20-Year-Old on Samsung’s 23rd Floor: The Experience of an IIT Intern

Pranjal Mehta, student of IIT-Madras, got the opportunity to intern with Samsung India, after winning the inaugural Samsung E.D.G.E. competition. He shares his experience at Samsung with India Newsroom. 

“Engineering students trump MBA candidates to win Samsung E.D.G.E.,” read the news headline. I couldn’t believe it! What looked like an impossible-to-win-but-let-me-try-it competition was now on my trophy shelf.

I had never imagined winning the Samsung E.D.G.E. competition, considering our undergraduate engineering team was up against students from top B-Schools. But the win turned us into overnight rockstars in our college. For a brief moment, we became the talking point in B-School campuses too.

Pranjal and his teammates from IIT Madras receiving the first prize from Mr. HC Hong, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia at the inaugural Samsung E.D.G.E. competition

As the euphoria wore off, we realized that we may not be eligible to intern with Samsung India, a privilege promised to winners of Samsung E.D.G.E. We were undergraduates, while internship opportunities existed for B-School graduates.

But cool companies do things differently is what I realized when I received an internship offer for summer of 2017. I jumped at this opportunity and joined the Samsung Pay team since our winning business case was on “Leadership Strategy for Samsung Pay”.

My teammates chose to take the technical route and joined Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore, Samsung’s biggest R&D facility outside Korea.

I arrived for my internship in Delhi on a hot May evening. This was only my second time in Delhi, the first being for Samsung E.D.G.E. competition. I was excited. I’m a Rajasthani who grew up in Bangalore and has been studying in Chennai for the last two years. I like exploring new cities. Add to that the opportunity to work at one of the global tech giants. What more could you ask for at 20!

Pranjal (L) with his mentors – Manasvi Vedhera (centre) and Sanjay Razdan (R) of Samsung India

After finishing the paper work, I was introduced to the Samsung Pay team. My guide Manasvi Vedhera turned out to be a brilliant mentor. By the second half on the first day, I felt like I’m at home.

I spent the first week understanding everything about Samsung Pay. As with a lot of interns, I was full of energy and ideas, but I soon realized that not all ideas are good. I would throw ideas at the Samsung Pay team and they’d explain why it had not been done or what the roadblocks are and how we could go about it. This learning was a remarkable experience and helped me develop my business acumen.

Engrossed in work… Life at Samsung India is a healthy mix of hard work and fun, according to Pranjal

I spent a lot of time identifying new use cases. I also worked with colleagues across the globe to do feasibility checks for these use cases, both technical and business.

The Samsung Pay team did a fabulous job in accommodating a rookie like me. They were extremely friendly and cooperative. Few of the best memories I have with the team are from the elaborate lunches hosted by our director Sanjay Razdan. Age never felt like a barrier between me and my colleagues. I was engaged in the team’s ongoing projects to gain corporate experience and make me business ready.

I can now confidently say that I have a sound understanding of the payment scenario in India and across the globe. Through the internship, I had the opportunity to visit offices of popular Indian startups and MNCs, organize meetings, give presentations and attend mobile phone launches. All this has helped me become a much better professional.

“Then there are several cool lounges to unwind…”

Samsung also has some amazing facilities for its employees – a multi-cuisine cafeteria that serves Indian, continental as well as Korean food. Then there are several cool lounges to unwind.

One of the things that I really loved was the amazing offers available for employees. Unfortunately, I could not avail these offers; I would have loved to buy a Galaxy S8. Just think about the headline doing the rounds in my campus. “Pranjal goes for a Samsung internship with a different branded phone and returns with Galaxy S8”. Maybe next time when I’m here I can have this privilege.

There are other perks too. Samsung invests well in its employees (and interns). I come from a prestigious yet government-run institution. Hostel food is good enough to keep us just above underweight. From those standards, the lunch in office canteen is delicious.

Pranjal (centre) at the Masterchef competition organized by Samsung India

One of the best memories I will take back from here is the Samsung Masterchef competition I took part in with my teammates. We cooked spring rolls which disappeared into the bellies of the audience, 3.142 microseconds after the judge praised its stuffing.

Even beyond these materialistic perks, the satisfaction of working on and for something touching millions of lives across the globe is beautiful.

I have loads of stories to tell my friends when I get back. One particular story that I would like to share is when I walked into a Samsung store with a date and told them I work at HO – the royal treatment that came next worked wonders! Hope Samsung has stories to tell about my work here to future interns as well!