.
My guide was cognisant of the fact that being virtual interns had exposed us all to a lot of uncertainties and offered full support wherever possible. On the bright side, I felt my productivity had increased a lot by being at home, and there was always a quick response from my mentors.
At the end of the day, I would say this was definitely not what I was expecting in October when I sat for my summer placements. But that in no way means that I didn’t have an enriching experience. I got to learn new things, even outside the academic sphere, from a business point of view. When you are running a company, especially a start-up, things get very fast-paced. And you are expected to stand up to such challenges.
(The writer is a student at IIM Bangalore currently interning at Ola Electric Mobility. She completed her graduation in electrical engineering from IIT Indore in 2019.)