Golden internship experience at Goldman Sachs -By Donika Juthani from DA-IICT

I began dreaming of getting an internship at Goldman Sachs the day it arrived at DAIICT for a campus event. We were split into teams to brainstorm on a project idea given to us. It was a wholesome experience and I decided then - I am going to get into this company. 

3 months passed by quickly as I was preparing for the upcoming internship drive and the day wasn’t far when GS came to the campus once again to hire Summer analysts. I passed the coding round and all 3 interview rounds. I vividly remembered the day results were announced, I screamed with excitement when I found out that my goal was accomplished and I got an internship offer at Goldman Sachs! My next goal was a PPO. I was thrilled to visit the Bangalore office but the pandemic hit and work from home became the new normal.

My journey to Goldman Sachs

Fast forward to 8th May 2020, the first day of internship. Working on a virtual mode especially for the first time in a leading global investment bank was not easy. The onboarding team made sure that access and resources were easily available, making the process very smooth and welcoming us with open hearts. Thankfully, I was contacted by my manager and mentor one week before the start of the internship and hence, I wasn’t totally blank on the first day. The learning curve began and grew exponentially for the next 6 weeks. It was a challenge daily to push harder, stay motivated, and communicate queries. 

The work culture 

With no experience in web development, my buddy became my first point of contact. She explained the project structure, tools to be used for development, and user requirements. We worked in weekly sprints and thus, there were weekly scrum meetings with the manager to check up on my work and guide me with further tasks. My manager had communicated what was expected out of me and my responsibilities as an intern beforehand so that I can make the best of this internship. These unprecedented times did affect the way of working but didn’t get in the way of completing the daily goals.  

My team members were not only supportive and encouraging but also great problem solvers. No stone was left unturned until I fully understood the working of functionality no matter how small it may be. I was provided ample resources including unlimited access to Coursera and in-house training courses for better understanding. The working culture at GS taught me that there is no option to quit. 

I learned to own up my project, present my ideas even if they conflicted with others, and I became more confident over time. I learned to work efficiently and balanced out hard work and smart work. I received practical knowledge of all the algorithms learned in theory in college and this industrial exposure focused more on user requirements, quality of code, and overall look and feel of the UI. 

To provide the equivalent amount of interaction that we could have in offices with our fellow interns, the HR team organized one to one sessions each week between random interns. This helped build a network and initiate out of office communication too. We were also teamed up for game nights and other fun events. On average, 2 sessions were conducted per week to interact with senior VPs and directors of GS and these talks gave me the motivation to become better at every step. 

I also got to have meetings with an associate based in London as he was an expert on frontend development on the project I was working on.

My overall experience

At the end of 6 weeks, I had to present my work to a team of VPs. They thoroughly went through my work, asked a lot of questions and it was almost like an interview. On completion of my internship at Goldman Sachs, I was satisfied and content with my work. I had built a great network with lots of people and saying goodbye to all was a bit difficult. I could’ve never worked so efficiently had I been alone. 

All the hard work and dedication finally paid off when I received the PPO one month after the completion of my summer internship at Goldman Sachs. I am enthused to be able to finally visit the Bangalore office in 2021 as a full-time employee!

Here are a few other articles that you might want to check out: 

• How to ace placement interview rounds, Abhishek’s journey to Bharti Axa 
• The journey from an MT to Jr Manager, HR at RITES Ltd -By Amit Kumar, IIM Ranchi
• Employee experience with Myntra: A place worth living your dreams -By Kunal Jain from BITS Pilani
• How I secured a job at Cognizant -By Aaditya from IMT Ghaziabad