Intern Diaries 4.0 : An Interview with Varun

Internship: Larsen and Toubro (L&T)

Interviewer: A.Vishnu Varthan, 3rd Year student, Bachelors in Civil Engineering, CEG

Interviewee: Varun Subramanian, Final Year, Bachelors in Civil Engineering, CEG

GT: Could you please introduce yourself?

Varun: I am Varun Subramanian, and I am currently pursuing my 4th year in Civil Engineering at College of Engineering, Guindy. I recently completed my internship at L&T, which took place over 40 days.

GT: What inspired you to intern at a well-established and renowned firm like L&T?

Varun: As you said, the main factor that inspired me to apply there was its renowned multinational brand name. Also, this is not my first internship; I have already interned at two firms earlier. So I wanted to explore the work culture of L&T and understand how the company works with its trainees and people who are new to their company. I was also interested in acquiring new skills by challenging myself.

GT: Many students pursuing Civil Engineering in CEG aspire to do an internship from L&T. Can you please explain the application procedure to us?

Varun: I don't think there is a particular procedure to apply for the internship. I just approached a bunch of the company's managers through email and some executives through LinkedIn. Fortunately, the Buildings and Factories domain HR reached out to me, and I was given this opportunity.

GT: Could you please introduce yourself?

GT: What inspired you to intern at a well-established and renowned firm like L&T?

GT: Many students pursuing Civil Engineering in CEG aspire to do an internship from L&T. Can you please explain the application procedure to us?

GT: How do you think we should prepare ourselves for the internship selection process and what are the skills that every intern should require?

Varun: First of all, one is expected to recollect and interrelate the concepts, theories, problems and facts taught during their Bachelor's degree. I was interested to work on the Structural division, so I revised the concepts and basics that I learnt as a part of my Structural engineering curriculum. The college lectures that I attended were helpful for my internship preparation.

GT: How was your overall internship experience? Please tell us about the different projects you did as part of your internship?

Varun: The experience I had was a lot more than what I expected. I was given a particular section of a huge project. Initially, I didn't think that I would be allowed to handle a project which kept me occupied for almost 30 to 35 days. Altogether the outcome of the internship was a happy learning experience.

GT: What did you learn from the entire internship?

Varun: As I already mentioned, I did my project under the Structural Engineering division. From in Civil Engineering perspective, explored Seismic analysis and dived deep into the response spectrum analysis of residential buildings. Whereas from a student's perspective I learnt skills like Time management, connected with the senior leaders of the company, sending and receiving professional mails and a lot more.

GT: What are all the skills that every Civil engineer should learn to excel in the field?

Varun: This is a very broad question as Civil Engineering as a curriculum is very broad and accommodative. There are different branches in Civil Engineering itself. If you are interested in water resources or remote sensing you can learn and excel in those fields too. So, if you ask me for one foolproof strategy to excel, I would tell you to learn more than the theoretical aspects and learn the concepts practically.

GT: You said that you're more interested and inclined towards the Structural Engineering field of Civil Engineering. What is the reason for your Structural affinity?

Varun: More than a selection, my inclination towards Structural Engineering is a result of elimination. I was not interested in other sub-branches of Civil Engineering. Initially, Transportation Engineering was my field of interest, but through self-introspection, I realized that Structural engineering is my piece of cake.

GT: What are your plans?

Varun: I'm planning to do my Masters in Structural Engineering, particularly in the subfield of Earthquake Engineering. Ultimately, I plan to get into the construction industry and see how it progresses from there.

GT: What did you expect from Larsen & Turbo when you bagged the internship?

Varun: I didn't expect much from the company. Even my project was an unexpected one. Since the magnitude of Larsen & Turbo constructions is wide, I went with an open mind and was ready to do anything assigned to me.

GT: Generally people think that the entire field of Civil Engineering is all about building construction. What are the other areas to explore in that branch of Engineering?

Varun: Building construction is just a small part of Civil Engineering. As said earlier, Civil Engineering is a broader branch that accommodates every other branch. There are domains like design and probabilistic analysis which are different from building construction. It's disheartening to hear that Civil Engineering is all about Building Construction.

GT: What are all the research prospects available in Civil Engineering?

Varun: I am sure that there are huge possibilities for research in the field of Civil Engineering, as it is an ever-expanding branch. I think there are enormous research prospects available in Smart City development and urban planning. I'm not sure about the deep and intricate aspects of research.

GT: Did this internship help you to become more of an industry-oriented person?

Varun: Yes definitely. This internship helped me to understand how an industry works, the intricacies of it, and how the daily life of an industrial worker be. This internship gave me exposure to insights into the construction industry.

GT: What do you think about this initiative, Intern Diaries 4.0 where we interview people who interned at various firms?

Varun: I'm excited about being a part of this. This will be helpful not only for final year students but also for students of all years who have enrolled on their Engineering course, as this provides them free information about how different people have managed to do their internships at various companies.