August 29, 2024

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So, you’re looking for a SWE Internship for next summer.

Hi, I’m Zane 👋

I’m a 4x tech intern, having completed internships in AI/ML,Data Science, and Software Engineering (twice, most recently at Amazon).

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Because I’ve been through the process of getting an internship 4 times, I know how hard it is. It can feel overwhelming to study for technical assessments, prepare for behavioral interviews, apply to countless positions, and feel confused about where to start. For that reason, I want to help as many students as possible navigate the internship process, land their dream role, and break into the tech industry.

Here are my 10 most important steps to land a Software Engineering Internship. This article will give you an overall sense of the internship process and provide you with actionable steps you can take today to help you reach your goal. If you want my in-depth guide, which covers all the details of securing a tech internship (and also includes worksheets, templates, and more), check out the complete Internship Playbook.

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Without further ado, let’s dive into your path to an internship for next summer!

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1. Set Your Expectations and Goals

The first thing you need to do is figure out what your ideal internship looks like. What’s the job title? What kind of company is it at? Where is it located? How much does it pay? Use our Dream Internship Worksheet to record your thoughts on a variety of factors that will influence how you go about the rest of the process.

Next, you have to understand the timeline. Companies hire at various times throughout the school year depending on their industry and size, so take a look at our Timeline for more detail.

Accepting rejection is another key aspect to the process. The simple fact is that hundreds of thousands of students are competing for the top tech internships, and that number is only increasing as schools expand their CS programs and more international students seek US internships. Even the most highly-qualified candidates will be ignored or rejected by plenty of companies, so don’t take it personally.

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2. Engage With the Community

You can’t do this alone; mentorship is a prerequisite for success in tech.

Often, mentorship comes from parents, older students, or professors. But it can come on social media too. Take a look at our blog post on LinkedIn creators that you should follow. When aggregated, their posts will give you updates and news, tips and tricks, and lessons and strategies.

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3. Develop Your Coding Skills

Everyone knows that Leetcode questions are a terrible way to assess if someone will be a good Software Engineer. The same could be said of standardized testing and college. But until an alternative rolls around, we just have to accept the situation and become Leetcode pros.

As the most basic level, you’ll need to know at least one common programming language (Python, Java, C#, etc.) and understand the most popular Data Structures and Algorithms concepts. If you aren’t taking these classes at school, there are plenty of courses and videos online that can help you develop these skills. Codecademy, Cracking the Coding Interview and Neetcode are great places to start.

If you’re seeking a more competitive internship, work on solving problems quickly and make sure you have a firm understanding of your code’s time and space complexity. Use our strategies to avoid wasting your time and forgetting what you’ve learned.

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4. Create Cool Projects

Software Engineering isn’t found in the lecture hall. It’s found in projects that accomplish a real-world goal, show your passion for technology, and (conveniently) impress employers. A recruiter will be happy that you know how strings are stored in C, but they’ll be much more impressed if you built an API that fetches dialogue from your favorite TV show and displays it on a website you created.

Starting your first project is pretty daunting, but by the second or third time it will feel natural and hopefully even fun! Tools like Github are not easy to understand (I mean what the hell is a rebase?), but with a little practice they do make sense.

The best way to choose a project is to think about what matters to you and try to build something useful related to that. If that route isn’t working, there are dozens of project idea lists that can help spark your inspiration. Here are a few examples: Project list 1 and Project list 2.

You’ll be so impressed by what you can accomplish with some passion, dedication, and coding knowledge.

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5. Make a Resume

Hopefully this step isn’t a surprise to you. But given the extreme competition of tech internships, your resume has to do many things correctly to be selected for an interview. Our free resume template will get you most of the way there, especially with formatting and organization.

Use our resume modules for more information on building a resume with no experience and studying your resume for interviews.

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6. Use Your Network

Networking has become such a buzzword that some students don’t really understand how simple it is. All you have to do is reach out to people at a company you want to work for (possibly alumni of your school or personal connections) and ask them to hop on a call with you. 

In exchange for braving the awkwardness involved, you get to learn about their role/career and maybe even a referral (which flags your internship application and makes it much more likely that you’ll get a first-round interview).

The networking call itself can take some practice, but it’s a learnable skill like any other. The key parts of the call are introductions, questions, advice, and following-up. For a list of thoughtful questions to ask during the call, take advantage of our list of questions. 

