Annie D’souza - Abacus.ai

Hey! I’m Annie D’souza, a third year undergraduate pursuing a dual degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. I’m into athletics and dance and also love reading and watching movies. I’m deeply passionate about artificial intelligence and machine learning and have been intrigued by this field ever since I was first introduced to it.

When the second year internship season began, there weren’t many firms that opened up for the profile of data science. So I applied for the handful of companies that came. Abacus.ai was one of them. They came via the PT cell in the month of January and opened up only for girls (Depts: CSE, Electrical, EP). The profile they specified in their IAF was IT/ Software. However, it also had a mix of data science as the company primarily provides MLOPs solutions to customers. So I researched about the company, went through the company culture and realized that this was a profile that aligned well with my interests. Thus, the IAF was signed and it began!

The interview shortlist came within a couple of days and the first interview was scheduled in 3 days. The ICs informed us that this was less of an interview and more of a round where the company would get to know us and brief us about what we could expect from the internship. True to their word, the round lasted for 20 minutes. More than an interview, it was a casual conversation with the India Lead of the company (The company is U.S. based). He asked me basic questions like my interests, how skilled I was at python, what experience I’ve had in the field of data science, etc. He spoke about the company for a while and told me what I could expect from the internship.

A few of us were shortlisted for the next round which was a technical test. This took place about a week after the first. The test had two parts - the first consisted of DSA theory while the second had three simple level coding questions in python. Since I didn’t have much experience in DSA, I studied the basic concepts of DSA from various blogs, especially GeeksForGeeks and practiced basic to intermediate level problems on HackerRank. I also revised various ML concepts for the test.

The last interview was taken by their senior staff from the US. This round was a combination of both technical and HR. My preparation for this was in the same way I prepared for the first two. The interviewer asked me a couple of questions about myself and then proceeded to ask me a couple of coding questions and the behaviour of some not so common code snippets. All of the three rounds were conducted quite well. The interviewers always made sure I was comfortable and were quite friendly and polite.

During interviews it is very essential that you’re honest, if there's something you don’t know, admit that you don’t know it but show them your willingness to learn. If you are passionate about something, convey that to the interviewer.In most of the second year internships, companies don’t only look for skill but give a lot of importance to your enthusiasm, willingness and ability to learn and contribute.

My internship began on the 2nd of May and lasted for two and a half months. It was work from home but there was also the option of working from a co-op working space. I was provided with a company mac-book for the duration of my internship and the first week was spent setting up the mac and getting me familiarized with the platform. As per the agreement, I worked for 40 hrs each week. About 6 hours during the day and the remaining time during the night to coordinate with the US folks. However, this was a schedule that worked to my convenience, the timings were really flexible. The work experience was excellent, I got to do both software and ML projects. I really like how they asked me what sort of work I’d like to try out, if I’d like to explore new domains, etc. All in all, I got to learn A LOT through this internship. Many times the job required skills I wasn’t familiar with, I was given ample amount of time to learn new concepts and apply them. Bash scripting, Git, Jenkins are skills I acquired on the way. Not only this, others in the company too were very patient and helpful towards me learning new things. We had demo meets once every week wherein everyone presented the work they did and what they were currently working on. Seeing how much everyone did during the week and all the new ideas they came up with always left me in awe and inspired me to perform better. The work environment and culture were all amazing with everyone being highly approachable, helpful and friendly. We had India Group meets every friday where we basically played multiplayer games and chatted a lot, it was great team bonding and an excellent way to end the week.

My internship experience at abacus has been very enjoyable and fruitful. They really treat their interns well and cater to their needs. Along with the intern contributing towards the company, they focus on making sure that the intern learns a lot and gets a good corporate experience.

I’d like to end by saying that don’t apply for internships just because everyone else is. If you’re passionate about something, look for a firm that aligns with your interests, one that will provide a platform for you to explore your interests further and deepen your knowledge in the field. Thanks and good luck! May the odds be ever in your favour (yes, hunger games).