Finding Your First CS Internship | kevchn

During school, I spent my summers interning at Airbnb, Pinterest, and Microsoft. I interviewed for 50+ companies and spent countless hours deciphering the interview process. After I left school, I kept getting the same few questions: “how do I get an internship at X?”, “how do I prepare for my interviews?”, “what companies should I apply to?”. So I decided to write down everything I wish I had known about the tech internship system when I was in school. Every company has a set of characteristics – some pay more, some hire freshmen, and so on. You should learn these characteristics. That way, you can narrow your search to the companies that are (1) most interesting and (2) most likely to give you an offer. You’ll also be able to better prepare for each company’s individual interview process. Here are the categories of companies you should know: “Big N” Companies “Unicorn” Startups Growth Stage Startups Early Stage Startups Fortune 500 Companies Mature Tech Companies Government Contracto

During school, I spent my summers interning at Airbnb, Pinterest, and Microsoft. I interviewed for 50+ companies and spent countless hours deciphering the interview process. After I left school, I kept getting the same few questions: “how do I get an internship at X?”, “how do I prepare for my interviews?”, “what companies should I apply to?”. So I decided to write down everything I wish I had known about the tech internship system when I was in school. Every company has a set of characteristics – some pay more, some hire freshmen, and so on. You should learn these characteristics. That way, y