Get a Software Engineer Intern Return Offer

Summary

This video offers valuable advice for excelling in a software engineering internship and securing a return offer. Key recommendations include mastering coding, testing, and Git, as well as understanding databases. The speaker emphasizes the importance of documentation for self-evaluation and performance reviews, seeking consistent feedback, and asking the right questions. Additionally, they suggest creating a design document for projects, networking, and being a positive team player. The video concludes with personal feedback received by the speaker during their internships, highlighting the importance of communication, initiative, and confidence.

Takeaways

• 💻 **Coding Skills**: Strengthen your coding abilities, including bug handling and understanding unfamiliar code.
• 🔍 **Testing and APIs**: Gain experience in writing tests and working with APIs to enhance your software development toolkit.
• 📚 **Educational Courses**: Enroll in software development courses to learn about the software life cycle and test-driven design.
• 💾 **Database Knowledge**: Familiarize yourself with relational databases to understand querying and data management.
• 📝 **Git Proficiency**: Develop a solid understanding of Git, including its workflow and command etiquette.
• 📑 **Documentation**: Keep thorough documentation of your work, wins, and areas for improvement to aid in self-evaluation and resume updates.
• 🗣️ **Consistent Feedback**: Regularly seek feedback from managers or mentors to track your progress and areas for self-improvement.
• ❓ **Asking Questions**: Cultivate the art of asking the right questions to demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• 📈 **Project Involvement**: Take ownership of your projects, create design documents, and justify your decisions for clarity and accountability.
• 🤝 **Networking**: Network and build connections with experienced engineers to gain insights into the industry and company culture.
• 🙂 **Positive Attitude**: Maintain a positive and cooperative demeanor during your internship to foster good relationships and a strong reputation.

Q & A

What is the most overlooked skill for interns according to the speaker?

The most overlooked skill for interns, according to the speaker, is experience with Git and having a good understanding of the Git workflow etiquette.

Why is documenting important during an internship?

Documentation is important during an internship because it helps with self-evaluations, performance reviews, and updating resumes. It provides a reference for your progress and work that can be easily recalled and shared with managers or during future meetings.

What is the speaker's advice on seeking feedback during an internship?

The speaker advises seeking consistent feedback by talking to your manager or mentor at least once a week. It's important to come prepared with questions and to record the feedback received to track your progress and areas for improvement.

How can interns stand out by asking questions?

Interns can stand out by not being afraid to ask questions but ensuring they are the right questions asked in the right way. This shows critical thinking and problem-solving skills and helps in getting the desired answers.

What should be included in a design document for a project during an internship?

A design document for a project should include the technologies used, flowcharts of method calls or endpoints, files created, and justifications for the choices made, such as why a particular database or endpoint was chosen.

Why is networking important during an internship?

Networking is important during an internship because it allows interns to build connections with experienced engineers, gain insights into the industry, and learn about different roles and expectations within a company.

What is the significance of ambiguity in different levels of software engineering roles?

The significance of ambiguity in software engineering roles increases with the level of the role. Interns and junior engineers are given more direction, while senior roles involve handling a greater scope of ambiguity and potentially unknown problems.

What should an intern's response be when asked about future employment with the company?

The speaker advises that if asked about future employment with the company, an intern should express a desire to return, even if they are using the opportunity to leverage a higher offer elsewhere.

How can an intern demonstrate being a team player during their internship?

An intern can demonstrate being a team player by not gatekeeping information, helping fellow interns, taking feedback positively without taking it personally, and being a positive and resilient person to work with.

What feedback did the speaker receive during their internships and how did they apply it?

The speaker received feedback to work on communication, take more initiative, and have confidence in their ability to handle projects. They improved by engaging more with colleagues, directing their learning, and trusting themselves to figure out solutions despite initial overwhelm.

Why is using Version Control essential for an intern?

Using Version Control is essential for an intern to prevent losing work, as the speaker experienced when their code was wiped away after clicking save in a console without Version Control. It ensures that work is saved and can be tracked over time.

