Hello!
Here is my internship application tracker I’ve put together: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GjQLz7nfR7Lqz7Jttgz2B1SnKsiCKK35xQRCoEsilXM/
Freshman/Sophomore-Specific SWE Internships
Lots of big tech companies recruit specifically Freshman and Sophomores in University. They have separate programs built out for this. This is because companies typically have a strong preference towards recruiting Juniors and Seniors (in case you haven’t noticed). As a result, I’ve created a list of companies and their programs this past Fall 2020.
Freshman/Sophomore Intership Programs:
Google STEP, Facebook University, Microsoft Explore, Amazon Future Engineer, Twitter Academy, UberSTAR, Dropbox Launch, Palantir Path, CapitalOne Incubator
This is by noooo meanssss a comprehensive list! Just the ones I happened to stumble across while going through tech recruiting myself 🙂
Company Conferences for Underclassmen
Several companies also host conferences themselves! It gives them a chance to do a quick preliminary screening of particularly interested candidates (the ones least likely to reneg or turn down an offer). It’s a super easy way to guarantee an interview, pick up free swag, and get flown out to a new city for free!
Company-hosted Conferences:
Twitter #EarlyBird, Capital One Summit, Discover Financial Services Diversity Accelerator Program, Target Diversity Leadership Symposium (DLS), Deloitte National Leadership Conference (DNLC), Bloomberg Empowers, Goldman Sachs Summit, Empower Summit, Lyft Early Talent Access, Morgan Stanley Early Insights
Several of these are intended for underrepresented groups in Tech. I personally don’t qualify for all of these, but I recommend you apply to and attend all the ones you can. Also, I personally just love meeting new people 🙂
Other fun conferences to attend!
My personal favorite conference I went to this past summer was Out for Undergrad(O4U)! I attended their Tech 2020 virtual conference, and even though it was virtual, I still had a BLAST! The opening ceremony was a video with TONS of iconic memes including
Other conferences might include Out for Undergrad, Grace Hopper, Richard Tapia, Wonder Woman in Tech, oSTEM, among others
Why do companies even do internships?
It’s NOT for cheap labor!! (continue reading if you’re bored, but the tips end here)
Interns are actually super expensive for a company! Sure, you might be working at a fraction of the pay as a regular full-timer, but interns have huge costs.
With just the hiring process, a company is spending hours of HR time sifting through intern applications just to find the few ones they want to interview – even with automatic resume parsers! On top of that, interviews takes a few more minutes to be scheduled each, plus another hour of time from a trained software engineer to host the coding interview.
On top of that, interns on a SWE team are typically expected to meet with a manager or two every week. Cumulatively, this might ultimately look like an intern taking up the resources of 10% of a SWE, on top of their intern salary, ultimately for a project that may or may not be implemented – it’s a risk! Especially if the intern is taking up time for other employees throughout the duration of the internship. However, those interns that only have 1 year of undergrad remaining before graduating are expected to return to the company full-time. This means onboarding a full-time new grad who’s previously been at the company, and has already been trained with the company’s technology. This would mean interns with return offers are extremely competent despite the new grad status compared to other new-grad new hires. As a result, return offers can often be negotiated for higher compensation – not because the candidate has proven dedication, but because they are familiar with proprietary tech, trained, and less likely to leave the company within a couple years.