Networking also includes attending conferences, taking advantage of school-based resources (like panels and career fairs), and participating in hackathons. Go down as many of these routes as you can!

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7. Apply

Applying for SWE internships is not like applying for college. There are no “safety schools,” you’re not guaranteed to hear back from a company at all, and you definitely can’t apply to just 5-10 and assume something will work out.

Given the sheer quantity of companies to consider, you’ll need to stay organized. We recommend using Eztrackr or a Google Sheet for all of your application-related information.

Finding new postings has become a lot easier recently, with multiple internship lists, Github repositories, and job boards that aggregate internships instead of leaving you to scour the internet for signs of new postings.

Applying also involves tailoring your resume to the requirements of the internship and possibly writing a cover letter (although usually not worth your time).

You may also want to consider alternatives to competitive tech internships like fellowships, summer research opportunities, and internships at start-ups. Keep your options open and apply to as many internships as you can.

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8. Crush the Interview Process

Typically, getting a first round interview is the largest barrier between applying and receiving an offer. When you apply, the next steps in the process are out of your control. But once you’re granted an interview, you have much more control over your own path to an offer.

None of this is to say that it’s easy to pass online coding assessments, phone screens, behavioral interviews, technical interviews, or in-person interviews. I go into great detail about the interview process in the complete Internship Playbook (it takes up 15 modules), but here are some tips to help you get started:

• For Online Assessments and technical interviews, get good at solving Leetcode problems quickly and explaining your code to others
• For behavioral interviews: develop a rock-solid Elevator Pitch and prepare answers to commonly-asked questions
• For all interviews, review what you’ve studied, come prepared with thoughtful, engaging questions to ask your interviewer, and follow up afterwards

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9. Accept an Offer

Accepting an offer might sound like an easy step compared to the others, but it’s not. It requires potentially juggling multiple recruiters, companies, and interview processes at once, as well as evaluating the offer to see if it fits your requirements.

Among the things to keep in mind here are that:

• You can sometimes speed up or slow down the interview process with a company, but you don’t have complete control over the timeline
• Reneging (accepting an offer and then later turning it down for another opportunity) is never a good option, so don’t plan on reversing your decision if a better offer comes your way
• Companies are pretty strict on in-person and location requirements, so you likely won’t be able to negotiate those
• Internship dates have to align with your school schedule and other plans, so you will need to plan out your summer far in advance

Accepting an offer is a great accomplishment and will be a weight off your shoulders. But it takes a little bit more thought than just signing a piece of paper, so make sure to give it the respect it deserves.

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10. Be A Fantastic Intern

Whether you’re hoping for a return offer from the company or don’t see yourself working there again, it’s definitely in your interest to provide a lot of value for your employer.

Among the many reasons to do a good job are that you’ll make industry connections, improve your skills and understanding of technical concepts, and have impressive experience to talk about in the future. Half-assing your internship will net you a displeased manager, no connections, and nothing to talk about in future networking calls and interviews.

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All of this starts well before your first day, when you have the opportunity to ask your team what languages/skills to learn so that you can begin making an impact from day one. You should also gain an understanding of what a week in the life of an internship looks like, as there will be a lot of terminology, team events, and meeting types to sort through. As the internship progresses, you’ll want to take your time with onboarding, begin to contribute code, consistently ask for feedback, wrap up your project(s) and off any loose ends, and enjoy your last few weeks. Hopefully, you’ll build connections and learn from your teammates along the way!

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Also be sure to record your accomplishments throughout the process for later reference, and write down your teammates’ contact information if you want to continue your relationships with them.

If you’re a hard-working, engaged, and feedback-driven intern for three months, your manager will have a very easy return offer decision to make. While it may be out of their control if the team doesn’t have space for an intern or full-time employee the following year, they might be able to recommend you to another team or use their connections to help you get opportunities elsewhere.

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Parting Advice

The SWE internship process is no picnic. It requires a significant amount of time, knowledge, hassle, rejection, and luck. Hopefully this overview gives you a great foundation to get started, and if you’d like to go deeper into each step described above, we include a lot more information in the Internship Playbook!

We offer the resource free for students on aid, and we are always excited to work with career offices and CS clubs to bring the site to their students. If you have questions about our website or the internship process in general, you’re more than welcome to send us an email at internship.playbook@gmail.com.

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Follow us on Linkedin and check back here weekly for more insights, strategies, and tips about the SWE internship process!