Another Amazon Internship or Small Company?
I’m deciding between returning to Amazon for another Software Engineering internship this summer, or interning for a smaller company in the south east. Smaller company pays less and has less prestige, but I get a LOT more freedom and interning there will be very convenient (wont have to pay rent, get to take summer classes, be around family and friends) and im making enough passive income to sustain a college kid, so pay doesnt really matter for the time being, so im heavily leaning toward the smaller company. I’ve got seven more semesters left in my degree (combined bachelors and masters in CS) and Im trying to work at a big N or unicorn after graduation as a dev, would doing another internship at Amazon make that considerably easier (for companies other than Amazon)? Would interning for the smaller company be a mistake, or does it really not matter either way? Sorry if this is a dumb question, no one in my family is in tech, mainly finance and consulting, and all my college friends are about as clueless as I am. Any input is appreciated.
Take the start-up offer. You've already interned at Amazon.
Okay cool, that’s where I was leaning, just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a bad move. Thanks!
Another small company. You got plenty time to do more internship. Explore something new while you can.
Based on your responses in this thread, you will be an extremely competitive candidate no matter where you go. The bar for fresh grad and interns is very similar, so you don’t need to worry too much about passing the interview as there shouldn’t be too many surprises. And even if you didn’t pass the first time, Amazon isn’t going anywhere. If you aren’t in great need of money, go experience something new!
What’s your goal or where do you see yourself working in the next few years? Which technology companies? Which particular stack? If you work at amazon again as a returning intern you would be highly recommended for a full time opportunity. Apart from different experience and good culture small companies lack brand value which is needed if you’re trying to find a full time job Currently, market is good for CS engineers. I would say go to amazon they will make you work more than a small company and pay you well. Additionally, smaller companies lack resources and they won’t give you proper direction and feedback for you to grow,(apply your educational knowledge to practical knowledge). I would say take a small company job only if the hiring manager is highly oriented in your professional and personal growth.
So I’m a minimalist and I’ve set up avenues for myself to make enough income to sustain myself at my current lifestyle, or a nicer one if I decide to sacrifice more time, so I don’t really care about salary or prestige necessarily, but I LOVE math, logic and computers, probably because I’m on the spectrum, and need to have opportunities for continuous growth and improvement (I tried just living aimlessly with no responsibilities but just got depressed and nihilistic after a while), so I just want to work on interesting technologies with the latest and greatest, haven’t been involved in the larger professional scene for long enough to have a preference, but my friends who’ve interned for Microsoft, Facebook and Google have had great things to say, and I don’t hate Amazon but the way they’re structured seems to create more corporate politics than other FAANGs, which I’m not a fan of. No particular stack, I mainly do MERN/MEAN for my own projects/applications, with a few exceptions like a GTO poker solver I built with a few friends with C++, but worked with AWS and Angular/Spring at Amazon and liked that too. Yeah, that’s sort of what I figured. Amazons great but like I said above, has some cons. Might be a grass is always greener situation though. I guess my main question is just how hard is it to get hired by one of these companies full time? And does adding another Amazon internship increase that brand value or do I already have that stamp of approval from the one internship? I’ve already got a dev internship at a series A sized startup in Atlanta, an internship with amazon, a few decent projects under my belt (idk if those really matter, but they generate a few thousand dollars a month passive income, which I think is pretty neat o), and will have a masters in CS from a top school, on top of whatever else I do for the next 7 semesters. But like I said, I have no frame of reference for how hard it is to get hired by one of these companies full time. Is it comparable to getting an internship there? A little harder? Night and day? Would I be a competitive applicant with what I said above plus another internship/research project or two? I’ve never had an issue with the internship coding challenges and LC a lot in my free time, are the new grad challenges similar in terms of difficulty? Once again, any input appreciated
Here are the some things, I would say to consider 1. If you’re looking into smaller companies. Understand what their product is and be proactive. Understand the industry and try to learn as much as you can. Be mindful, choose a wise manager who is going to encourage and make you a better person 2. Try to talk to at least 2 new people every week in your internship. Ask them what they do? Try to expand your network this will help you in the long term. 3. If you are leaning towards small company, I would say hedge your amazon returning internship to another semester this way you don’t ignore them totally and at the same time you have higher chance of returning to amazon for full time. Having top tech companies or FANG companies on your resume has a big impact on your job search for full time. I would say rather small or big companies, try to get into teams where you have interest/challenges and also you have fun working on cool ideas. If you’re looking into experience try to get into challenging role and see how you face it?