Internship Apping: Civil Engineering Society Training and Placement Cell

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INTERNSHIP APPING

Manabendra Saharia
Harish Borah
Amartya Dey
B.Tech (Civil Engineering)
Class of 2011

This is a joint initiative to support MISSION 2015 by

Civil Engineering Society

Training and Placement Cell

FUEL YOUR DREAMS!

NIT Lingo
App (verb) The act of applying for
Internship/Graduate School, Apping,
Apped.
Interns/Trainee (Nouns) Students
who go for Internships
Fresher 1st Year student
Sophomore 2nd Year student
Junior 3rd Year student
Senior 4th Year student
Certi Certificate of completion received at the end of your Internship.
PPO - Pre-Placement Offer
RECO-Recommendation Letters. Very
Important for MS/PhD abroad.
RI Research Internship
II Industry Internship
FI Foreign Internship

NOTE on FIs
PLEASE APPLY FOR FOREIGN
INTERNSHIPS IF YOU CAN! Specially through DAAD and directly to
Professors. If you can afford, getting a
foreign Internship is not tough. But if
you want to be funded, better concentrate early!

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

As the global economy becomes more...well... global, the competition for


good jobs and opportunities continues to increase. You no longer have to
simply be more qualified than the person next to you; you have to be
more qualified than countless others all around the world. Over several
decades, all NITs, including NIT Silchar, have developed a healthy presence in the industry, thanks to the glorious success of our alumni, many
of whom have ascended to Top positions of various industries and academia. But, with globalization, you have to fight for your jobs not only
with fellow Indians but with students all over the world. Todays workplace in India is no longer multi-cultural alone, but also multi-national.
Going to a college or university is a critical step, but you have to enhance
your classroom learning by gaining real world experience through college
student internships and training. To preserve the pre-eminence and elite
nature of NITs in India, its mission-critical that you take whatever steps
are necessary to fuel your career today so that the success of our alumni
can be preserved and extended.

What is an Internship?
An Internship is probably the best (and most fun!) mode of knowledge
discovery beyond the traditional classroom delivery of lectures in Engineering. Our curriculum necessitates that you spend minimum 8 weeks in
an external organization during your B.Tech years. While previous batches mostly fulfilled this requirement during the summer after Junior year,
but increasing competition and awareness has meant that a huge majority
of students now work in both Summers after Sophomore/Junior year as
well as corresponding winters. It is a very welcome change and this momentum must be built upon.
Many different terminologies ranging from training, apprenticeship to
summer project are popular in India which is equivalent to the word Internship. The term most popular in NITS is Summer Training, which is
generally used to denote work in all kinds of summer destinations- R&D
dept of a company, Research Labs, IITs/IISc, Site, NGOs etc. However,
the work involving Interns in all these sectors is vastly different and a
blanket term training doesnt justify its purpose and confuses most students. We prefer Internships because it best explains the purpose of
working in your summers and because a large number of destinations
dont offer any training per se.
N.B Some people are of the opinion that paid trainings should be called
Internships. It is factually WRONG. The meaning of the term Internship
has actually got nothing to do with money.

Dictionary meaning - A student who works (often without


pay) in order to gain experience.

Why?
In addition to gaining great experience to
augment your classroom learning, college
internships allow you to beef up your portfolio or resume and make valuable industry
contacts that can be essential to landing the
ideal job upon graduation. Remember the
old adage, "It's not who you know, but
what you know". Well toss that right in
the garbage can! In today's competitive job
market, it's what you know AND who you
know that often makes the difference. College internships are a great way to address
both of those issues at the same time. Fortunately, NIT Silchar already has a 4000strong alumni spread all over the world and
you can learn from their experience and
expertise by interacting with them in person
or in social networks. As such, the importance of internships to college students
demands serious consideration. The purpose of an Internship is to learn more than
what classroom can offer and to develop
professional contacts.
Depending on your career aspirations, two
objectives can be clearly demarcated.

Grab a PPO in that company/Persuade


HR to visit our campus.

Graduate School Admit.

