What happens in an internship at Cisco -By Nitin Koul from SCMHRD Pune

I had first heard of Cisco during my engineering days at Pantnagar University. There was one Cisco Networking Lab in our Computer Engineering Department. We were supposed to go to the lab for our MATLAB classes. It was there where I’d often type Cisco in the search bar and Google about Cisco for long periods of time. Years passed and nobody would’ve imagined that I’d get an internship at Cisco during my time at SCMHRD Pune. 

The beginning

Cisco came to our campus with a case study competition. With the help of my team, I won that and earned a Pre-Placement Interview for an internship at Cisco. I strived hard to convert it into an offer, and guess what? I did! Fortunately, I was selected as a Human Resource intern at Cisco. And my stint will come to end on 29th May. 

The primary values of Cisco revolve around bringing a change to the world, caring and respecting for each other, and making innovation happen. And even though the world is in turmoil due to the ongoing pandemic, the team at Cisco left no stone unturned to ensure that their employees and interns are safe. So, a decision was made by their team to start a virtual internship program at Cisco, which officially took off on April 6, 2020. 

Learnings and challenges

Honestly, I feel that the amount of experience I’ve got from my internship at Cisco is huge in terms of learning, building professional networks and enhancing innovation, irrespective of the communication medium.

There are several moments that I would cherish but if we look at one moment, it is the time when we connect with leaders on a periodic basis about the different verticals of human resources. It enables all of us to know more about the company!

Even though we are all working from our respective homes, I never faced any problem while working on my project during the internship. And I must say, that the way Cisco adapted itself to the current situation is remarkable. Interning at Cisco has really been an incredible experience. I feel proud to be called a part of Cisco and am glad to have had the opportunity of working with such an amazing organization.