I was lucky enough to land an internship for the summer of 2022. I had decided randomly to move across the country to Seattle with no job and no support system because I wanted to start over again somewhere new. The day before I left for the long drive, I decided to randomly apply to one job on LinkedIn for a Software Engineering Internship at Premera Blue Cross. I didn’t think much of it and figured nothing would come of it, but I applied anyway. Surprisingly, a day later, I received a phone call about the internship. I called back and talked to the recruiter. I was surprised, but didn’t get my hopes up. She sent my name to a manager at Premera and I got another call about an interview over Microsoft Teams. I was excited at this point, but again, tried not to get my hopes up.
I had my interview at a hotel in Spokane, WA over Teams and met a manager named Chad. He was extremely friendly and we had a great conversation. I got to show him personal projects I did and talk about different interests I have. We talked for about 45 minutes and then I left the hotel and was on the road again for Seattle.
After about two hours I got another call from the recruiter. She told me that he wanted to offer me the internship right away. I was shocked that he decided to choose me that quickly, but was excited that he did! I accepted the offer right away and the recruiter and I talked about what to expect, where to pick up equipment, etc.
I had about two weeks before I was going to begin my internship after I arrived in Seattle. I had enough time to get comfortable and explore my new city. I did all of the touristy things and tried a lot of new restaurants. But those couple of weeks flew by and before I knew it, it was time to go pick up my equipment.
When I arrived at Premera, there were two other new interns there to pick up their equipment as well. I immediately started talking to one of them, Monica, and we hit it off well. (Funny enough, she ended up becoming my best friend and we spend multiple days a week together now.) The other employees there set everything up for us and we were on our way.
I went home and set up the equipment and it was time to log in to meet my team. I got extremely lucky with my team. They all specialize in different areas and were excited to have their first intern. They never left me wondering who to go to for help. They were always there to support me. I knew from the first day that they would be there every step of the way.
When I first decided to move to Seattle, I was tired of my life and needed something fresh. But a part of me was so nervous that I would be going there with nothing and no one. However, my decision to apply to that one job gave me the best team I could ever ask for, my best friend, and a whole network of people that care about my success. In my next blog, I’ll talk about the internship project that I created.
P.S. I did end up getting a full-time offer at Premera and I accepted. I’ll start after this quarter is over! 🙂
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