Some Negatives about the Intern


scenario in NIT Silchar
Many a times, despite having good profiles, many students find themselves in a precarious position when they fail to find a decent place to Intern at the onset of summer. Several reasons for this can be easily be
pointed out

Procrastination, lack of Interest & apathy (Vastly improved with Class


of 2010/11).

Over-dependence on Training and Placement Cell (T&P).

Lack of right information at the right time and proper planning.

We should all appreciate the hardwork Training and Placement Cell


(TNP) puts in to secure summer positions for all NITS students. But a
dedicated TNP cell means that most students are too lazy to even apply
on their own.
One of the joys of Apping for an Internship is that for many of you it may
be the first time in your life you will start interacting with the professional
world - academia and industry. This is one of the first opportunities for
everyone to test their soft skills like communication, netiquettes, ability to
source info etc Skills that will be invaluable once you are out of NITS.
But by pressurizing the TNP to do all the dirty work for you, you are depriving yourself of a very valuable experience. This is especially true for
students with high pointers (>8). It is practically a sin is you dont app to
the high-profile Internship programs and instead rely on the TNP services, which are most essential to students with low CPIs (<7). These are
the people who may not get accepted into good programs on their own.
Its a sincere appeal Please apply on your own as high-pointer junta can
get an Intern in numerous destinations with a little bit effort. Let the TNP
concentrate on the people who need them the most. People who intend to
go for high profile industry internships are requested to work in tandem
with the TNP members while people interested in Research Internships
should work independently.
This guide is intended to give you a general timeframe of the application
process, procedures and some netiquettes that will hopefully come in
handy. It has been divided into two parts Research Internships (RIs) and
Industry Internships (IIs)

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

RESEARCH INTERNSHIPS (RI)


The best places to pursue an RI in India are in IISc/IITs/NITs/Research
Labs. A detailed list of all the possible destinations in India is given later
as well as available online. Some of the points may be equally useful for
Industry Internships too. In order for you to extract maximum benefit
from your Internships, the whole process has been explained in three
stages.

Pre Project

Pre-Project

Identify an AOI

Find an advisor

Prepare a nice CV

Email Profs/Scientists

Meet them

In-Project

Slog! Slog! Slog!

Develop contacts

Post-Project

Accomplishments
Mythbusters
Share!

One of the prime objectives of


MISSION 2015 is to diversify the
interests of the graduating class
which may eventually help us to attract a diverse range of employers
like the premier IITs do, instead of
primarily construction companies.

1. Area of interest (AOI)


Todays is the world of specialisation. The first thing in your quest for an
Internship is to decide on an area of your branch to specialise in. Eg. for
Civil Engineering (CE), it could be Geotechnical Engg, Water Resources
Engg, Structural Engg, Concrete Technology, Transportation Engg, Environmental Engg. etc. Though they are just general names of the various
sub-fields and in actuality, you will be working on very specific problems,
you are not expected to know in detail about them, especially in second
year. Dont keep more than two AOI. How to choose? It is best not to
choose by market perception. Go for what catches your imagination and
how much opportunity it can provide you. While the general trend of
Civil Engineers in India is to go for Structural Engg, you will be amazed
at the gamut of possibilities that exists, both in Industry as well as research, in all specialisations like GIS, Climate modelling, hydraulics, Concrete technology, Geotechnical etc. Civil Engineering is the largest branch
of Engineering with most number of specialisations and globally it is an
even more diverse field than you can imagine. Most academic departments abroad have been renamed as Civil and Environmental Engg
(CEE), reflecting the changing nature of challenges confronting the
world.
A simple equation may serve you well - Choose an area that is perceived
to be less in demand in the market (Hence less popular among students
of third-world countries like India) but has lots of potential for research
and learning. Also, this means that your chances of funding in MS/PhD
admit will be better than your peers. At the end of the day, there are more
than enough opportunities in Industry as well as Research to succeed in
all branches of Civil Engineering.

