My internship journey at Ascentic

How it all started

I got the opportunity to interview at Ascentic through the annual career fair of my university. I went through 3 phases, and after the interviews I went to have lunch, hoping for a call saying I had been selected. After waiting for an hour, I got a call asking me to come to the Ascentic stall - and they told me I was selected as an intern. I was over the moon. That feeling is still one of the best experiences of my life.

Ascentic had only selected 4 interns for the year of 2025. Knowing that I was one of them felt like a real privilege. The three other interns came through the same career fair, but they were total strangers who I hadn’t spoken to before even though they were from my university. Now, of course, they are like my own brothers to me. So, 26th March, 2025 was one of the major turning points in my life.

Where it all began - IIT Career Fair 2025, Ascentic stall. 26th March, 2025

Day one and first impressions

I started the internship on 2nd June, 2025. The welcome I had on my first day was amazing - it felt like I was already a part of the team. My dream of working at an IT company and wearing that tag during work came true that day.

I was very nervous, to be honest. I kept thinking it would be difficult to understand their workflow and even harder to fit in, because this was my first ever industrial experience and I had little to no idea how enterprise systems work. And that’s how it started.

Day one at Ascentic - officially part of the team. 2nd June, 2025

Training period

Ascentic’s tech stack is .NET and React with TypeScript. I had worked with React before, but TypeScript was new to me, I had no knowledge of .NET at all and was not very familiar with different architectural patterns. But Ascentic had a solid training program for the interns. They didn’t just hand us resources and walk away, they guided us throughout the learning period. We had several sessions focusing on different technical aspects, and we also got to learn about new architectural patterns which gave us a better understanding of how things are structured at an enterprise level.

The bi-weekly .NET hangouts were also a really good space to get to know about different .NET concepts in a more casual and open setting. During this training period, we worked on two individual projects, then demonstrated our implementations to our chief and supervisor. That was a really good way to identify what we needed to improve before getting onboarded to the company’s HRIS product that the interns worked on.

This HRIS product’s codebase was big and complex, but they didn’t just leave us to look at it and figure things out on our own. They organized KT sessions for us to build a basic understanding of the concept and the codebase. Even just understanding the codebase felt like an achievement.

Demo day - presenting one of my individual projects

Getting into real work

After the 2-month training program, we finally got onboarded to the company’s internal HRIS product, which is dedicated for the interns.. This is where things started to make sense, and everything we learned at university and all the concepts from our training period started clicking. Starting off with bug fixes, we eventually got the chance to work on actual features.

I was mainly involved in full-stack application development, working with .NET, React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Docker, SQL Server, Azure, and Keycloak. One of the most valuable parts of this experience was getting exposure to backend architecture concepts like Clean Architecture, CQRS, MediatR, and Minimal APIs. These were things I had never touched before, and getting to work with them in a real project made a huge difference in how I understand software development now.

There is something interesting that I didn’t expect. I slowly started to enjoy these tasks: bug fixes, new features, more complex problems. They felt intimidating at first, but once I started working on something, it became more interesting to dig in further and give the best possible outcome I could. At Ascentic, we had the space to understand the task, get further clarification from seniors, plan the solution, and implement it. This was valuable because I was able to properly figure out how to approach a problem and come up with a solution.

We also followed proper agile practices - daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, backlog groomings, and retrospectives were all part of our routine. These weren’t just formalities; they actually helped me understand how a real development team operates, how work gets planned and prioritized, and how to communicate progress and blockers clearly.

Getting into real work - bugs to fix, features to build, coffee within reach

Growing beyond code

Ascentic provides a lot of opportunities for their employees to grow. The Mentor Me program is one of them. We can go through a list of mentors and choose one based on the area we want to improve in. I had two Mentor Me sessions — one for soft skills and one for technical skills. The best part is, we can schedule a meeting with them and get their advice anytime. And they are genuinely willing to help.

Another highlight was the Ascentic 24-hour AIthon 2026, which was a completely new experience for me. We, the 4 interns, formed one group and competed against the senior teams — and I see that as a great opportunity in itself. We got to feel the pace, the pressure, the team collaboration, the time management, the quick thinking. It was an all-in-one experience. They also organized AI Unbox 2025, which gave us even more exposure to several concepts of AI. Ascentic also took great initiatives to make sure that the right resources are accessible for everyone to keep up with the changes in the tech industry, especially with AI evolving so fast.

With my team WYSC at the Ascentic 24-hour Aithon

The culture that made it special

Time passed while gaining all these experiences, and I started feeling sad because I was slowly coming to the end of my internship period. I never thought I’d feel that way about a workplace. But the environment was something else, the people, the energy, everything kept me motivated.

The everyday foosball sessions at the office got me properly addicted. We built so many memories around that table, the kind you think about later and laugh to yourself. Celebrations like Avurudu, Deepavali, Eid, New Year, and Ascentic’s own annual anniversary party were absolute bliss. The birthday I celebrated with the Ascentic family was something I didn’t expect to feel so warm, it really hits different when the people you work with genuinely make you feel special on your day.

Thursday after-works were something we looked forward to; dinner from the company, new food to try, and genuine downtime with colleagues. We also had a special high tea after-works day at the office, which was a really nice and new experience. Those made the evenings feel less like just work and more like time spent with people you actually enjoy being around.

The special high tea after-works day at Ascentic

A workplace that felt human

As a strong introvert, I thought it would be hard to survive in an office environment. But Ascentic made it easier for me to make friends and get comfortable with small talks. Before the internship, I was afraid of the toxic work culture that people talk about, but I was lucky. Ascentic is flexible, they don’t keep an eye on you all the time, we’re free to do our work, we can work from home, and they didn’t expect us at the office by exactly 9 AM. Even when we needed a day off, we didn’t have to feel scared to ask or apply for it because they understood that we have lives outside of work too. That’s why it never felt like a typical 9-to-5 job. But it’s of course our responsibility to use that flexibility and meet their expectations without misusing that freedom.

The birthday that felt different, celebrated with the Ascentic family

Looking back

The person I am today is at a completely different level compared to who I was before this internship. I won’t say the journey has been easy and smooth, because there were times I struggled with tasks, had problems with my communication, and had to take on big responsibilities and face real challenges. But that’s how we learn and grow, right?

Ascentic gave me something rare, the chance to become the person I am today. My colleagues were a great support throughout this journey: my seniors, my friends, the team I worked with, and even people from other teams who had no reason to help but did anyway and most importantly, all of them were very friendly and easy to approach.

I now have a professional mindset that I didn’t have before, experiences I couldn’t have imagined, new friends, and a lifetime of memories. I want to take this opportunity to thank my parents - the backbone of everything I am, Ascentic for giving me this amazing opportunity, and my seniors, friends, and each and every person at Ascentic. I am very grateful for everything.

Looking back - a whole different person from the one who walked in on day one

To the future interns: don’t shy away from tasks that feel too big for you, and make the most of every opportunity that comes your way. Those bigger challenges are often the best opportunities to learn from, and you’ll never regret working on them. Internships go by faster than you think, so show up, stay curious, and enjoy the journey.