QIntern Adventures

the untold stories..

Chaitra Yarlagadda
IIT Madras

Nitish Kumar
IIT Madras

Shivangi Agrawal
NITK Surathkal

Intern Movie Night

Amidst the exciting and eventful first week
at Qualcomm, a mail from the UR team
further amplified the euphoria. We were
eagerly looking forward to the weekend
that was to begin with an Intern Movie
Night on the Friday evening (24th of May).
The movie invites were accepted within few
seconds, pings exchanged to share the joy.
The much-awaited Friday was here and we
could not hold the excitement to watch the
chasing cars. About forty of us left by cabs
to the QCinemas, to watch the Fast and
Furious 6. With the eagerness and vigour of
the interns, words like fast and furious
fitted quite well into the scenario even off
the screen. We did have ample time on the
escalators to check out almost the entire
mall with its dome-shaped roof,
interestingly-tiled floor and stores that
never miss malls.
Quite memorable were the intermittent
head counts by Shilpa that made us

reminisce the picnic outings we had in

school, making it seem to us as if she was
more concerned about the no.of heads
than even the ticket guy! With 40 odd
interns seated like they owned the theatre
for the day, passing hilarious comments
and echoing screams was nothing
unexpected. Even the supposedly introvert
people had started shouting.
Every time there was a change in the gears
of the cars, there was a roar among the
guys. But there also were some awws
from the girls for the rare sweet scenes.
Although a seemingly 50 year old hero
jumping (higher than Captain America)
across bridges to save the heroine of half
his age seemed a little(?) unrealistic , 2
samosas and a coke passed over to you by
surprise can make anything exciting.
With the recurring word family and the
unexpected sentimental scenes, though
not the girls, a few guys were spotted with

watered eyes. Extra tissues were also

passed, thanks to the keen planning of the
UR team.

We came out of the theatre with most of us

laughing over the discussions about the
movie, while some were still deeply moved
by the touching scenes. The cabs were
waiting outside for us to drop us to our
respective apartments. The UR team had
done the headcount, this time without
even us noticing, and we had strict
instructions from the concerned UR team
to acknowledge after reaching home.
We couldnt thank the UR team enough for
having begun our summer experience and
our weekend with a bang. It was only that
evening that we realized that adventure,
fun and exhilaration at a movie night has
almost nothing to do with whether or not
the movies good!

Intern Outing - Wonderla

Qualcomm laga dala, toh life Wonderlala
screamed an excited intern when he discovered that not
only was he getting a weekday-off but also a sponsored
trip with his fifty-two intern friends to Wonderla, both
thanks to the much-awaited event The Intern Outing!
A huge bus almost completely full of over-excited and
screaming interns, all charged to make the day the most
memorable one of their summer, didnt require a bumpy
road to agitate through its way to Wonderla. The almost
two-hour long morning journey (thanks to Bangalore
traffic), wasnt quiet for even a minute as the interns kept
themselves busy with the universal journey games
Antakshari and Dumb-charades! The bus was bifurcated
into two teams: front half- the silent and melodious
ones and the rear half the roaring and aggressive ones!
When it came to Antakshari, both teams agreed to
disagree on who won. As all the Bollywood songs
seemed to have gotten exhausted, it was only prudent to
move on to Dumb Charades, which didnt last long as the
bus hit Wonderla.

There was barely any angle from which

photos werent clicked. Every camera
that was brought had to have group
photos of varying backgrounds which,
no prizes for guessing, were the cover
pictures of most interns on facebook the
next day.

the land rides, Shilpa claimed to have

fun just by clicking snaps of interns
screaming when theyre upside down.

It was an unanimous decision to first try

out the land rides and then the water
rides. The land-rides, in a nutshell, could
be described as adrenaline-rush filled
rides where your souls almost come out
for a few seconds and go back in, where
you get either churned in a box or
rotated haphazardly on the name of fun
that might or might not induce
dizziness, but will sure make you realize
how much you love your life!

Some interns also climbed the 50 m high

tower only to experience the enthralling
look from on top of the giant wheel.
Though most people tried out almost all

the anaconda-like multi-colored

internally dark tunnels and the supersteep slides. They all brought out the
children in us, to an extent that we had
literally started dancing crazily in the
rain dance, for we knew no one was
watching!
The day ended with a little snacks and an
equally long bus ride. The front half this
time was deep asleep but for the rear
one, it was a dj vu! The intern outing
thus was so adventurous and eventful
that it was almost impossible to recall
everything we did even the next day, but
yet, the day got long imprinted in our
memories as one of the most
exhilarating and exuberant experiences
of our summer!

Then came the water-rides. The wave

pool made us jump more than a skipping
rope did in our entire lives. But the fun
part came when we chilled out (literally)
in the pool. Also, quite adventurous were

Qualcomm laga dala,

toh life Wonderlala!!

QCares
Giving has been part of Qualcomms
culture since its founding over 25 years
ago. One of the Companys basic aims is
to change the world for the better. With
this vision in mind was organized the
intern event Qcares! A group of interns
would go to a school named Shishu
Mandir, and carry out certain fun and
personality developmental activities.
Making the participation in this event
voluntary made really no difference.
There were interns who had cancelled or
postponed their meetings with their
managers so as to not miss this
experience.
We had divided ourselves into four
groups for four class ranges. Fun
activities for kids, how to play chess,
internet usage and advice on exam
preparation for high school children
were broadly what we had been asked to
carry out. It took negligible time for the
enthusiast interns to form teams of

roughly ten each and their team leaders

to plan out the events. We had stacked
in with us loads of goodies for the kids,
to give away through different drawing
contests and other activities.

