VIJAYAWADA: With the aim of improving their job prospects by building their portfolios, most of the students, including those pursuing BTech, BSc, Fashion Designing and Arts, have opted for voluntary internships in various companies. However, it is not ‘all work and no play’ for these youngsters as they make it a point to spare some time to spend with their friends.
“I, along with four of my friends, have applied for a month-long internship in a software company in Visakhapatnam, to get some IT industry exposure and also enjoy the summer vacation in the city. It is compulsory to get exposure at least once before the completion of graduation, which will help us to enhance our technical skills,” said P Kumar, a final year student of Usha Rama Institute of Engineering and Technology in Vijayawada.
Apart from helping the students to get some industrial exposure, internships provide them an opportunity to assess their own abilities and talents. Most of the youngsters want to enhance their contacts with social networking that will help them in the future.
“A large part of the learning happens in the industry. Companies give us clear understanding of how different departments work in an organisation and how they manage things and thus enable us to know how we can manage things,” said S Sahithi, a BBA student of the PB Siddhartha Academy of Arts and Science, who has joined in a private company in Hyderabad. She added that her visit to Hyderbad for the internship gave her a chance to meet some of her childhood friends who had settled down there long ago.
However, a few students are making use of these summer vacations to follow their passions rather than prepare for their careers.
“Internships will help students decide their career paths. A lot of people pursue their passions after getting jobs. I was keen on photography and travelling. However, being an engineering student, it was not possible for me to do things that I am most passionate about. I can go for internship after completion of third year, to improve my skills and for industry experience. So, I have decided to use this summer vacation to pursue my passion of travel photography and I am very much excited about my trip,” said N Vamsi Krishna, a student of NRI Institute of Engineering and Technology.
Besides this, a few degree colleges have internships as compulsory constituents of their curriculum. These include some of the courses in BSc (Electronics) and Visual Communication.
S Alekhya, a second year student of Visual Communication, said: “I have joined as an internee in an English newspaper in Hyderabad to learn about the basics and functioning of an organisation and it will help me to decide my future.”