BOOK REVIEW : INTERN ABROAD THIS SUMMER BY ANIKET SINGH

Intern Abroad this summer is a self help book which talks about the benefits of a foreign internship and the ways to procure one. A foreign internship is often “the Road less travelled” but if one works hard towards getting one, it can be a very rewarding step to catapult one’s career.

The author is an IIT Madras graduate and is currently working in Apple in Cupertino, California. As a student, he did two foreign internships in England and Switzerland and that made a difference in how is career graph turned out. The reason for mentioning this is to let the reader know that this book has been written from the author’s own experience.

The book has chapters dedicated to :

• Highlighting the importance of a foreign internship and the positive impact it can have on one’s resume


• The Application Process


• Creating a Winning resume


• Finding your funding once you get the internship

Every now and then there is a ‘Story Time’ section in the book where the author has shared the anecdotes from his internship days. The main purpose behind these stories is to keep the reader hooked and amused in the midst of all the internship related information. I personally liked these story breaks but there were two stories I wasn’t particularly amused by.

The book has quite a few references from the movie 3 idiots. The mention of the character of Farhan Qureshi has been made more than once to convey the fact that you should follow your passion instead of following the herd. These references make the book relatable because even though 3 idiots is a story about the lives of engineering students but it takes a dig at the Indian education system collectively.

“You will have to go through many rejections and ignored emails before you finally land your dream offer. I find it akin to kissing a thousand frogs before you kiss the prince story.”

One thing this book has very strongly advised is to keep trying and not giving up. The frequent pep talk makes the book seem like a motivational self help book sometimes. The book has emphasized on the point that when it comes to a foreign internship, persevering despite multiple rejections is totally worth it.

The author comes from an engineering background and since the book has been penned down from his own experiences, it makes is somewhat specific to engineering students though the information shared in the book can be utilized by the students from other fields too albeit in somewhat more of a general sense.

The book has a few typing errors which hampered my reading experience a bit. Obviously the sense of the statements was clear to me, but a book is only better without any typing errors altogether.

I LOVED the postface. It was very enlightening and inspiring. These last ten pages dedicated to the memoirs of an international student named Sophia Mong really added to the appeal of the book.

You can pick this book up if you are thinking about doing a foreign internship and even if you aren’t, this book might just make you consider doing it.

My Rating – 3.5 stars

Get this book here.