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What should I focus on to land an internship the summer after my sophomore year?

2 points by ConvictDev ↗ HN
The title pretty much says it all. I have very minimal programming experience and I will be starting school in 3 weeks for computer science. I understand the utter importance of internships in finding a job out of school, and it's my goal to graduate with two, not just one. I'm assuming an internship the summer after my freshman year will be pretty damn difficult to find, given that I am not coming in with experience and will be at a CC in the midwest (before transferring to an average state school here next year). I'll be working 30-35 hours a week, but will only be in 6 hours this semester, followed by 9-11 hours next semester. I'll cover intro to programming, object-oriented programming (both done in C++), and a couple of math classes such as Statistics, Calc 2 and Discrete Math in this time. Given my workload and 2 hours of commute each day, I'm going to have a pretty busy schedule. I still want to make the most of my time outside of class and work to develop the skills necessary to land an internship early on. Where should I be focusing my efforts in these first two years to help me achieve my goal? Thanks!

3 comments

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FlyMuf
Hello, I am halfway through my sophomore year in college and I have already been through two internships: one summer and one spring semester - summer. I would say that the most important things are grades and understanding, however basic that may be. The good grades will land you an interview, but your understanding will land you a job when you nail the technical questions during your interview. It wont hurt to try applying for some after your freshman year. It's very important to send out as many applications as you can. Look on job posting sites and apply to any internships you think you could be a good fit for. Don't worry about your lack of experience; everyone has to start somewhere, and there are plenty of companies that are looking to take on younger interns.
ConvictDev
I know there's know one-size-fits-all answer, but would it be helpful to learn some data structures and algorithms in my own time? Was knowledge of these a necessity in landing your two internships?
FlyMuf
Definitely know your basic data structues, ie linked list, vector, etc, as well as your basic sorting algorithms. A lot of my interview questions had something to do with these topics. Also, in your spare time it wouldnt hurt to pick up a new language that you can put on your resume. That will open up more internship opportunities for you and make you a more desirable candidate. In my opinion, I would suggest learning python; if you are going to be learning C++ in school, python should be pretty easy for you to pick up. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.