From the start of my enrollment in the post bacc computer science program, I knew that getting an internship would be an essential step in my career change. So, when I was about halfway through the program, I began heavily studying leetcode to prepare for interviews. In fact, I even prioritized leetcode over my schoolwork in order to ensure I was prepared for any interview that came my way.
Another thing I had to do to prepare for internships was revamp my resume. My prior work in accounting had very little relevance to a career in software engineering. However, I spent a lot of time condensing, reformatting, and rewording my resume in order to show that I had learned skills that would help me as a software engineer. Once my resume was set, it was time to begin applying.
The application process was rough. I applied to any and every open software engineering internship I could find. In total, I probably applied to over 200 internship positions. For the first month or so I received nothing but rejection letters which was quite an upsetting experience. Eventually though, invitations to take online assessments began trickling in. I was ecstatic to finally be getting some traction with my applications and after all the leetcode prep I had done, I was confident that I could do well on the assessments. However, it didn’t exactly pan out that way.
The first 3-4 online assessments I took did no go well. I was lucky if I was successful in solving even one of the questions that the assessments presented. Needless to say, I did not hear back from these companies for next steps. It was very disappointing to have had put in so much work preparing for these assessments only to fall flat on my face when the time came to perform. The internship hunt was my most stressful part of my time at OSU because I was working so hard to get an internship but I was seeing next to no results.
Eventually I received an online assessment invitation for a software engineering internship at a large retail company. Since I was eager for any type of experience, I excitedly took the assessment and to my surprise, I was able to pass all the test cases in the assessment and make it to the in person interview stage.
The in person interviews went very well. They were not technical in nature and mostly behavioral based. I was able to come up with good answers for everything they asked and got good feedback from the interviewers. After about a week or so, I was informed that they would be extending an offer for a 6 month remote internship! This was perfect because not only would I be able to get relevant working experience, but the lack of a commute meant that I would have enough time in my day to continue taking 1-2 classes for the winter 2022 and spring 2022 terms. I was thrilled to finally be able to quit my job at the paint store and begin getting some actual experience.
My internship was decent. Although my title was “Software Engineer Intern”, my actual job had nothing to do with coding or writing software. It was a data analytics role using PowerBi and a little bit of SQL to display sales trends, store damages, and other important points of data for the company. While I was disappointed that I wasn’t gaining true software engineering experience, I made the most of it and was determined to look to the bright side of things. There were still some relevant experiences. My team had an agile work style and we tackled projects in sprints. So while I wasn’t actually doing software engineering, I was still learning some skills utilized by software engineers.
Outside of my internship, things were going well. Classes were tough but manageable and I was still applying for internships for summer 2022. To my surprise, I eventually received an invitation for an online assessment at a very large tech company.
That’s all for now. In my final blog post I will detail my time from spring 2022 to the present. I will discuss the process of getting my second internship, my experiences during the internship, and finally what I will be doing next after graduation.