Less Competition = More opportunities

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

2. Find an Advisor
The first place to look for potential advisors is in the Faculty Homepage
section hosted on the institute servers.
Check Institute Site>Department>Branch>Faculty. Check professors
in your chosen area. You will get links to publications in the webpage.
Prefer Profs with healthy publication record/funded projects since their
recommendations will be highly useful if you decide to pursue Graduate
studies in that area abroad. (MS/PhD).
If you need info about a particular field, talk to a friendly Faculty
member of our Dept and politely ask for references. Most people are always ready to help. Dont assume otherwise. If you have personal/family
contacts, use them. But remember that a contact may help you get in, but it will accomplish nothing if you cant impress
your Advisor with your work.

3. Curriculum Vitae (CV):

CV Checklist

The importance of a carefully prepared CV cannot be overemphasized. Its a


2/3 page document listing all your major and minor academic and professional
achievements in reverse chronological order that the Professor will use to judge Email
and differentiate you from the pool of applicants. Now what makes a simple CV
great? The first thing to realise is that it is NOT just a glossary of your achieve- Academic achievements
ments and CGPA. It is a MARKETING TOOL. Think of yourself as a sales- CPI (Neednt mention if you
man and your achievements as the product. Your chances of getting an Interndont have a good one but have
ship will depend on your ability to sell yourself as a product to a potential adviother things to compensate for
sor. Active Profs are always on the lookout for motivated students, so if you can
it)
convince him of your intention work sincerely, landing an Intern will be cakewalk. Some points that you can keep in mind Projects, Term projects/Papers
Use professional fonts like Arial, Times New Roman. Dont use more than 2
fonts in one CV.
Extracurricular, awards and
If you think you have fewer things to mention in your CV, use Candara/
Garamond. Makes your CV look full.
Many students use colour in CVs, especially while underlining their name. Please dont! Avoid using colours other
than Black and Grey unless you are a student of Design.
Freshers and sophomores should participate and try to win some contests, especially Paper Presentation/Code
Wars/B-Plan/Case Study etc. They wont help you in Grad School admissions, but will look good in your CV when you
app for Interns in 2nd yr.
Try to mention even your smallest of achievements. Specially if you are a second year student. However sophomores
should avoid elaborating achievements from your school. At best you can mention it as a small footnote towards the end
of your CV.

4. Email Profs/Scientists:
Write a short and formal email expressing your interest in working with the Prof. NEVER Spam!
Dont write long emails with crap like With great respect and humility, Ill be highly honoured and I hope I am
not wasting your time. We have heard from Profs first-hand how much they hate reading these emails.

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

Keep it short and formal. Eg. Start with-I am a student of X and I wish to work under
your kind supervision from Y to Z.. End with Anticipating an encouraging reply/
Looking forward to a favourable response
You have read any paper of the Professor you are apping to, mention a line about that.
Send the email at say 1-3 pm in the afternoon. Most Profs are too busy in the mornings
and will probably delete your email from their flooded inbox without reading it.

5. Meet the Prof


If you happen to be in the city of the institution, go and meet them. Profs appreciate the initiative. If no position will be
available, thank him for the opportunity to talk to him and let him know that you will be happy if he considers you in
the near future. You may also ask him if anyone else in the Dept would be willing to take you in. Some Profs dont reply
to Intern emails but will remember your name when you visit him.

In-Project
1. Slog Fest
Nothing can substitute the good ol days of slogging! If you are intending to app for MS/PhD, this is the single most
important event that can make or break your funding chances. Try to soak in everything you can!

2. Develop Contacts
A very important point many Interns forget is that a prime purpose of their Internships is to develop contacts. If you
have spent an entire summer only working on your project and didnt develop good relations with atleast one Graduate
student (M.Tech/PhD) and your advisor, you have wasted an entire summer for nothing. These are the people who can
help you in your project, share their insight and give inside info. Ofcourse, this doesnt mean that you hound them all
the time in the name of developing contacts. But a chance-meeting at the coffee outlet is a golden opportunity to start a
chit-chat. Show them you are committed to your work and be respectful while asking for advice.
This is very important for those who apply for Graduate School. Good relations with these people will help you for the
rest of your professional life.

