I am sharing my story about applying for a technology internship because when I was looking for internships, I wished someone had written about their experience applying for technology internships so that I could learn best practices.
TL;DR, i.e., takeaways :
- Apply to as many companies as possible. Yes, applications suck, but you never know which application will be successful; the more you apply, the more chances you have to land an internship.
- I wouldn’t say I like sharing my struggles and prefer to solve my problems alone; however, landing my first internship made me realize that it’s good to open up to others for help.
- Apply to programs like SEO and INROADS; they are great programs for helping minorities land job opportunities.
- Attend conferences like NSBE, SWE, SHPE, etc.; I landed my internship at the NSBE conference.
- Apply for research internship programs as well; this might be a promising avenue, especially for international students seeking an opportunity to advance their skills while doing something visa friendly.
- In addition to applying for regular full-time internships, I recommend applying to internship programs geared toward minorities. Here are a few that I am aware of: Facebook University Analytics program, Facebook University Engineering program, Microsoft’s Internship program for women and minorities, and Google’s BOLD internship program.
- Networking is essential; networking with my friends taught me about SEO, INROADS, NSBE, Goldman Sachs, etc.
My journey toward landing an internship
It took a lot of work to land my first internship, given my lack of prior internship experience. I was a sophomore majoring in computer science and applied mathematics at Franklin College (a small liberal arts school in Indiana).
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/9d7x1b/my_experience_with_the_job_search_since_coming/
I had taken a few introductions to programming classes at the time of my application. When starting my internship search, I Googled technology internships for undergraduate students and applied to more than 100 companies to no avail; for most of my applications, I didn’t get a response. A few companies sent me rejection emails, while some mentioned my need for visa sponsorship as a blocker for hiring me.
After coming to terms with my unsuccessful applications, I changed my approach and focused on applying to programs geared toward helping minorities land job opportunities. I applied for the SEO program (https://www.seo-usa.org/), which selects students from minority backgrounds and helps place them at Wall Street companies for internships. I managed to make it for the onsite interview for this program, but unfortunately, I didn’t get offered a place. I then applied for the INROADS program (https://inroads.org/), a program that helps minority and underrepresented students get opportunities. This route didn’t work out for me, either.
After exhausting my options and failing, I started working on securing an on-campus summer job working as a campus tour guide. While applying for summer jobs, I contacted a friend who had previously done a technology internship, and I confided in him about my internship struggles. He shared about the NSBE conference and asked if I would be open to joining him in attending the conference. I agreed to this idea; however, my friend couldn’t participate, so I went solo. Before talking to my friend, I knew nothing about NSBE, and my school didn’t have a chapter. This presented a challenge because attending the conference required membership in the organization. I then joined NSBE as an honorary member online. I learned NSBE is an organization with a mission to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community (https://www.nsbe.org/home.aspx).
At the NSBE conference, there were various networking sessions, resume writing workshops, graduate application process sessions, and a career fair; the main reason I attended the conference was the career fair. The career fair had 250+ companies hiring. I visited various booths, and each time I gave a recruiter my resume, I was greeted with a curious look and got the dreaded question about my visa status. When I shared that I was on a student visa, recruiters politely told me to move on and speak to other companies, given their employers didn’t sponsor immigrant work visas. Out of the 250+ companies, I was forced to narrow my focus to ~20 companies willing to sponsor work visas; these mainly consisted of technology companies and Wall Street banks.
I went to the Goldman Sachs booth, where I chatted with a tech fellow at the company. I was asked why I was interested in technology, my GPA, an introduction about myself, why Goldman Sachs, classes I had taken in college, etc., and I was fortunate to land an interview after the chat. As soon as I secured an interview, I immediately called a friend who was my senior in high school and working at the company. He shared his experience working at Goldman Sachs and gave me an overview of the company. I spent the next hour before the interview brushing up on computer science fundamentals and doing my interview, which resulted in me being offered an internship on the spot.
I am grateful to Goldman Sachs for taking a chance on me, and as a result of this experience looking for internships was easier afterward. For example, the companies I had previously applied to and have yet to get a response from were now messaging me after my Goldman Sachs internship. They were offering me a chance to interview for internships at their companies. This highlights the importance of landing a first internship, given it opens doors for other internships. Interestingly, during my last ditch effort to get an internship, something worked out, so keep going until you land your dream job!
To learn more about how I got my full-time job in technology, please check out this blog post.
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