Advice for Preparing for an Internship/Job (CS)

[WCFire]

Hi guys,

How should a CS college student be preparing themselves for an internship/job? My school has a career fair this week and I'm feeling awfully plain in qualifications. I've done well in school so far, but I've had no job experience thus far and can't think of ways to advertise myself to employers.

What does the first-time internship hunt typically look like? What sort of skills should you have before looking around and what is to be expected of you thus far?

[notyou]

Now, by preparing, do you mean you're handing out resumes, or that you have the job already (actually preparing for the job)?

If it's #1, if you have any experience/personal projects, definitely emphasize those. It's also good if you are doing anything extra in school such as specialized projects that give you a leg up on everyone else. I guess one more piece of advice is to dress well, learn something about each company and get to know each of the recruiters at each booth. Then you can talk to them about the company, their work, why it's interesting, what you can do for the company (referencing personal projects when possible). Basically get to know them so they see you're a good person, then, a day later or so send an email to them (you got their contact info, right?) saying thanks for spending time talking to you about company X, their work, about potential opportunities (but don't beg, and be specific about things you talked about if possible). This means you may want to take some notes, but don't go word for word, listen to them first and make short notes second. And make sure that each email is personalized, don't cookie cutter them and just change the names and company, it's fairly easy to tell when you're just throwing it out to a dozen different companies because it's so impersonal.

This strategy worked well for me. I got two interviews with big companies and, even though I wasn't able to get one of the positions, the recruiters called me back and asked if I was interested in another position. Long story short, I'm going to be moving to the east coast for a summer internship which could turn into a full job afterwards.

[WCFire]

Hey thanks for the input notyou

I definitely don't have the job already. I should have mentioned that before. That's the kind of advice I was looking for.

What sort of personal projects would be helpful? I've done an Android project where we made a game. In retrospect, it was poorly done, but I wonder if that even matters since it was our first attempt. I would imagine these recruiters should expect no prior job experience, but do these recruiters expect personal projects outside of school?

[Melody]

Well the advice will be the same for most jobs/domains aside from creative fields where resumes don't count for much.

Your goal is to sell yourself as an asset to whoever is hiring you. As such, you want to show them you're different than the other 5-500 people in your program. This is where extracurricular stuff outside class helps because it's not something everyone in your program has done.

These are the things you want to sell yourself on (or can project doing in the future):
- personal projects related to your field
- volunteer work related to your field
- school-related extracurricular related to your field (clubs, teams and whatnot)

The key I think to remember is that you should do the above, even if they're not "super advanced". It's not just the complexity that impresses an employer, it's the simple fact that you were bothered to do something extra. A friend of mine in CS got into an internship interview because he volunteered to teach elderly people computer skills in his free time. It's not very advanced University level stuff, but it shows an employer that you're willing to undertake other projects AND it also shows them skills beyond the classroom. Your Android project would be a good thing to put alongside any other possible computer related endeavors you've undertaken.

Aside from the above, inform yourself on who you're going to apply to. If they have a website, look it up. You SHOULD know what the company you're applying to is about. Inform yourself on what kind of people/skills they're looking for and tailor your resume, approach and interview to those factors.

[Patrick]

Github Github Github. Having some code that people can see is a huge plus.

[Sphinx]

Github Github Github. Having some code that people can see is a huge plus.

While I havent gone for a CS job yet (despite being one of my main focuses in school) this is a request I got when somebody offered me a position (should have taken it). Typically it doesnt have to be in the same language as the company, although it helps, showing them how you solve a problem is great ice breaker.

So yeah patricks advice is a HUGE plus.

[DexterMorgan]

What code should one put up there? Class projects?

[Sphinx]

Algorithms that show you solving a complex problem in an efficient way.

[Patrick]

I stick anything that is not private code on github. So... almost anything.

[DexterMorgan]

Algorithms that show you solving a complex problem in an efficient way.

How do you define a complex problem?
How long does the code have to be?