The Intern Diaries is an initiative by the Guindy Times, to bring the real-time time Internship experiences of current fourth year students of Anna University, Guindy. This is to ensure that the student readers are made aware about every procedure concerning an internship process.
INTERVIEWER: TEJASHWINI K R
INTERVIEWEE: MOHAMED YILMAZ
GT: Happy evening! I am Tejashwini from Guindy Times. Please introduce yourself!
Yilmaz: Hey! I am Mohammad Yilmaz, doing my fourth year in computer science. I have done two internships previously- one in Leibniz Universität, Hannover (LUH-DAAD), Germany and Indian Institute of Research In Banking Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad.
GT: When should one start applying for internships?
Yilmaz: You'll have to start applying a year before you intend to do your internship. In my case, for doing internship in LUH-DAAD, I started my application procedure from July 2017. In some foreign universities, some really complicated procedures are followed- you'll have to mail the professors and get invitation letters, only then you can apply.
GT: How did you get to know about these internships?
Yilmaz: I got to know about the German internship through one of my seniors and the others through Google search.
GT: Do these universities follow any criteria of eligibility for selecting interns?
Yilmaz: For my German internship it was the CGPA that mattered. Those with a CGPA above 8.5 alone may apply. Apart from that, they see your projects and will expect you to have good grasping skills. Some professors will have an interview process. The most important thing is that you must have to have a specific area of interest rather than being generic.
GT: What is the reason for choosing LUH-DAAD?
Yilmaz: They are famous for web sciences. My area of interest was natural language processing. Though that wasn’t my specific goal, I just wanted to learn more about it.
GT: Can you share your working experience over there, with us?
Yilmaz: Germans make you work really hard during the weekdays. They won't be strict about the schedule, but you have to make sure that you get their work done.
GT: Was your project based on natural language processing or were you given a new concept?
Yilmaz: I did a project on fact-checking with Twitter. Basically, what I did was that, for example, if there is a claim about a politician, I do some technical work and find whether that claim is true, partially true or not at all.
GT: Oh! That is quite interesting. What are the possibilities for students to get sponsorships?
Yilmaz: I got this internship through German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).They give sufficient amount of Euros every month. With that, the intern can take care of their needs.
GT: How far will foreign internship experiences help us?
Yilmaz: You can also do internships in India but I feel that you will get more exposure abroad. Moreover, Germans treat you as their colleagues and not as students, which will be a new experience. Foreign internships really boost your profile while applying for masters.
GT: Thank you so much for spending your valuable time with us. On behalf of the Guindy Times, I wish you good luck for all your future endeavors.
Yilmaz: It’s a pleasure to guide my juniors!
The Guindy Times thanks Mohammad Yilmaz for his time and wishes all the best for his future endeavors.
