I Finished My Internship Project In 3 Weeks. What Modula Gave Me Next Was Far Bigger.

Ankit Jaiswal | IIM Shillong PGP 2025–27 | Modula - A JSW Enterprise - Operations Strategy

Before my MBA, I had already spent three years working at CESC Limited, an organisation that had been around since 1899.

It was my first job after graduating from Jadavpur University, and I remember being impressed by how smoothly everything seemed to work. There was discipline. Departments coordinated seamlessly. Thousands of people worked towards a common goal, and even when national calamities like cyclones disrupted operations, the organisation knew how to respond.

Over time, I started to feel that I had understood how such organisations worked.

And that led me to a question: If organisations already have such well-established systems and processes, where exactly could I add value?

That question eventually pushed me towards academia.

When I received an FPM interview call from XLRI Jamshedpur, I was excited, but I was also unsure about making the transition from engineering to management research. I didn't feel ready to make that leap alone. So, when I got the opportunity to join IIM Shillong, I decided to build my foundation first.

During my first year of MBA, I wasn't thinking much about placements or corporate impact. I genuinely believed that research was where I could create the most value.

Then I joined Modula - A JSW Enterprise for my summer internship.

I expected a two-month project.

I finished it in three weeks.

And that's when things became interesting.

The Project Was Over. My Internship Wasn't.

Completing the project in three weeks could have been the end of the story.

Instead, the management trusted me with something beyond the project I had originally come in to do.

Implementation.

I found myself leading the Planning Department, while my scope expanded into HR, Operations and Order Fulfilment.

For me, this was a very different experience from what I had expected when I walked into the internship.

I had come in thinking about the project I needed to complete.

I was now looking at a much broader set of problems across the organisation.

And somewhere in that transition, my perspective on where value can be created began to change.

I Expected Startup Chaos. I Found Something Else.

Before joining Modula, I had a fairly predictable idea of what working at a startup would be like.

I expected things to be chaotic.

But that wasn't my experience.

People were enjoying their work, and the environment was peaceful.

What surprised me even more was how approachable the CEO and founders were. I hadn't expected to have such an open and friendly interaction with them, or for them to be receptive when I pointed out processes that I felt were not adding value.

That openness made a difference.

It meant that I could look at the way things were being done, question some of them, and actually have those observations heard.

And that was important because Modula operates in a very different environment from the organisation I had previously worked at.

A company that has been operating for decades has had time to build and refine its systems. A scaling startup doesn't have that luxury.

As the business grows, its operations have to evolve with it.

That creates gaps.

It creates inefficiencies.

But it also creates opportunities.

And for someone looking to create value, that can be a very interesting place to be.

What I Didn't Expect From A Two-Month Internship

When I started my internship, I thought my job was straightforward: work on the project, complete it, and move on.

Three weeks later, the project was done.

But instead of having less to do, I had more responsibility.

The experience made me question something I had believed for a long time.

I had once thought that real value addition could only happen through research.

At Modula, I experienced something different.

Sometimes, value is created by being close to the business, identifying gaps, questioning existing processes, and then being involved in implementing change.

That was something I hadn't expected to learn from a summer internship.

The One Thing I Wish I'd Known Before Day 1

If I could go back and tell myself one thing before joining Modula, it would be this:

It can be fun working at a startup. And there can be a lot of scope to add value.

I had expected a two-month internship.

I completed my project in three weeks.

What came after that was an opportunity to work beyond the original project and take on responsibilities across Planning, HR, Operations and Order Fulfilment.

That experience gave me something I wasn't necessarily looking for when I started my MBA: clarity about the kind of environment where I could see myself creating real impact.

The internship eventually led to a PPO within a month.

The company also accepted the CTC I had asked for.

But for me, the bigger takeaway was what happened between those two points.

I went into Modula expecting to complete an internship project.

I left having experienced what it means to be given the opportunity to take ownership beyond the job you were originally assigned.

And sometimes, that's where the real internship begins.