Outlines

00:00

💼 Standing Out in Your Internship

The paragraph emphasizes the importance of certain skills and strategies for excelling in an internship and securing a return offer. It begins with the suggestion to refresh coding skills, especially in bug handling, understanding unfamiliar code, and writing tests. It also recommends taking courses in software development, test-driven design, and relational databases. The paragraph highlights Git experience as an often overlooked but crucial skill. The speaker then introduces strategies for standing out, starting with the importance of documentation for self-evaluation and performance reviews. It suggests recording weekly wins and losses, and the benefits of consistent feedback for self-improvement. The speaker also advises on asking the right questions and being proactive in seeking solutions to problems.

05:03

📝 The Power of Documentation and Feedback

This paragraph focuses on the significance of documentation and feedback during an internship. It explains how documentation helps in tracking progress and updating resumes, and how it can be used to record weekly achievements and areas for improvement. The speaker then discusses the value of consistent feedback, suggesting weekly meetings with managers or mentors to discuss progress and areas for development. The advice also includes being prepared with questions and updates on one's work for these meetings. The paragraph also touches on the importance of asking the right questions, showing critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

10:04

🔍 Going Beyond Coding: Design, Networking, and Positivity

The final paragraph expands on the idea that an internship is not just about coding. It suggests creating a well-thought-out design document for any project, which includes justifications for technological choices and design decisions. The paragraph also encourages interns to network and build connections with experienced engineers to gain insights into the industry and company culture. It advises interns to be positive and helpful, not to gatekeep information, and to handle feedback constructively. The speaker shares personal feedback received during internships, emphasizing the importance of communication, initiative, confidence, and persistence. The paragraph concludes with a cautionary tale about the importance of using version control to avoid losing work.

Keywords

💡Internship

An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time to a student or graduate. In the context of the video, internships are crucial for gaining practical experience and potentially securing a return offer, which could lead to full-time employment. The video emphasizes the importance of standing out during an internship to increase the chances of receiving a return offer.

💡Coding

Coding refers to the process of writing source code for software programs. It is a fundamental skill for software development roles. The video mentions that coding, particularly bug handling and understanding unfamiliar code, is a core activity during internships, highlighting its importance in the software industry.

💡Testing

Testing in software development involves the systematic checking of application components to ensure they meet the requirements and function correctly. The script suggests that having experience in writing tests is beneficial during internships, as it shows a proactive approach to ensuring software quality.

💡APIs

API stands for Application Programming Interface, which is a set of rules and protocols for building and interacting with software applications. The video script mentions working with APIs as a valuable skill for interns, as it is common to interact with various APIs in modern software development.

💡Software Development Course

A software development course typically covers the software life cycle, programming languages, and methodologies used in creating software. The video suggests that taking such a course can be beneficial for interns, as it provides a foundational understanding of the software development process and tools like test-driven design.

💡Relational Database

A relational database is a type of database that stores and retrieves data in table format. The video emphasizes the importance of understanding relational databases and querying, as interns are likely to work with databases and need to know how to interact with them effectively.

💡Git

Git is a version control system used for tracking changes in source code during software development. The video script identifies experience with Git as an often overlooked but crucial skill for interns, as it is widely used for code management and collaboration in the industry.

💡Documentation

Documentation in the context of software development refers to the written records or explanations of a project, code, or process. The video stresses the importance of documentation for self-evaluation, performance reviews, and resume updates, advocating for interns to maintain thorough records of their work and learnings.

💡Feedback

Feedback is the process of providing comments or critiques on someone's work to help them improve. The video encourages interns to seek consistent feedback from managers or mentors, as it is key to self-improvement and demonstrating initiative and accountability.

💡Design Document

A design document in software development is a detailed plan that outlines the architecture, features, and technical specifications of a project. The video suggests that creating a well-thought-out design document can facilitate implementation and clarity for others, emphasizing the importance of justifying design choices.

