Harsh Kumar (2012A7PS065P)
The five months of my PS-II at Adobe Systems, Noida has been a terrific learning journey for me. I worked here as a part of the Adobe InDesign team. My job here was to ensure backward compatibility in InDesign so that any of the file made in the new version of the software can open in the older versions of the software. I tried to develop a general way of ensuring this under the guidance of my mentor Pushp Parag
134 Agarwal. My work here taught me the use of design patterns as well as other important concepts of object oriented programming. I was introduced to the wonderful codebase of InDesign and here I realized how working in the software industry is very different from what we are taught as college course work or our college projects. One of the most important skill that I acquired here was the skill of debugging which is very important in any of the software industry. The programs are subjected to large number of tests so as to make them as bug-proof as possible. Also, in such codebase where all files are so much related, change in one of them can easily damage other parts of the software one has to be very careful while writing the codes. Since my work involved how the process of file opening takes place so I had to be all the more watchful while changing any of the codes. Moreover, even while writing a program, a lot of emphasis is laid on the fact that others can understand the code if any further changes are required. The environment at Adobe Systems is very friendly and all the people are very supportive. Here I got an opportunity to interact with and learn from many experts who already have a lot of experience of working in the industry. Here many seemingly unresolved questions were solved with the help of these mentors. I learned to focus on my problems by solving the problem at hand one step at a time in a swift but organized way. This gave me the confidence that in the future will empower me to tackle any problem at hand. Overall, I enjoyed Adobe as a PS station, the facilities here are very good. Every individual enjoys flexible timings too. Also there are a lot of team organized to increase bonding between the team members.
Saumya Y Sahai (2011B5A7581P)
Practice School II marked my very first foray into real industry environment. I worked with the InDesign team at Adobe under the able guidance of Mr. Gaurav Bhargava and Ms. Shailja Gupta. My project was titled “Intelligent Merge of Reimported Text in Adobe InDesign”. Briefly put, I worked on implementing a system that preserved the design changes of an InDesign file whenever an updated version of the same file was reimported from a text file by incorporating only the points of change. I started off from plain text with multi language support and extended the functionality to include footnotes and tables. I implemented the regular two-way difference and merge generating algorithm and designed the three- way algorithm that worked with two-way modules in a bottom up fashion. On the way, I added many sub- features that helped save formatting/design information on text. This entire module was interfaced with the front-end. The work environment at Adobe was extremely enriching. When I compare myself from the first to the last week, I see astronomical change in how I perceive a problem and how I attempt its solution. I owe this to the clear definition of my problem statement and the excellent mentorship I received here. The fact that I am new to the industry was well respected and I was handed an open ended problem that could have been as simple or as convoluted as I wanted it to be. This relieved me from any burden of expectation but at the same time challenged me to give it my best shot, and this worked wonderfully for me on the learning front. Previously, I hardly had any experience in C++ programming environment and the first glance at the entire code base of InDesign overwhelmed me. This feeling eventually eased out when I developed what I like to call ‘programmer’s instinct’, which helped me rummage through the current codebase efficiently, find relevant existing functions and create functions of my own from the scratch. I was supported throughout this quest; my mentor even sat next to me and helped me find and modify code when I had just started writing my program (the stereotype I had that people working in industry are rude and unhelpful to new entrants went to shreds)! The key here was to have a basic understanding of OOP paradigm, data structures and most importantly, tenacity. Everything else can be worked out gradually. I met and interacted with a lot of new people here too. This entire
135 experience was rewarding at personal, social and intellectual levels. I am very grateful to Practice School Division and Adobe for this opportunity.
Vasundhara Bhargava (2012A7PS487G)
I got an opportunity to work on one of Adobe’s most widely used products – Adobe Illustrator. The domain of my work was optimization and enhancing two important features in Illustrator. The company has a very open and friendly atmosphere, hence all inputs are valued, whether it be from the managers or the interns. The quantum of learning at Adobe has been immense. I learnt about the application of classroom concepts at an industry level and the use of new technologies. The code conventions followed in the industry are different; readability and efficiency of the code are as important as the functionality it achieves. The interactions with the various connoisseurs were vital in developing my vision. These 5 months of internship, under the guidance of my mentor, enhanced my thinking skills and problem solving strategies. This process of handling real life problems has imparted the confidence in me to solve similar problems in future. The feedback from my mentor and manager led to a continuous improvement of my performance. Moreover, this internship has taught me team work and office-work ethics. Overall, it has been an enriching experience, to be able to elevate my technical skills at one of the pioneers of IT industry; as well as in terms of personality development. The fact that I have been able to contribute to Adobe’s code base is an accomplishment from PS2.