The internship that showed me what I didn’t want

May 2015.
Just after completing the 2nd year of my undergrad, I got an opportunity to intern at Cadence Design Systems.

It was my first experience inside a corporate office.
The cubicles, access cards, whiteboards, cafeterias, meetings, everything felt exciting and “professional”. At that time, it genuinely felt like I had entered a completely different world.

And honestly, it was one of the most premium corporate experiences I’ve had till date 😄

But something unexpected happened during those 2 months.

The internship did not just teach me technical skills.
It taught me something far more important:

What kind of life I did NOT want for myself.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the company or the people. In fact, the experience was amazing.
But I realized that I personally enjoyed:

• fast-moving environments,
• wearing multiple hats,
• building things from scratch,
• taking ownership early,
• and working closer to chaos than structure.

That realization slowly pushed me towards startups and entrepreneurship.

At 19-20 years old, I still had no clarity about who I was or what I wanted to become.
But experiences like these helped me eliminate paths that didn’t align with me.

And that itself is progress.

To every fresher or student reading this:

Your early internships are not just about getting PPOs, certificates, or adding brand names to your resume.

Sometimes, their biggest value lies in helping you discover:

• what energizes you,
• what drains you,
• what environment suits your personality,
• and what kind of future you actually want.

Clarity rarely comes from thinking.
It usually comes from exposure.

So explore widely.
Try different environments.
And don’t treat every experience only as a “success/failure” outcome.

Sometimes, knowing what you don’t want is equally life-changing. 🚀