💡Networking

Networking refers to the process of building and maintaining professional relationships. The video advises interns to network and build connections with colleagues, as these relationships can provide valuable insights into the industry and company culture, and potentially lead to future opportunities.

💡Version Control

Version control is the management of changes to documents, programs, and other information stored as computer files. The video shares a personal anecdote about the importance of using version control to prevent loss of work, emphasizing its necessity for maintaining and tracking changes in code.

Highlights

The importance of coding skills and understanding software life cycle.

The value of experience in writing tests and working with APIs.

The necessity of understanding relational databases and querying.

The overlooked skill of experience with Git and its workflow etiquette.

The importance of refreshing your memory on Git commands.

The significance of documentation for self-evaluation and performance reviews.

How documentation helps in remembering progress and updating resumes.

The practice of recording weekly wins and losses for self-improvement.

The benefits of seeking consistent feedback for self-improvement.

The importance of asking the right questions and framing them effectively.

The expectation to ask questions but to do so in a thoughtful manner.

The project ownership and the creation of a well-thought-out design document.

The inclusion of justifications in design documents for better understanding.

The potential requirement to write high-level and low-level design documents.

The benefits of networking and building connections during an internship.

Asking insightful questions about roles and company hierarchies.

The importance of expressing a desire to return to the company post-internship.

Being a positive and helpful team member during the internship.

Feedback on improving communication and taking more initiative.

The advice to have confidence in one's ability to handle projects.

The lesson learned from losing code without version control.

