The College of New Jersey Logo

Apply     Visit     Give     |     Alumni     Parents     Offices     TCNJ Today     Three Bar Menu

Internship Spotlight – Darshan Kalola

Name: Darshan Kalola

Graduation Year: 2020

Major: Computer Science, 7yr Medical Program

On-campus involvement: Table Tennis Club President, Association for Computing Machinery

Internship: AT&T Research Labs Middletown, NJ (Summer 2018)

Describe your role.

I worked as a software engineering intern alongside other engineers to write code and develop an SMS based Chatbot.

What was an average day like?

I would arrive at the office around 9:00AM, then check my email and calendar for the day. I usually met with my supervisor once in the morning and again in the afternoon. We discussed my progress on my assigned project and future goals. Around 12PM, I would have lunch with other interns in the AT&T cafeteria. Around 1PM, I would return to my office and start work again. About 2-3 times a week, interns went to talks given by senior leadership. Some topics included cyber security, advertisement models, and the FirstNet network.

What was the best memory you had interning?

The best memory I had was presenting my work at the end of the summer. I had to create a PowerPoint and explain to my fellow interns, their supervisors, and our senior VP what I had accomplished. It was great to hear the other interns projects, as well as share what I had been working on.

What have you learned from this experience?

I learned how important it is to be timely, courteous, and professional at all times. It truly is important to foster a good work environment and be as productive as possible. I also learned a great deal about writing code collaboratively. It is a very detailed-oriented process and extremely rewarding.

What is one skill you feel as if you’ve improved upon while at your internship?

I definitely became more resourceful. I didn’t have many of the skills I needed to work on my project when I first started. I had to constantly refer to the Internet for resources to help me learn new programming languages and frameworks. I learned how to find the information I was looking for independently, without anyone’s help.

Do you have any advice for anyone who is applying for an internship?

Make sure to apply early and apply everywhere. It’s a great experience to have and helps you improve your skills tremendously, so try your best to get one, even if it’s at a small or local company. Proofread your resume and have other people look over it too. Lastly, try not to take things to heart, especially rejections. It’s a competitive environment but as long as you try your best everything will work out.

Contact

The Career Center
Roscoe West Library, Room 102
The College of New Jersey
P.O. Box 7718
2000 Pennington Rd.
Ewing, NJ 08628

609.771.2161
Staff Directory
Office and Resumé Open Hours

Top