Internship woes and worries
TLDR/summary version at bottom. I guess I'm no good at behavioral interviews? I'm a first year masters student in Information systems. I have 1 summer left for an internship and have been getting rejections almost weekly for the past month from Goldman Sachs, Exxon mobile most notably. I have an okay resume that with enough persistence on the recruiters at my school, I can get an interview. (Except for some reason huge companies like Microsoft, apple, Amazon, adobe, etc. which bums me out. Maybe I don't have a foot in the door?). I do my best to study about the position, and express that I have a passion in technology, but fail at interviews I guess. I took my first programming class 2.5 years ago and switched from finance into IS and now in first year masters for IS. I've been busting my balls to get into the program because I wanted it so bad. But leaves me short to the 4 year coding prodigy kids (I'm 26 and interviewing for internships while the other candidates are 19 or 20 is... humbling). TLDR/summary version: Tons of rejection this last month for positions like software engineer internships. I'm nervous all the 'good' internships are filled for next summer already and that if I don't get a good one, I'm pretty much set for mediocrity the rest of my life. It's pretty disheartening, especially considering I'll be getting married soon. Makes me feel like a failure. Any help, guidance, suggestions, referrals, questions, even motivational stuff, would be greatly appreciated, because, I'll tell you what, I'm struggling. Thanks in advance
Dude I got rejected from like 100 jobs before I got my first one (granted, I was aiming high). Interviewing with no real prior experience is sometimes just a numbers game. Also, the more you do it, the more comfortable you'll get and the easier interviews will become. I still have an engrained "I will fuck this up" mentality when I interview because I have been rejected so many times. At the same time, I'm much more relaxed and prepared for that fact, so I now tend to be very calm and collected during interviews and end up doing surprisingly well. Don't worry. Just keep going at it. You'll be fine. The only wrong choice here is giving up.
Yeah? The thing that is making me nervous is not being able to get an internship now. Does that make sense? I don't know if I have the time to just keep trying. And I feel like getting a job in large tech company is rather difficult without an internship. Or is this all wrong and I'm viewing it wrong?
You most likely need an internship. I meant "job" in terms of an internship :) Honestly, big corp is overrated. The perks are good, but the work makes me die inside. In my opinion, go find a small to medium size company and grow more as a person. You'll likely be better for it in the long term. Right now, for me, the best part of working at Microsoft is telling my non engineering friends I work at Microsoft. Otherwise, the work is tedious, the politics are annoying, and I'm really just using it to keep the lights on while enjoy time with my family. Edit: it's not somewhere I'd recommend for a first job.
Microsoft vet and FB eng here. If you want to DM me your anonymized resume, I can see if there's anything that immediately jumps out turning people away.
How would I anonymize my resume? Just remove name info and job location? And I am kind of new to blind so I am unaware of how to send something on this here app.
I was going to chat you, but it turns out I only have 10 messages to use.
I also was seeking an internship at 26yo while still getting my BS. Got rejected from every known company. Some even rejected me multiple times. Finally got an internship with a small, unknown, dysfunctional startup and just worked on gaining experience and credibility there. Just gotta do your best with what you're given and keep grinding.
Do you feel like you missed out or could have done something better to get those internships?
I don't think so. Don't think I did anything particularly bad interviewing, but did get a sense that at least some age bias must exist when interviewing interns. I was also balding which only highlighted my age difference even more haha.
Simple. Solve Cracking the Coding Interview. And solve all problems in LeetCode. Doesn't help you get an interview call, but will help you secure the job.
How does it help you in interviews? I don't think I have ever done a huge technical interview before.
Depends on how "technical" your resume is. I ensured that i had enough "Java" all over my resume. Completed my Masters last year, and got offers from Amazon and Adobe. Similar pattern in both was solving string manipulations, and data structures.
I’m older than you and did an Internship with LinkedIn.
What did you do to get moving forward and be selected?
Interview prepped for a month straight during school. I literally ignored School during that time.
I am not sure what city you are considering but EVERY tech job I have had I was referred in by an employee. Find people at the company and ask for a referral. No excuses that you don’t know anyone. Search LinkedIn and find alumni from your school, send them a nice note as and ask if they will refer you. They might even coach you on what the recruiters are looking for in candidates.
That's a great idea! Do most alumni not mind doing that?
You might consider going to tech meetups and talk to people to improve your network. Then they could be your referrals.
What do you mean by tech meet ups?
Search an App Store for “meetup”.
Apply to an internship at Amazon. If you do well enough on the online evaluations you'll get an offer with no human contact whatsoever - not even a phone interview. And keep your head up - no one gives a shit about your age
Thanks! I applied for an internship at Amazon and never heard back.
When was this? For summer 2018?
What school are you at? Your situation reminds me a lot of myself. Keep working, keep pushing you'll get there :) there is always someone smarter and younger then you. That doesn't mean you can't be a wild success too.
I'm at the Marriott school of business, first year masters. It rough because it only been two years since I got into technology, and I get to final interviews and always turned down haha get my hopes up and then destroyed mightily
Go start a startup. Corporate is overrated
But then there's not as good benefits, pay, and instability, is that right?
No risk no reward. Corporate is all about sucking dick all day for a life of boredom and security. Some of the greatest entrepreneurs had difficulties getting jobs