Transcripts

this is how you can stand out in your

internship and get that return

offer congratulations you got your

internship but now what you might be

wondering what is that one skill that is

so important that is often ignored

pulled on to that thought we'll start

with the core of any software rooll

coding my first internship started out

with a lot of bug handling and also

stepping through the code that I'm never

seen before and trying to understand

what it all does it will also be really

great to have experience writing tests

and working with apis some of the

essential courses that you probably

should do are a software development

course where you learn a software life

cycle and you get to learn test driven

design also it can be really helpful to

have taken a relational database course

you will probably be working with

databases and it'll be really helpful to

understand how quering works and lastly

the most overlooked skill in my opinion

is experience with Git so it's really

important to have a good understanding

of the git workflow etiquette remember

to just refresh your memory about get

status get ad all those commands this

can save you a lot of headache and help

you a lot out in the future my bonus tip

is to get good at Googling make sure you

are asking the right questions and being

able to figure out what they're trying

to say and the right response with the

preparation out of the way how do you

ensure that you're just not another

intern let's get into the strategies

that will help you stand out first

things first documentation I cannot

stress how important this is

documentation is really important for

when you do self evaluations during your

internship and in the future this is

going to be important for your

performance reviews the reason that

documentation is really important is

because firstly your manager oversees a

lot of people and it's really unlikely

that they're going to remember your

progress and everything that you've done

but this doesn't matter when you've

written documentation because you can

just reference this information in the

future for future meetings anything like

that it's stuff that you've remembered

for yourself another reason why this is

so important is that when you're

updating your resume it's really hard to

remember everything you did during your

internship but because you documented it

it'll be super easy to update your

resume another thing that you can add to

your documentation is to record your

wins and your losses of the week things

that you did well and things that you

kind of need to work on every week

documentation is something that I

started doing at my second internship

because I noticed one of my friends

doing it and I was like that is a really

good idea I need to do that because it's

really easy to lose track of everything

that you've learned everything that

you've done because every week kind of

Blends into each other if you take away

any advice from this video I think this

is the one thing that you should do my

next piece of advice is to get

consistent feedback tying into the first

point of documenting record what they

said in terms of your feedback what you

need to work on your progress feedback

is more than just criticism it's it's

kind of the key to self-improvement I

really recommend talking to your manager

or your Mentor at least once a week and

ask for feedback on your progress come

prepared with the questions you want to

ask and also let them know of how well

you're doing what you're working on

things like that for example if they

told you that you're not progressing as

fast as they would like and you're kind

of getting stuck just record all the

ways that you try to unblock yourself

you talk to your co-workers you asked on

slack record that down and bring it up

in the next meeting this is so important

it shows that you take initiative it

shows that you hold yourself accountable

it makes you a really great employee and

a great team player so remember that

these meetings that you ask for feedback

with your manager or your Mentor these

are generally self-directed that means

you're going to lead the meeting come

prepar to these meetings with questions

that you want to ask and things you want

to say kind of what you could talk about

is your current progress let them know

what you've been working on what you're

doing and ask them if you're on track

and what can you do do better the next

step to ensuring a great internship is

not being afraid to ask questions but

remembering that you should be asking

the right questions in the right way

asking questions is expected you're

going to have a lot of questions there's

a lot of things you don't know but

there's definitely an art to it learn

how to frame your questions to show that

you're critical thinker and you're good

at problem solving and also let you get

the answers that you're looking for be

very clear with your questions provide

context because it's very unlikely the

person you're asking knows everything

about your project a way better way to

ask your questions instead of just

saying hey I'm stuck I don't know what

to do what should I do is saying hey I

am stuck on XYZ I've already tried this

solution a and this is the result and

I'm thinking about trying solution B

next what do you think I should do now

onto the project it's really likely that

you'll be given a project in your

internship it's important that you're

not just going through Through the

Motions coding away and not thinking too

much about why you're doing the things

that you're doing a wellth thought out

design document for your project can

make it so much easier when it comes to

implementation and also be easy for

other people to interpret the decisions

that you made for your design document

some of the things you can include are

the Technologies you use a flowchart of

the method calls or the endpoints that

you created or any files you made things

like that but the key to all of these

things is to provide justification as to

why you made those choices why did you

choose this database over another

database why did you decide to write

this end point instead of another one

understanding why you made these choices

and being able to articulate that is

crucial if you're going to be presenting

your project there's a really high

chance that you're going to be asked

questions it's a good idea to have done

all the justification You' figured out

your reasoning behind everything so you

know your project really well and you

can answer on the spot so this is is my

experience writing documentation during

my internships I wasn't explicitly told

at my first internship to write a design

doc but I just did one anyways because I

knew that if someone were going to take

over my project I wanted them to

understand what I did and also the steps

moving forward and some of the things

that included in the design doc were why

I chose that feature to work on and

files that I changed and some of the

endpoints that I created at Amazon if

you got a good project it's really

likely that you're going to have to

write a highle and a low-level design

doc even before you start your project I

found this a little bit hard because I

didn't know the technologies that well

and I didn't know if I could make an