Post-Project
1. Accomplishment
The reason for a separate heading for this is that an overwhelming majority of the students undergoing Internships in
Research Labs/IITs have little idea what encompasses an achievement in a research internship. While a certi from a
high-profile lab does look well in your CV, it shouldnt be regarded as a big achievement and something to brag about.
It is different for Industry Internships where better companies usually provide better Internships and a certificate from
such places will serve you well in your initial career. You may as well as brag about that! But an RI is a totally different
deal. Yet another reason why the word training doesnt justify the purpose of an RI. The purpose of your RI is to

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

develop contacts, secure recommendation letters and, if possible, publish papers. A certi is commendable but not what
should motivate you. The work should. Not having a clear idea of the purpose of their work is understandable for sophomore Interns, but it is inexcusable for a Junior to approach it the wrong way, specially the ones who have gone for an
RI in the previous summer. By doing so, you are wasting time, both yours and the Profs, as well as depriving other deserving candidates.
In increasing order of importance, these are the things you should look to achieve through an RI (As told by an IIT
Professor):

Certi Project Report Strong Reco Conference Pub Journal Pub


All students pursuing an RI must secure atleast the first three. While the last two, though very much possible, is tougher
and can be a counted as feather on the cap. Your Graduate School Apps (MS/PhD) will depend massively on which
and how many of these five you can secure during your Interns.

The biggest myth surrounding an RI is The duration of a project is two months. While Industry Internships usually end in 8 weeks, there is NO SUCH THING as duration of a project. Though your official timeframe
will indicate 2 months, you have to continue your work even beyond the summer to come up with something that may
be counted as a significant achievement. So, Continue to work after returning on-campus! The beauty of Internet is you
no longer have to stay near your advisor to continue your project.
Sometimes a student discovers he doesnt like the field or wants to discover some other avenues, then its understandable. In such a case, you should either try a different Prof or go for an II next summer. But an overwhelming majority of
Interns dont return because they were not clear what the objective of their work was or were probably too lazy. The
duration depends on your ability to finish work and subject to hundreds of factors like your knowledge of the tools employed, hardwork etc, it may take you anywhere from 2 months to 2 years to come up with publishable results. Also,
you might have to do very menial or uninteresting work in your first summer. Persevere! After you impress upon the
Profs about your sincerity, you will get interesting projects to work on.

For those of you looking for MS/PhD admits abroad, it is absolutely imperative that
you continue your projects beyond the summer. Professors will not give you strong
Recos unless you have impressed that person with your work. Besides, two months of
work is usually not enough to come up with any publication whatsoever. Your
GradSchool funding chances will be a lot better if you have one. Also, try and work
with research-active Professors of our Department for papers.

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

INDUSTRY INTERNSHIPS
1. Decide on your AOI
It is very important that you decide upon your area of interest first, before you proceed. If you have trouble narrowing
down to one discipline, atleast have a priority list in mind! Civil engineering is a gargantuan branch in itself and opens
numerous fields of specialization to its students. A detailed list of possible specializations is given later. With the immense opportunities available, deciding your priority AOI list will help you focus and stay on track while you proceed.
However it is always suggested not be very adamant on your priority list and to be open to new ideas. Needless to say,
as you proceed as you will discover a whole lot of new things that may interest you. Lets keep some room for them too!
Read the selection of AOI part for Research Internships as it is equally applicable here also. Structural & Construction
engineering are usually the most popular discipline among Civil Engineering students. Geotechnical Engineering and
Earthquake Engineering has its fanbase too! Some of the hottest Civil Engineering areas in Indian Industry currently are
Transportation Engineering, Remote Sensing and GIS. Research on these disciplines and find out what interests you the
most. Try and justify your list. Make sure you have valid reasons! And please dont use job opportunity as a criterion
while selecting this!
All specializations have more than enough scope in Industry. Your focus should be to become a MASTER/EXPERT
in one or atmost two sub-fields.

