Intern Code of Conduct

02Respect for everyone

• Treat mentors, staff, partner employees and fellow interns with courtesy, online and in person.
• Do not discriminate against anyone because of gender, caste, religion, region, language, disability, sexual orientation, appearance or background.
• No bullying, trolling, threats, abusive language or personal attacks.
• In community groups, stay on topic. Do not spam, forward unrelated messages, or share anyone's number or personal details without their permission.

03Zero tolerance for harassment

Sexual harassment of any kind is prohibited. This includes unwelcome physical contact, sexual remarks, requests for sexual favours, showing sexual content, and unwelcome messages or calls, online or offline.

Our office and partner company premises are workplaces under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (the POSH Act). The Act covers interns and trainees, and places you visit because of your work, such as partner offices.

To report sexual harassment, contact our Internal Committee by emailing grievance@tectranz.com with the subject "Confidential: Internal Committee". Complaints are handled confidentially.

We do not tolerate retaliation against anyone who reports harassment in good faith or helps with an inquiry. Harassment of any person, of any gender, also breaks this Code.

04Academic integrity

• Submit your own work. Copying code, text or reports from classmates, the internet or earlier cohorts without credit is plagiarism.
• Credit your sources, including open-source code, and follow its licence.
• You may use AI assistants, such as coding assistants and chatbots, as long as you declare it. Say which tool you used and what you used it for, in your submission or logbook.
• Work generated by AI that you do not declare is treated as plagiarism.
• Your final project report must include a signed originality undertaking.
• Do not share assessment answers, take an assessment for someone else, or mark attendance for someone who is absent.

05Partner confidentiality and NDAs

• Follow any non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or confidentiality terms you sign with a partner company.
• Use partner data, code and documents only for your assigned project.
• Do not copy partner data to personal devices, personal cloud storage or personal accounts unless the partner allows it in writing.
• Do not paste a partner's confidential data into public AI tools.
• Do not publish partner work on GitHub, LinkedIn, blogs or anywhere else without the partner's written permission.
• Your confidentiality duties continue after your programme ends.
• If you share something by mistake, tell your mentor immediately. Reporting early limits the damage, and we treat it more leniently than hiding it.

06Office rules for offline interns

• Arrive on time for your office days and record your attendance as instructed.
• Keep your workstation tidy and handle equipment with care. Report any damage.
• No smoking, alcohol or drugs on the premises.
• Bring visitors only with prior permission from staff.
• Follow safety and fire instructions from staff.
• Dress in a way that suits a professional workplace.
• At a partner company's premises, follow the partner's rules as well as this Code.

07Attendance

• You need at least 80% attendance in live online sessions or office days to receive your completion certificate.
• If you are going to miss a session, tell your mentor in advance where you can.
• For a medical or family emergency, talk to your mentor. We will try to help you catch up.
• Marking attendance for someone else, or asking someone to do it for you, is misconduct.

08Device and data security

• Keep your passwords private. Use strong passwords and turn on two-step verification where available.
• Lock your screen when you step away.
• Do not install unapproved software on office or partner computers.
• Access only the systems and data you have permission to use.
• Security testing is allowed only on systems you have written permission to test as part of an assignment. Testing anything else can be an offence under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
• Report lost devices, suspicious messages or possible data leaks to your mentor straight away.

09Social media and public posts

• You are welcome to share your certificate and your own non-confidential project work.
• Do not post partner confidential information, screenshots of internal systems, or other interns' personal details.
• Do not claim to speak for Tectranz or for a partner company.

10Consequences

Depending on how serious a breach is, we may take one or more of these steps, usually in this order:

1. A written warning.
2. Suspension from classes, office days or the partner project for a set period.
3. Termination of your enrollment, without a refund.
4. Your certificate is withheld, or revoked if it has already been issued.

Serious breaches, such as harassment, violence, fraud, data theft or unauthorised hacking, may lead straight to termination. Where the law requires, we report the matter to the police or other authorities. If the misconduct affects your internship record, we may also inform your college.

Before we decide, we tell you what the concern is and give you a fair chance to explain. You can appeal a decision to our Grievance Officer.

11Reporting a concern

Talk to your mentor, or email grievance@tectranz.com. For sexual harassment, use the Internal Committee route described above. We take every report seriously and keep it confidential.