A Shortcut to Landing a Software Engineer Internship in the US: Five Key Areas to Get a Handle On

Original post: https://corgitechus.com/featured-post/landing-internship-in-us/

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Landing a job at a good tech company after earning a degree in the US is a milestone many students who study there are chasing. That battle starts the moment you decide to go abroad, and it starts with finding an internship. In this post I'll share why I recommend looking for an internship, along with five key areas of the internship search that we can get a handle on before going abroad, or even before applying.

From deciding to go abroad, to applying to schools, to getting into a good one, I'm sure you've been as excited as I was at every moment. The wait before starting school is long but also precious. This is all just beginning, so let's look at how to become more competitive than everyone else before you even leave!!

Disclaimer: the methods below are based on my own experience and won't necessarily suit everyone. Take what works for you :)

Leetcode 1: Two sum

Contents

• Why look for an internship? Why not go straight for a full-time job?

• What to prepare for the internship search

  • Skills

  • Experience

  • Network

  • Resources

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Mindset⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Why look for an internship? Why not go straight for a full-time job?

For most new grads, an internship offers these benefits:

1. Work experience

The US puts a lot of weight on hands-on experience, especially US industry experience. Without any work experience, it's very hard to get past HR's resume screening. From what I've seen, many American college freshmen are already looking for internships to build industry experience, and they may be your potential competition.

2. A lower bar

Job hunting often runs into a chicken-or-egg problem: which comes first, the resume or the job? And landing an internship in the US is actually a relatively easier opportunity. Take Google: for an internship you might need 2–3 rounds of technical interviews, but for a full-time role you'd need 4–5 rounds. According to friends who work there, the evaluation criteria are different too. For the same problem, they may expect a more efficient algorithm from a full-time candidate

3. A path to a full-time offer

Certain companies give return offers to a set share of their interns every year (2022 excepted), which means you already have an offer as a safety net by the end of summer. At that point we still keep the option to keep looking for other jobs, and can enjoy the rest of school with a lot less pressure. Some companies also pay more to students who accept a return offer. Amazon, for example, added a sign-on bonus of nearly 20000.

Of course, if you already have several years of work experience in Taiwan, you can choose to go straight for a full-time job and save even more time and tuition!

What to prepare for the internship search

There's really a lot, so I've grouped it into five dimensions: skills, experience, resources, network and mindset.

So!!! Start preparing as early as you can. When the idea of going abroad first comes up, when we have our heads down preparing for the GRE and TOEFL, the battle has already begun.

Below are examples for each of the five areas: skills, experience, resources, network and mindset. What exactly do you need?

Skills

To be blunt, this part is all about interviews (experts, feel free to skip). Most big companies describe a few use cases or problems and ask you to solve them in a programming language, usually with the optimal solution. While you're solving them, the interviewer also evaluates how well you explain your solution and communicate. Think of it this way: they'll be your coworker someday, so how would you explain your thinking so they actually understand it?

1. Data structures and algorithms: practice sites Leetcode and Jiuzhang Algorithm

Leetcode 1: Two sum

In the year before I went abroad, I gradually worked through 300+ problems. After I got there, the coursework was so heavy I really had no time to grind problems!!! Leetcode has weekly contests and daily challenges, which you can use to force yourself to solve one problem a day and do one timed contest a week.

My 2022 Submissions on leetcode

Quick tip: Leetcode usually runs a Leetcode Premium group discount for schools soon after the semester starts. Once enough students from the same school sign up with their school email, you can get a year of Premium at a huge discount (even cheaper than the Thanksgiving sale). Don't miss it.

With Leetcode Premium you can see which companies each problem is tagged with, plus the newest problems

2. Behavioral Question:

Describe a time when you disagreed with a team member. How did you resolve the problem?

Tell me about a time when you failed.

Give me an example of when you had to assume leadership for a team.

What is the most difficult/ challenging situation you’ve ever had to resolved in the workplace?

1Point3Acres has a huge amount of material on this. Basically, you need to learn how to use the STAR method to draw on your work experience when talking through workplace situations. Here's an example.

3. Communication skills: mock interviews

Once you have the technical knowledge, you also need to practice speaking. This skill is arguably the most important one. Sometimes you won't come up with the best algorithm, but if you're a great communicator, the interviewer may still rate you well!

I recommend a platform that pairs you with strangers to practice coding interview questions: Pramp

Experience

HR may read hundreds of resumes a day, spending maybe just a few seconds on each. From what I know and after asking quite a few people, related work experience is basically what they care about most. The first step is the hardest; once you have one, getting past resume screening gets much easier. So if you still have some time before you go abroad, hurry up and get an internship to build some experience!

How much I think each kind of experience matters: internship at a well-known big US company > internship at a well-known US company outside the US >= internship at a small or mid-size US company > internship outside the US >> school project experience == GPA >>> no experience

Network

A network is a great thing to have: it can give you a boost in your job search, and when you're falling apart, you'll have people to push through with

1. LinkedIn: probably less widely used in Asia, but crucial in the US. You can even get referrals through LinkedIn. Someone working at Google once told me LinkedIn is your storefront: sometimes a recruiter just scrolls through your profile, and if it's complete and even has recommendations, they like what they see and you get an interview. So he strongly suggested that I ask a mentor or manager from work to write you a recommendation on LinkedIn, which is very appealing to recruiters.

2. Peers: set up your own study group and mock interview group and start exchanging ideas early. Talking things through together can quickly clear up some of your blind spots, and you'll all grow fast together. Abroad, the support and care between friends is often still the warmest thing there is.

Resources

Here are the resources you'll need

1. Learn to write a resume: have as many people look at it as possible, ideally people who already work in the industry.

2. 1Point3Acres account: this is a Chinese forum, and you'll find it's a gold mine. People discuss everything from study-abroad applications, interview experience and salary negotiation to making friends and raising kids in the US. However, a lot of the content has restricted access, and the best way to earn access (rice points) is to log in every day. So create your account early and log in daily!! Ideally you want 180 rice points. You start with 100 and can earn at most 2 a day, so start at least 40 days ahead.

3. School career fair info and prep: career fairs are hugely important and useful, and many small and mid-size companies are happy to hand out interviews there. We have to impress the person we're talking to within 10 minutes, and there are lots of details involved. Specifically, I prepared using How to Make the Most of a Career Fair to Land Interviews.

4. School networking events: keep an eye on them, as there are occasional pleasant surprises. My school uses Handshake, and your chances of getting an interview are much higher than with mass applications! That's how this corgi got a Bloomberg interview

5. Get to know the job posting sites: timing matters a lot, and applying right around when a position opens greatly increases the chance your resume gets seen.

6. Find videos of interview processes, then practice with someone (mock interviews). I recommend Pramp, a platform for online mock interviews with people from other countries. The quality varies, but it's still a good chance to practice explaining coding problems to someone.

7. Follow Corgitech, and this corgi will keep you posted on all things big and small about life in the US. There's a hidden resource at the end of this post!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Mindset⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Personally, I think mindset is actually the most important thing. Once job-hunting mode and classes both kick in, we'll be freaking super busy, and the pressure can get intense. So be mentally prepared and plan your course load sensibly. When you're worn out, remember to talk to a friend. We're not alone on this road, and our mental and physical health always come first. Asian students are actually really strong