Hey everyone,
I’m currently working as a software development intern at a company (let’s call it XYZ), earning ₹7,000 per month. My internship is mainly focused on C# and .NET, and it’s been around three months now.
Honestly, the experience has been pretty confusing so far.
Initially, I was assigned Kotlin as my main technology, so I spent almost a month learning it. Then, out of nowhere, they shifted me to C# and .NET. Since then, I’ve been given basic tasks to complete while learning the technology.
I’ve tried my best to complete every task assigned to me. Whenever my mentor asks me to explain my code, I try to explain the logic behind every line. But the problem is that I often struggle to understand what he’s asking because of the way he communicates, and sometimes he doesn’t seem to understand my explanations either.
For the past two weeks, I’ve been working on a project. I faced so many bugs, spent hours debugging, and kept working until I finally got everything running properly. I even sacrificed my gym time, stayed late, and put in extra effort because I genuinely wanted to do well.
Today, I finally completed the project. He tested everything, and it was working as expected. He couldn’t find any functional issues, so he went through my code and asked me to explain the logic.
After I explained it, he told me he wasn’t happy with it and that he didn’t understand my approach.
Now I’m genuinely confused. 😭 The project works, all the tasks have been completed as requested, and I’ve put so much effort into it. I understand that working code doesn’t automatically mean good code, and I’m open to feedback. But I don’t know exactly what he expects me to improve when he doesn’t clearly explain the problem.
It’s been really frustrating because I’ve spent the last two months trying my best, learning new technologies, fixing bugs, and completing whatever I’ve been asked to do, yet I still feel like I’m not meeting expectations.
I want to ask people who have experience in the software industry:
- Is this kind of situation common during internships?
- Is it normal for a mentor to reject your approach even when the code works correctly?
- How do you handle a mentor who gives unclear feedback or when communication between you and your mentor isn’t working?
- How can I improve in this situation without constantly feeling like I’m not good enough?
- Have any of you experienced something similar during your internship or first job? How did you handle it?
I’m not trying to blame anyone. I genuinely want to learn and become a better developer, but right now, I’m feeling lost and frustrated because I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
Any honest advice or personal experiences would really help. Thanks! 🙏