Exactly a year and 3 days ago, I received my admit from Columbia University. I was supremely relieved and excited to say the least. And now, a year and 3 days later, I got my offer from Salesforce for a summer internship as a Technical Program Manager. On many levels, getting this offer has been harder. Much harder. Three things came to my mind as soon as I got the news:

1. The importance of luck: As much as I’d like to say it was skill and hard-work, it would be unfair to not admit that there was an incredible amount of luck involved too. At a time when I was scouring the websites looking for any and all companies to apply to, the interview request from Salesforce came with absolutely no warning. The entire process got over so quickly that I’m still in a state of limbo. The story of how it happened is certainly a (funny) one to remember.

2. The importance of generosity: My gratitude does not stop just with the employees who selflessly agreed to refer me, or the employees who agreed to talk to me before the interview. It goes out to every single person who I have spoken to (and it is easily more than 90) in the last 7-8 months who agreed to have a call, meet or chat with me to share their experiences/tips/advice. Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need – How fitting!

I promised myself that the day I have something concrete on hand, I will begin to help those who come after me. And now it has finally begun.

3. The importance of optimism: 8 months is not a short amount of time. When I came to the US, my goal was to receive an offer by December. And then it changed to January. And then to February. And then to March. Finally, it happened in April. I’m sure if it hadn’t happened now, the only change would have been my goal’s deadline, not my foolish optimism. But this foolish optimism really helps – it helps to get you going whatever happens. (Please stay that way)

 

There are still many students on the hunt for internships across the US. Sadly, the demand heavily outweighs the supply. From my experience, I found that nothing helps as much as being focused, positive and working hard.

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Cheers! 🙂