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How to get a tech internship?
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Your first day at an Engineering college must have been grand. Entering the campus gates with an air of certainty, you’d have thought that this place will frame your career and personality. Quite contrary to your initial assumptions, a week into college would have brought you closer to reality, of how college isn’t any different than school with assignments, weekly quizzes and a lot more on your plate to deal with.
Finding a way out amidst the mess that you’ve planted yourself in, now that you’re in the second year of college, a brand new concern arises: Finding a tech internship. Before you plan ways to deal with it, have a look at the tips we’ve listed for you. A brief guide, this will help you pave your path into the perfect tech internship.
To secure a meaningful internship, it is always better to look in places that intrigue you, where you’d be willing to put your best efforts in. The first step towards getting a tech internship, you need to list down the firms you’re interested in and which you think will bring you closer to your career goal. While you mustn’t restrict your search to just these companies only, they’ll be a good place to start your search with. You might find internships listed on job search engines like Indeed and Internshala. Apart from this, go through the careers section of individual companies. If these don’t work, you can always send out cold, courteous emails to startups or small companies. Such emails often help in grabbing unlisted opportunities.
Most internship processes take time. So, it is better to start the application process early. Watch out for firms that roll their internship forms out in mid-session, in October and November. To grab a summer internship, prepare your resume beforehand and start applying in the month of January itself. Most internship offers close by the end of February. If, on the other hand, you’re looking to apply for a winter internship, you need to work on your resume in the month of August. Start applying in early October. Winter internships are easier to secure due to little or no competition. This generally works in your favour.
Even though at times you fail to realise, college helps you build a network of people. You get in touch with people from different fields, your very own seniors and teachers. Where it is essential to keep your community in loop at all times, they often help you in unexpected places. Use your network wisely. Ask for referrals and recommendations. Not only will this help in landing an internship, but will also help recruiters verify your credibility as well as your quality of work. Your professors and family friends are good resources to be tapped into. They often have connections in reputed industries and might act as supervisors and advisors for resume, projects and even mock interviews.
Though filling the application out sounds like a simple process, the preparation required beforehand is lengthy. Work on your resume to make it strong and attractive. Make sure that the resume stays concise but covers the essentials and is informative. In case you’re short with time on your hands, you can use sources like Canva or Novaresume which have built-in templates to help you out.
In case you’re pursuing your bachelor’s in software engineering, you must work on a few side projects to crack the pre-internship interview. Make use of sources like Github which is an easy place to share and store the projects you work on. Ensure that the projects are inclined slightly towards the difficult level and that they require about 2 months to complete. In case you own a personal website, it’ll work as an excellent source of interactive resume, also acting as your portfolio. You can participate in hackathons, project building competitions, to add more credibility to your resume.
What you might be asked in an interview depends on your specialization. Nevertheless, it is essential to go through a few interview questions beforehand. Not only should you focus on strengthening your technical concepts but also work on behavioural questions to get an insight into what the interviewer might ask. For questions which require you to demonstrate leadership, prepare your answers prior to the interview.
Another question where students find themselves in a fix is where they are asked to speak about themselves. Talk about your interests and experiences here. Keep your answer crisp, hitting the relevant points only. Refer to books, websites and blogs to get an idea about the technical questions. When bombarded with the final question: “Do you have any questions for us?”, grab the opportunity to connect better with your interviewer.
Having an internship under your belt eases your job search. You understand the primary requisites and work on them accordingly. Now that you have a plan of action in your hand, gear up and start working towards getting your first tech internship. All the best!
Finding a way out amidst the mess that you’ve planted yourself in, now that you’re in the second year of college, a brand new concern arises: Finding a tech internship. Before you plan ways to deal with it, have a look at the tips we’ve listed for you. A brief guide, this will help you pave your path into the perfect tech internship.
Look for opportunities
To secure a meaningful internship, it is always better to look in places that intrigue you, where you’d be willing to put your best efforts in. The first step towards getting a tech internship, you need to list down the firms you’re interested in and which you think will bring you closer to your career goal. While you mustn’t restrict your search to just these companies only, they’ll be a good place to start your search with. You might find internships listed on job search engines like Indeed and Internshala. Apart from this, go through the careers section of individual companies. If these don’t work, you can always send out cold, courteous emails to startups or small companies. Such emails often help in grabbing unlisted opportunities.
Take time into consideration
Most internship processes take time. So, it is better to start the application process early. Watch out for firms that roll their internship forms out in mid-session, in October and November. To grab a summer internship, prepare your resume beforehand and start applying in the month of January itself. Most internship offers close by the end of February. If, on the other hand, you’re looking to apply for a winter internship, you need to work on your resume in the month of August. Start applying in early October. Winter internships are easier to secure due to little or no competition. This generally works in your favour.
Using your resources
Even though at times you fail to realise, college helps you build a network of people. You get in touch with people from different fields, your very own seniors and teachers. Where it is essential to keep your community in loop at all times, they often help you in unexpected places. Use your network wisely. Ask for referrals and recommendations. Not only will this help in landing an internship, but will also help recruiters verify your credibility as well as your quality of work. Your professors and family friends are good resources to be tapped into. They often have connections in reputed industries and might act as supervisors and advisors for resume, projects and even mock interviews.
The preparation
Though filling the application out sounds like a simple process, the preparation required beforehand is lengthy. Work on your resume to make it strong and attractive. Make sure that the resume stays concise but covers the essentials and is informative. In case you’re short with time on your hands, you can use sources like Canva or Novaresume which have built-in templates to help you out.
In case you’re pursuing your bachelor’s in software engineering, you must work on a few side projects to crack the pre-internship interview. Make use of sources like Github which is an easy place to share and store the projects you work on. Ensure that the projects are inclined slightly towards the difficult level and that they require about 2 months to complete. In case you own a personal website, it’ll work as an excellent source of interactive resume, also acting as your portfolio. You can participate in hackathons, project building competitions, to add more credibility to your resume.
Prepping for the Interview
What you might be asked in an interview depends on your specialization. Nevertheless, it is essential to go through a few interview questions beforehand. Not only should you focus on strengthening your technical concepts but also work on behavioural questions to get an insight into what the interviewer might ask. For questions which require you to demonstrate leadership, prepare your answers prior to the interview.
Another question where students find themselves in a fix is where they are asked to speak about themselves. Talk about your interests and experiences here. Keep your answer crisp, hitting the relevant points only. Refer to books, websites and blogs to get an idea about the technical questions. When bombarded with the final question: “Do you have any questions for us?”, grab the opportunity to connect better with your interviewer.
Having an internship under your belt eases your job search. You understand the primary requisites and work on them accordingly. Now that you have a plan of action in your hand, gear up and start working towards getting your first tech internship. All the best!
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