2. Public/Private Sector?
Having decided your AOIs, the next thing to work upon is to try and figure out, what kind of institution would you
preferably like to work for post graduation- public undertaking or private corporation. Again do not be adamant, its
just about preferences! Immense opportunities of career growth exist in both. Dont take starting salary alone as a
criterion while deciding on this. The focus should be to become an industry expert in your AOI within 2-3 years and
choose the route that serves that goal. E.g. Joining a power company wont be the ideal choice if your dream is to become, say, a great geotechnical engineer. Again, dont be adamant!
For those seeking public sectors jobs should preferably look for opportunities in the PSUs. Most of these organizations
conduct well planned summer Internships/Training for 3rd year engineering students at their various respective project
sites nationwide.
Similarly, private sector job seekers should preferable look for opportunities in the various private organizations, keeping in mind their field of interest. Here bigger the brand, the better! Many private companies offer paid internships
that students can apply for. Besides PPOs are always an icing on the cake offered by some!
One must realize that training/internship in a public sector/ private sector does not necessarily guarantee a placement in
the same ,but it definitely gives you an edge during recruitment interviews. Moreover, it provides you an understanding
of the nature of work of the respective sectors (which are very different in their own way) and gives you a feel of the
corporate world that you will venture into after graduating.

Companies prefer Industry-ready graduates who


already have an understanding of their existing
working pattern and can excel in the same!
FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

3.Prepare a good CV and apply where-ever opportunity arises.


A good resume always makes the difference. Take your time and prepare a good one. Highlight your positives only and
mention worthwhile projects/assignments. Avoid mentioning petty achievements - winning Musical Chair, participated
in first round of Indian Idol is NOT an achievement! The various ways to enhance the effectiveness of your CV has
been dealt with in case of RIs before as well as online on our blog.
4. While Interning/Training: Perform & Network!
It is important that once to have bagged the Internship/Industrial Training, you follow it up with sincere and impressive
performance. Do not forget that you have been offered the position amongst many applicants because they believe you
have the potential to learn and perform. In many organizations, your mentors closely follow you work during your II
and if honestly impressed you might just get a PPO too!! Besides, it is worth mentioning, that there have been numerous incidences amongst our college recruit, where a student has been recruited on the day of campus interview by the
visiting company purely on the basis of the impressive work showcased by the student during training in the same.
Show them you are superior and why you would make an ideal candidate for a PPO. Develop good contacts with you
training mentors (which will be assigned to you once you join for II). He can give you an insight of the professional life.
Talk to him, find out about what they expect from an intern, how you can develop your prospects in the job market and
all that you would want to know.

Your and NIT Silchars brand


name depends on your
Internship performance!
The importance of internships to college students in terms of networking and gaining new resources cannot be understated. Building a network of "People I know" through summer/winter internships can pay great dividends upon graduation. By networking successfully with Industry people (including NIT Silchar alumni if any), you might later have a shot
at companies other than the one you Interned in.
So get in there and mingle. Make it a point to meet as many people as possible. Learning about someone as a person can
be as valuable as learning about what his or her job entails. Strike up constructive discussions. Social gatherings with coworkers after hours or on weekends are great ways to network and build meaningful bonds that make the most of college internships. Remember the value of college internships often lies in the people with whom you will work with. You
never know who may be of help later!

Sidenote
Most of the PSUs approach the TRAINING AND PLACEMENT CELL of NIT Silchar with their programmes.
However , strong personal contacts can also help you find a place. For the private companies , a lot of slogging is required from the concerned TNP team. They dont really come easy! Good contacts can again help big time in this perspective. It is worth mentioning that some organizations such as RELIANCE METROs start plans from Mid December.

So for those of you dreaming big, its time you start your effort!

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

Destinations for Research Internships (RIs)


Organized Programs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

SURGE Programme, IIT Kanpur.


