Darshan
Joshi
CommScope,
Software Engineering Intern
Work: IEEE 1588 Protocol performance and AGC
Validation, Unit testing, Chelmsford, Massachusetts
I came to the University of Maryland
as a Graduate student in the Fall of 2016 deciding to spend my first American
winter on campus. The university felt nearly empty, not unlike a ghost town. On
a quest for warmth and motivation I began researching and applying for summer internships
in the field of wireless communication/RF as I had recently completed my first
semester in the Master's in Telecommunications (ENTS) program. On a Tuesday
morning in January, I received a call from Mark Valadez, a recruiter at
CommScope; it still gives me great joy to go back and reread his first email as
it was one of those triggers of hope that paved way for the opportunity that
followed.
This internship would enable me to
work at the physical layer of a small cell product. The internship was extended
to me after two rounds of technical interviews by two senior software engineers
at CommScope. I was interviewed about my past work experience, my understanding
of cellular protocols and my ability to solve challenging problems in C and C++
programming.
The CommScope university relations
team is very professional and they ensure that your questions are effectively
and promptly responded to. Following an efficient onboarding
process, I was assigned to the CommScope, Chelmsford facility in Massachusetts.
The group focuses on the development OneCell™,
a C-RAN-based, award winning small cell solution.
It takes a developer to appreciate the
effort and time invested in perfecting a product so that the end user faces the
bare minimum challenge in operating the interface. That is a key differentiator
in today’s market and CommScope has certainly attained that respect with their
flawless and innovative design that overcomes the need for cell boundaries and
has created the ‘one cell’ post deployment.
During my internship working in high-end
engineering and next-generation technology, my humble experience as an intern
can perhaps be categorized under the commonly accepted phases of the learning process:
Cognitive, Associative and Autonomous.
Cognitive:
As an intern, you’re consumed with
multiple thoughts and uncertainties. After a warm welcome, office tour and
completion of the HR formalities, I was assigned my desk – my work abode for
the next 12 weeks. Equipped with a personal white board, blank and ready for
action, I didn’t take long to acclimate to my surroundings.
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| First day enthusiasm |
I had three projects to work on and a
respective mentor for each during my 12 weeks with CommScope. This was a great way to provide a
strong understanding of the product in a brief time frame. On my first day, I
visited the product development lab and it left me thinking there is nothing as
beautiful as figuring out the internal workings of a complicated yet well
thought out product. I started my work on IEEE1588 protocol system performance
analysis, automated the tests with shell scrips, and did the simulation using
Spirent’s tool!
It is hard to miss the fact that CommScope
strongly promoted a culture of diversity and people work in harmony and mutual
respect towards a common goal.
Associative:
This is the phase where one ‘connects
the dots,’ I felt a ‘eureka’ moment every time I cracked a concept and saw my
work materialize! As part of a project, I worked on the AGC performance validation and unit testing of a
next generation product. I saw firsthand the value and importance of tasks such
as documentation and presentations!
I was mentored by a technical specialist
on another project for the summer. My mentor had nearly four decades of
research and development experience in the cellular industry. He always ensured
that I focused on the bigger picture rather than limiting myself to performing
what was assigned.
The weekly Executive Speaker Series
during this time was one of the highlights of my internship experience. This
series is intended to give the interns exposure to members of CommScope
Executive Leadership team as they share their background, education, early work
experiences as well as career development and how they ended up in their
current executive position.
One of the many learnings I gathered
from this series was a statement made by CommScope CTO Morgan Kurk. “Avoid
submitting a document/work that you are not proud of putting your name on!” This
speaks volumes about keeping in mind the quality of work delivered as a matter
of practice.
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| Teleconference meetings |
Autonomous:
Creation is the act or the process of
bringing something into existence to disrupt the existing monotony and refine
existing methods. My experience at CommScope was all about creating and it gave
me immense pride to know that my contribution is a part of a next generation
product. It also left me surprised that time
had passed so quickly and it was almost time to say goodbye to the familiarity
I was beginning to develop.
For a graduate student in the ENTS
program, CommScope is an ideal company to exercise your classroom learnings in
a real-world environment. Aside from working with the concepts of wireless connectivity,
I have become more cognitive about my own capabilities, limitations and sense
of clarity as I commence my second year at the university in fall.
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| Social Friday Small Wonder Summer Outing Flume Gorge Trek |
Many of us are aware
of the adage that “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” but that
certainly didn’t happen to me! With Social Fridays, the summer outing to Kimbal
Farm, a memorable trek to the Flume Gorge, and a chance to explore Boston and
Rhode Island over the weekends, these proved to be the ideal compliments that
balanced my fruitful work experience. Maybe Jack should apply to work at
CommScope!
About the Author: Darshan Joshi is a second year ENTS graduate student at University of Maryland, pursuing Wireless, Networking, RF and Software Engineering as his areas of interest.