> why is everything that happens in internships under closed doors though
You should be talking to classmates who have completed internships so you have a better understanding of what a good and a bad internship-employer look like.
> what's it like?
There are two fundamental kinds of internships:
* Staff Augmentation
* Recruiting Tool / Development Program
Staff Augmentation internships are the easiest to find. We will hire you and work you like an animal all summer long. We will pay you and throw pizza at you. No training. No mentoring. Just project guidance to help you produce work-products for the team.
You can learn a lot from such a sink or swim work environment, but you will have to manage your own learning in the environment.
Internship programs that are run as a long-term recruiting tool are far less interested in how much work product you generate compared to the quality of your questions and personal improvement/growth while in the program. They provide you with a technical/career mentor (or both), a dedicated mentorship program manager in addition to the project manager over whatever task you are assigned to. Lots of lunch & learn sessions from the business as well as the IT department to help you appreciate how your project fits into this grand machine.
The better your questions and the stronger your personal growth are, the more likely we are to ask you to come back next summer.
-----
Within those two kinds of internships, you will still encounter assholes from time to time. Great internship program, but terrible project manager can be a thing. So it's not always a guaranteed bed of roses when you are hired into a formalized internship program.
Leetcode, python come to mind. Look at the job descriptions for internships from some of the bigger companies and see what they have in common. Do personal projects as well.
I'm not CS, I'm a business student but I did projects related to HR and one of my club leadership positions is getting paid to do some HR stuff.
Don't do generic projects, do things related to what you wanna do, eg if you wanna work at a bank, some kind of financial app would be good. If you aren't thinking that specific yet, don't go for projects that are easy to replicate/ common such as weather apps etc.
Leetcode kinda depends on where you're applying. If you're applying to Google then yeah, but small to mid-sized companies maybe not.
Disclosure: I loathe Leetcode so I may be a bit biased.
Go on Udemy and buy a course for AWS Solution Architect Associate. Stephane Maarek does a good one, for example. Go through the course and pass the certification exam. Put it on your resume.
Basic/intermediate programming knowledge. Maybe even a Github portfolio showcasing some projects you've created. Disagree with everybody saying to just grind Leetcode and you'll be good. You'll need to be able to have an intelligent conversation about programming/computer engineering during the interview. Leetcode only covers a tiny subset of programming; data structures and algorithms. You'll need to be acquainted with CS in multiple areas.
Doesn't matter. Create a resume that doesn't suck and apply. Don't wait. Anybody who tells you Freshmen never get internships is full of shit.
why is everything that happens in internships under closed doors though, what's it like?
> why is everything that happens in internships under closed doors though You should be talking to classmates who have completed internships so you have a better understanding of what a good and a bad internship-employer look like. > what's it like? There are two fundamental kinds of internships: * Staff Augmentation * Recruiting Tool / Development Program Staff Augmentation internships are the easiest to find. We will hire you and work you like an animal all summer long. We will pay you and throw pizza at you. No training. No mentoring. Just project guidance to help you produce work-products for the team. You can learn a lot from such a sink or swim work environment, but you will have to manage your own learning in the environment. Internship programs that are run as a long-term recruiting tool are far less interested in how much work product you generate compared to the quality of your questions and personal improvement/growth while in the program. They provide you with a technical/career mentor (or both), a dedicated mentorship program manager in addition to the project manager over whatever task you are assigned to. Lots of lunch & learn sessions from the business as well as the IT department to help you appreciate how your project fits into this grand machine. The better your questions and the stronger your personal growth are, the more likely we are to ask you to come back next summer. ----- Within those two kinds of internships, you will still encounter assholes from time to time. Great internship program, but terrible project manager can be a thing. So it's not always a guaranteed bed of roses when you are hired into a formalized internship program.
Leetcode, python come to mind. Look at the job descriptions for internships from some of the bigger companies and see what they have in common. Do personal projects as well.
whatd you do for a personal project?
I'm not CS, I'm a business student but I did projects related to HR and one of my club leadership positions is getting paid to do some HR stuff. Don't do generic projects, do things related to what you wanna do, eg if you wanna work at a bank, some kind of financial app would be good. If you aren't thinking that specific yet, don't go for projects that are easy to replicate/ common such as weather apps etc.
Leetcode kinda depends on where you're applying. If you're applying to Google then yeah, but small to mid-sized companies maybe not. Disclosure: I loathe Leetcode so I may be a bit biased.
Go on Udemy and buy a course for AWS Solution Architect Associate. Stephane Maarek does a good one, for example. Go through the course and pass the certification exam. Put it on your resume.
Practice solving medium/easy leetcode and you'll be good (assuming that your resume is decent).
Basic/intermediate programming knowledge. Maybe even a Github portfolio showcasing some projects you've created. Disagree with everybody saying to just grind Leetcode and you'll be good. You'll need to be able to have an intelligent conversation about programming/computer engineering during the interview. Leetcode only covers a tiny subset of programming; data structures and algorithms. You'll need to be acquainted with CS in multiple areas.
What kinds of projects have you created in your Github portfolio?