Harsha Vardhan Dasarathy on being an intern at Artoo
It was around March of 2012 and my search for a summer internship was not going well. I was worried that I would be using my holidays for the very purpose they were designed; the allotment of time to an individual so that he/she may spend countless hours in front of the television or at the dining table! Thankfully, this happy occurrence did not come to pass for I have spent my summer at Artoo.
Coming into the internship I was not very sure what to expect. I had no real experience in writing original code and I had only become comfortable with writing copied code very recently. I was, therefore, very unsure of how good the quality of my work would be.
It was with these thoughts racing through me that I made myself present at the office on a Monday morning in June. After Sameer gave me a brief introduction to Artoo and more specifically to what I would be working on, I got down to work. It would be an understatement if I said I had absolutely no idea what I was doing on that first day or indeed for the entire first week.
This state of complete and utter ignorance did however deign to, at least partially, leave me after the first week and a half. I was to build data visualizations to help with field analysis.
Thanks to Sameer’s help, my understanding of the work increased, leading to a proportional rise in the satisfaction I gleaned from it. Now, that I have arrived at the end of my internship, I can say that I am quite proud of what Artoo has allowed me to accomplish. The work I have begun is not even close to done, yet I am happy with what I have achieved here at Artoo, simply because I have been given the opportunity to learn more than I would have thought possible when I came in on that Monday morning.
This is the story of my internship and like any good storyteller I have the saved the best parts of this story for the end, which is just how much fun I have had working here. The work has been challenging and therefore interesting. That, however, pales in comparison to the people working at this company. Right from the moment I was invited to brunch a couple of days before I began work, I have felt welcome. It has never been dull, whether inside the office or outside it. At Artoo, there is a sense of community that I believe would be hard to replicate in most other places.
I have, in this post, attempted to give a small measure of the great time I have had working here. It might not quite match the supreme holiday experience of television and dining table, but I am certain it is the next best thing!
Harsha Vardhan Dasarathy
Harsha is currently pursuing his B.Sc(H) Mathematics from Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi University. He is always interested in learning about the applications of mathematical concepts, away from the classroom. At Artoo, he worked on building data visualizations to help field analysis.