informed decision about what I was going

to use writing the design doc for my

project really helped me take ownership

over it because I had to be careful

about the decisions I was making because

it would influence how my project was

going to look later on and I kind of

flip-flopped a lot but it was ultimately

like super helpful and I think that is

something that you should definitely do

in your internship coding is obviously

very important when it comes to your

software internship but there is more to

your internship than just programming

you can go beyond the code and make the

most of your time by networking and

building connections with the people

around you at your internship you're

going to be surrounded by people who

have had Real World experience as an

engineer and you get to ask them any

questions that you want about the

industry and what it's like working at

this company full-time what their

previous experience was like anything

like that there were a lot of things

that I was curious about during my

internships I asked what's the

difference between software engineer and

other positions like management devops

things like that what those expectations

are for those rules something that I

asked at Amazon is what's the difference

between L4 L5 L6 and L7 and so on if you

don't know what that is it's just the

different levels of software development

there kind of just like senior Junior

intermediate every company has different

hierarchies and different expectations

for each role and this is the answer

that I got back essentially between all

of these levels there isn't too much of

a difference between how skilled you are

at programming you're expected to be a

very proficient software engineer at

every level the biggest difference is

the level of ambiguity you'll be

handling as a intern or a junior

engineer you're kind of being told what

to do when it comes to your project you

don't have that much ambiguity except

for the technologies that you'll be

using so the scope of ambiguity is

really just what technology you're going

to choose what database you're going to

choose but as you go up in levels your

scope of ambiguity gets a lot bigger and

you'll potentially be handling problems

that you don't even know about my final

piece of advice is don't shoot yourself

in the foot if anyone at the company

asks if you want to work here in the

future just say yes okay just say yes

this is something that I saw one too

many times during my internship where

people would say that they did not want

to return to the company so on one

occasion there was a very high up person

in a management role who came from New

York to meet some of the interns and

they asked a bunch of us like if they

wanted to return back and come back most

of the people said yes but there was one

person who said that they were just

looking for a return offer from Amazon

so that they could leverage their return

offer to get a higher offer at a

different company and they said this to

someone who probably makes decisions as

to if people are coming back and I think

that you should probably just keep that

to yourself it's not something you need

to share with other people I just feel

like I have to say it even though

hopefully you're watching this and you

know that you're going to just say yes

you want to come back to this company

and this just leades in my next point

just be a good positive person during

your internship be someone that other

people would like to work with in the

future don't gatekeep information when

it comes to helping out your other

intern friends like let them know what's

up if anyone gives you feedback try not

to take it to heart it's just going to

help you in the future anyways and it'll

make you someone who is stronger more

resilient someone who is really nice to

work with right before I finish I want

to give some of the feedback that I've

gotten as an intern maybe you can keep

this in mind during your internship at

my first internship my feedback from my

manager was to work on my communication

I didn't really talk that much at all I

didn't engage with the other Engineers I

should have asked them more questions

about about their job or just been more

interested in what they did and this is

something that I definitely improved on

in my next internship I definitely made

a lot more friends talk to other interns

talk to other co-workers and got to hang

out with them which was really cool the

second thing my manager told me was I

needed to take more initiative basically

for my project every new feature that I

work on I would ask him what should I do

what should I work on and instead he

would like if I just directed that

learning myself and I would be like hey

I think we should work on this feature

because I've done this research that

justification and I'm going to do that

and is that okay with you I should have

taken more initiative in that area and I

think that's very valid feedback and

taking initiative over your project is

something that everybody values and

shows leadership at Amazon my manager

told me that I should have confidence

that I will be able to do the thing and

what that means is every time I would

get a project or my project scope would

change I'd be very overwhelmed and

visibly overwhelmed and he would

obviously be able to see it and he just

told me that you know you're going to

figure it out don't worry too much okay

it's overwhelming in the beginning but

you should have confidence and trust in

yourself that you're going to be able to

figure it out which I think is very very

powerful advice I think it's something

that I should just lead my life with

like have a little bit of confidence

that it's going to work out and my

mentor actually gave me feedback that I

had really good persistence and any time

that I didn't know a technology even

though I I was overwhelmed I would still

push through and try to figure it out

there were a lot of technologies that

nobody on my team had ever used before

so I had to just do my own digging and

my own research and my last thing is

something that I'm telling myself and

that is use Version Control during my

time in Amazon I was working in the AWS

console for a bit one of the services

that I was using did not have Version

Control and I would just click save and

then hope that my code would be saved

and one time I clicked save and all my

code got wiped away I had spent probably

a month working on those Python scripts

and they were just gone so I stayed up

till like 2:00 a.m. trying to fill in

all the work that I did and try to

remember everything that I wrote down

and from that moment on I was like I

need to take this out of the console and

put it in my own branch and just have

Version Control so I don't lose it this

probably given for most people but I'm

I'm going to do that next time following

all these steps will ensure that you

have the best internship it will will

ensure that you take away everything

that you need to from this experience

thank you for watching this video and I

hope you found it helpful remember to

share with any of your friends who are

starting an internship soon you want to

know how to get an internship in 2024

click this video like this video And

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