While on our way to the school, we had

all sorts plausible and fearful
possibilities haunting us - What if the
children start running away from us?.
What if they start sleeping or crying?

But all those were nowhere near the

reality. The moment we all reached
school, all the children aligned in proper
grid, sang a welcome song in chorus
which not only took us by surprise but
also overwhelmed us with happiness and
gratitude, speechless as we stood.

We then dispersed into four different

directions to execute all that we had
planned. The group for small kids were
in a dilemma to figure out if what they
were doing was more of a fun activity for
the kids or for them. They had stereo too
with them, which was of great use as
they had found an incredible dancer
among the kids. The team for teaching
chess had displayed an interesting,
funny and educative video which really
enthused the children who kept their
eyes glued to the video for half an hour.

They gave them small assignments about finding info on Google

and gave goodies to the ones who made the best use of Google.
Kids were seen googling about their favourite IPL heroes, actors
and actresses. The excitement and happiness on their faces when
they found the photos of their idols on the internet was priceless.
They were smart and some seemed faster than Google.
The high school children were told that exam advice was a
misnomer for the activities they had coming ahead. They had
started roaring in joy in the closed classrooms as their teachers
werent in there. The children came up with extremely innovative
drawings and quotes when asked to draw what they expected from
their lives on a blank paper. The fact that we couldnt pick a winner
out of seven drawings spoke for itself. Then followed an
entertaining and informative presentation, which even the
teachers sat through to quench their curiosity.

The team for teaching internet explained the children about

Google search, Google maps, created Gmail accounts for them.

The sun, as we all feared, had to set. The children sang a thank you
song, which just catalysed our discontent over parting ways. But
what we can never forget is the delight and gratitude in the shining
eyes of the small children, the inexplicable and invaluable feeling
it gave us!

Idea Quest
31st May 2013. It was a quiet morning at
Qualcomm, and everything was going on
normally, until a mail landed onto all the
intern desktops at Qualcomm the launch
of IdeaQuest! A competition to foster
innovation and creativity by challenging
interns to develop new, cutting edge ideas in
areas that are strategically relevant to
Qualcomm it said! But all that appeared
blurred to most guys who couldnt get their
eyes of the footnote Reward: A
Qualcomm powered device for each
member of winning team!
It was launched with Aneet kick-starting
the session with the general guidelines
followed by an overview of the event from
Vinosh James (Sr Product Manager) and
Sanjay Muchini (Director, Engineering)
who set the expectations for us.
10 ideas, 4 from Bangalore and 6 from
Hyderabad were chosen for the finals ten
days later. Each idea presenter was to select
4 more interns to work for the finals,
wherein we had to showcase our ideas,

market them and get votes. The idea

presenters now became demi-gods with all
the interns trying hard to be a part of their
teams. While the incentives of treats
favoured some, many others rejoiced,
Having a smart college-mate finally paid
off!

The next one week had employees happy

with vacant foosball tables. Supposedly
some servers of Google had a hard time
handling the increased number of Google
searches. Demand for caffeine to catalyse
the creative brains lateral thinking had the
coffee vending machines empty even in the

mornings! The 2-3 hours of sleep that the

participants had were spent dreaming
about the gadget they would get (Oh ya,
and breakfast with the VP too!) Cafeteria
echoed with discussions about the ideas,
every team claiming their idea to be
superior to the others. The marketing had
already started. Conference rooms were
booked by each of the teams to plan their
strategy, printers ran out of ink. Printo (a
poster and flyer printing store) doubled its
monthly revenue overnight.
As the D-day neared, moon and Sun saw
the contestants equally awake. If only
someone in the UR team hadnt told that a
descriptive video would go a long way in
impressing the employees, the people at
the workplace would be at a lot more peace
without having to hear the word action
all day! Some say there also were spies
appointed to find out about the
preparation of other teams, but nobody
seemed to know who.

Blind Mans Friend. BlueFish. Omintech. Epad - creativity began

right with the name of teams. The teams exhausted Qualcomms
stationery supply. Thermocols and charts were scattered around.
The interns presented their baby-ideas proudly. The hall (Adarsh
Old Cafeteria) echoed with the video and presentations, and
interns trying to impress the employees for votes. Impressed
with the double enthusiasm and effort put in by the contestants,
there was double the number of pizzas arranged for lunch!
Presentations or demonstrations were more of misnomers for
what was going on, while discussions would fit in better.
A lot of employees kept swarming in till the evening, listened
with curiosity, through all the ideas and voted with even
suggestions. The interns claimed to be completely exhausted at
the end of the event, but when there was a smile heard during
the photoshoot, the faces turned bright and fresh as in the
morning.

Videos ready to be screened. Presentations done. Brochures

printed. Banners ready to be put up. Yes, we are talking about the
D-day. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow those were the colourful teams
that were clad in Qualcomm Tshirts (had there been three more
teams, wed probably have formed a complete rainbow!)

It was truly one of the best

intern days for participants,
not only because of the
illuminating conversations
with many otherwise busy
employees and their pleasingto-hear compliments but also
because of the unprecedented
exposure to how innovative
ideas were conceived by the
industry and the invaluable
learning that they imbibed
that day!

We hit the desks by 8

-Shilpa, Staffing Coordinator during the New Intern Experience

Dont talk. Execute it!

-Vinosh James, Sr Product Manager during the IdeaQuest Team
Leads Meet

Whatever you do, make sure you guiz have fun, okay!
-Shilpa, keeps saying this very often