Intern Spotlight: Interview with Sistla Vinay Krishna on his Intern Experience at Sihela Consultants

Sistla Vinay Krishna

Sistla Vinay Krishna is another intern who successfully completed his internship in the last year. At that time, he was pursuing his Post Graduate Program in Advanced Construction Management from NICMAR (National Institute of Construction Management and Research) Pune, India.

It was the time that every country around the world was hit by the global pandemic. Our lives were changed. The way we worked, studied and lived were suddenly changed due to the pandemic and the lockdowns. It was the time many people started working from home. The special thing about this internship was that it was conducted online while I was based in Singapore and the interns Sistla Vinay Krishna, Vishal Shanbhag and Yug Shrivastava were based in India.

I admire Sistla Vinay Krishna for a few reasons. The first thing is that he didn’t stop due to lockdown and due to the inability to complete his internship physically attending a workplace. He faced the challenge by looking for online opportunities. Other than that I have a few things to highlight about Sistla.

At that time, I could only spend my time guiding two interns. But, as an internship coordinator for the National Institute of Construction Management and Research, Pune, India, Sistla checked with me the possibility of allowing an additional spot for another intern of his same batch. When I rejected, he requested me to offer his spot for his batchmate saying that he will look for another opportunity. He wanted his batchmate to complete the internship before he grabbed the opportunity. I found this as a quality of a leader and I want to admire his positive mentality of teamwork.

Once he started his internship with Sihela Consultants, he experienced unexpected challenges due to Covid-19 restrictions. When he tried withdrawing from the internship, I challenged him asking him to complete his assigned work by the deadline. He did it with minimal supervision! This is another thing I want to admire about Sistla Vinay Krishna.

I found him as a person who never stops. He is with both courage and knowledge. Finally, he can deliver the work with minimum supervision. This is what we are looking for in today’s dynamic work environment.

During this internship period, Sistla Vinay Krishna engaged in various activities & work ranging from Contract Management, Tendering (Pre & Post bidding) & Project Management. 

I found Sistla Vinay Krishna as a hardworking and sincere professional during the entire training period. Below is the interview with Sistla Vinay Krishna about his experience as an intern at Sihela Consultants.

We wish him all the success in his future endeavours!

1. Hello! Let us know about you

I’m a Post Graduate student taking up the course Advanced Construction Management from the National Institute of Construction Management And Research (NICMAR), Pune, Maharashtra, India. I am a Civil Engineering student graduated from SASTRA Deemed University, Tirumalaisamudram, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. As a fresher, I’ve always looked to learn the managerial aspects of Construction Industry related activities. I’ve a knack for Sustainability related aspects in the Construction Industry and Strategic Consulting is my dream job profile.

2. Why did you choose Sihela Consultants for your internship?

When I was looking for an Internship to get better at the below mentioned aspects

Cost Management, Claims and Contracts Management and Project Management

I’ve come across Sihela Consultants, led by Amila Gamage Ma’am post getting connected with her on LinkedIn. When I’ve gone through the Company’s profile and looking at her track record, I looked at this as my opportunity to learn and why loose an opportunity when you get to work under the best and they mentoring me. So with this in mind, I’ve reached up to her and the rest is a very fruitful month of Internship.

3. What is your experience on online internship?

I agree that Online Internships have their own problems, but that all depends on how involved and investigated an Intern is, in the work and the Employee doing the same. There might be miscommunication, connectivity issues and other minor problems. But on the brighter side, frequent meetings, reviews, constant followups and evaluation makes the Online Internship no less than a physical Internship.

4. What is the most remarkable thing about your internship experience?

The most remarkable thing is how supportive Amila ma’am has been. She’s invested a lot of her time amidst her busy schedule and constantly motivating us and pushing us to get better. The way she guided us with the work and her step by step approach to the understanding of concepts is a unique feature, because owning a company and investing her time for us and tolerating us when we are late and especially with the time zone related issues, is really great.

5. What type of support did you get in your internship?

How to go through the Sectional Drawings, Reference of Tendering Documents, reading and interpretation of Quotations and Evaluation of Contractors, BOQ generation, Pricing, Cost Management. 

6. Can you give future interns some advice for a successful internship experience?

Get invested yourself invested and forget the fact that you’re on Virtual mode. Focus on your work and stick to your deadlines and submissions. And I need not specifically speak about Amila Ma’am, because she’ll be helping you out with every step. It was a really great experience and I can assure you, that it gets enriched with time.

Connect with him via Linkedin

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About Author

Amila Gamage

An experienced Contracts Engineer/ Trainer/ Quantity Surveyor with over 17 years of industry experience in both high rise buildings and civil engineering projects. She is the founder and contracts manager of Sihela Consultants.

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