IITD Summer Research Fellowship
IAS Summer Fellowship
JNSCAR Summer Fellowship
IITB Summer Research Fellowship
TIFR Fellowship

19. Dept. of Ocean Engg and Naval Architecture,


IIT Kharagpur
20. Alternate Hydro-Energy Centre, IIT Roorkee

CSIR Research Labs

Academic Departments
1. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Guwahati
2. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Roorkee
3. Dept. of Civil Engg., IISc Bangalore
4. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Bombay
5. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Madras
6. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Kanpur
7. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Delhi
8. Dept. of Civil Engg., IIT Kharagpur
9. Dept. of Hydrology, IIT Roorkee
10.Dept. of Water Resources Development
& Management, IIT Roorkee
11. Dept. of Earth Sciences, IIT Roorkee
12. Dept. Earth Sciences, IIT Bombay
13. Dept. of Ocean Engg., IIT Madras
14. Dept. of Earthquake Engg., IIT Roorkee
15. Environmental Engg and Mngmnt., IIT Kanpur
16. Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, IIT Kharagpur
17. School of Water Resources, IIT Kharagpur
18. Dept. of Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere
and Land Sciences, IIT Kharagpur

1. Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee.


2. Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi.
3. National Environmental Engineering Research Institute,
Nagpur.
4. National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad.
5. National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.
6. National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi.
7. Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai.
8. Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat.
9. National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee.

Research Labs/Centres

1. Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.


2. Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun.
3. National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO.
4. Space and Atmospheric Research Science Division
5. Physical Research Lab, Ahmedabad.
6. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.
7. Tata Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi.
8. Centre of IT in Building Science, IIIT-Hyderabad.
9. Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, IIITHyderabad.
11. Lab for Spatial Sciences, IIIT-Hyderabad.
12. National Atmospheric Research Laboratory,
Andhra Pradesh.
13. Space Applications Centre, ISRO.
14. Space Applications Centre, Shillong

Destinations for Industry Internships (IIs)


1. ITD CEMENTATION
2. BHEL
3. SHAPOORJI PALLONJI CO &
LTD
4. NTPC
5. BHUSAN STEEL
6. IOCL
7. GAMMON INDIA
8. NHPC
9. KOTHARI & ASSOCIATION

10. CBRI
11. AHLUWALIA CONTRACTS
LTD
12. OIL
13. THDC INDIA LIMITED
14. CMERI
15. L&T ECC
16. HPCL
17. ASEB
18. RRL

19.
20.
21.
22.

NRL
BMTPC
NCC
EPIL

(NIT Silchar students have interned


here. You may explore places outside
this list also)

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

Some Relevant Civil Engineering Softwares


Structural Engineering Softwares
(Analysis and Design)

1.

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.

Hydrology/Hydraulics

1. HEC - HMS / HEC - RAS


AutoCAD - It is a CAD (Computer Aided Design or 2. MIKE-SHE -Advanced integrated hydrological modeling system. It simulates water flow in the entire land
Computer Aided Drafting) software application for 2D
based phase of the hydrological cycle from rainfall to
and 3D design and drafting.
river flow
STAADPro - A software suite addressing all the pro3. Watershed Modeling System (WMS v8.2) - The
duction needs of the structural engineering office.
comprehensive hydrology modeling package
Structural Analysis Program (SAP) - An integrated
4. MODFLOWThis program is used by hydrogeolostructural design & analysis software package.
gists to simulate the flow of groundwater
ANSYS - A tool for all types of advanced Civil /
Structural Engineering analysis (linear, non-linear, static 5. Fluent - For Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
Construction Management
and dynamic) and design.
ABAQUS - A finite element program designed for ad- 1. Primavera -Primavera Contractor is an affordable sovanced, nonlinear continuum and structural analysis.
lution specifically built for Contractors that makes
ETABS - A suite of linear & nonlinear static & dynamscheduling, reporting and progress planning simple.
ic analysis & design of building systems.
(Recommended: STAADPro/ANSYS/SAP)
Transportation Engineering

GIS/Remote Sensing

1. TransCADGIS software product for transportation


and public transport application.
1. ArcGIS - It a scalable system of software for geographic data creation, management, integration, analysis, and disProgramming Languages/Environments
semination for every organization, from an individual to a
1. C/C++
globally distributed network of people.
2. Fortran
2. GRASS GIS - Open Source GIS
3. Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB)
3. ERDAS Imagine - Used throughout the entire map- 4. SPSS
ping community (GIS, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, 5. MS-Excel (Advanced capabilities)
and image compression).
4. ILWIS (Integrated Land and Water Information Sys- (Please try to learn atleast a few of the programming languages during the course of your projects, specially if you
tem) Integrates image, vector and thematic data.
are going for MS/M.Tech/PhD)

Year-wise recommendations for all students of NIT Silchar


First
Year

WINTER

SUMMER

Enjoy

Surf the net to learn about Civil Engg in General. Talk to


seniors. Learn one software.

Second Very Impt. Learn one software. Search net


Year and apply for RI/II for the coming Summer
Third
Year

MUST go for RI/II. Dont sit at home!


Work hard and impress your advisor/guide.

Continue your RI. This is the time to impress RI: Take a good project in the same field. Publish if you
your advisor about your seriousness.
have good results by now. Arrange Recommendations.
II: Impress the Industry people. Persuade HR.

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

Sample Introductory Email


Hello Prof/Dr X,
I am a B.Tech pre-final year (5th sem) student of Civil Engineering from NIT Silchar and I am writing to explore the
possibility of pursuing a project under your Guidance in the ensuing summer/winter of 2011.

(First Paragraph) Write your Research Interests/Areas of Interest here. Also, your CPI (If its a good one.
Neednt mention if not). If you have read some paper of the Prof, write a short line mentioning you have. Also write
your skills if any (Like GIS/ StaadPro/ ANSYS/ Matlab)

(Second Para ) Papers, Projects, Trainings, Internships, Scholarships etc. Dont elaborate too much. Second
year students may mention your Techfest paper presentations/contests winnings/coding war wins too. Third year
students should elaborate on your Summer (After 4th semester) and Winter (After 5th semester) Projects/Trainings.
Anticipating an encouraging response.
Warmest Regards,
XYZ
B.Tech (5th semester)
Dept. of Civil Engg.
NIT Silchar
Phone: 00000-00000

SMART TIPS

1. Embed/Type your CV in the website and send the link instead of an attachment. Chances of a reply from a Professor becomes tenfold.
2. Neednt know HTML or FLASH! Just use GOOGLESITES or WEEBLY (Preferred). It is so easy!
3. Best time to make it is during your Summer Internship/break after 4th semester. After that, as you learn more
and gather qualifications, add it continuously to your homepage as well as CV.
4. Put your research papers/term papers/project reports/presentations/scanned certificates/Codes/contest wins
etc here. Dont put useless stuff like antakshari wins.
5. This is the BEST way to keep track of your progress during B.Tech years. While IITians have been doing this
for a long time, very few here have homepages. So start building it today itself!
6. Your web presence matters a lot in todays world. Prospective advisors/professors sometimes will google your
name before they reply. So try to be responsible on the Internet. Use LinkedIn to connect with Alumni.
7. If you are planning for M.Tech/MS/PhD, join www.academia.edu or www.researchgate.net. Meet
like-minded people and have general chats on your work. It helps!
8. Never hurt your colleges image because the only one who will lose by that is YOU.

FOCUS . ACCELERATE . ACHIEVE

MISSION 2015
MISSION 2015 is all-pervasive 5-year programme by Civil Engineering Society for providing better career opportunities to its
members. Its objective is to augment the existing reputation of the Dept. of Civil Engineering of NIT Silchar in Academia and
Industry and the entire Civil Engineering fraternity of NIT Silchar is benefited by it in due course of time.
Our larger vision is to help each and every student of NIT Silchar of all branches receive top-notch Internships, better jobs and
more opportunities in Higher Education as well as give adequate coverage to the major strides taken by Faculty members in Research, Teaching and Consultancy as well as Alumni in Industry and Academia.

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Civil Engineering Society


National Institute of Technology, Silchar
Assam
India788010

www.cesnitsilchar.wordpress.com

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