How Internship Helped Me To Get Full-Time Software Engineer Job (Worth $45k)

Due to COVID-19, the entire world is shaking and many people are losing their jobs.

And a lot of newbies are trying to make their career in TECH by doing remote jobs or anything they can do from anywhere in the world.

However, there are some amazing things coming down the pipeline in the world of technology every day.

But for many new developers, the prospect of jumping into a career in Tech especially in Programming can be intimidating.

There are so many technologies to learn and so many Programming languages to choose from. And No one knows the actual things that are working today, may or may not work tomorrow.

Because Technology is in evolution itself and it keeps changing every day.

When I was in the Third Year of Engineering, I was quite exhausted to learn more and more about technology by giving a lot of exams, practicals, and many things in academics.

I wanted to know what is one thing that fascinates me to do REAL WORK in the tech field.

And to figure out this, I decided to work in Tech Industry by getting a real job i.e. Doing an Internship in the company before graduation.

I started looking for a Summer Internship with whatever little knowledge I have had to get some real coding experience in a tech company.

After applying for more than 20+ companies, I ended up getting a 2 months summer internship in a small startup.

During the internship, I got to know what it takes to work on real-world projects than your stupid college practicals or project that you do during academics.

I worked as a Front end Developer where I had to build some basic projects with simple UI. I learned HTML, CSS, and some introduction to front end frameworks at the beginning.

After that, during the final year of engineering, we have to complete a Six months-long internship as it was in an academic curriculum which I think was the best learning experience in my entire engineering career.

Again, I started applying for a Six months-long internship for winter and because I had some experience during the last summer where all my college friends were used to having holidays, instead I was working in a company for myself to build tech skills.

Therefore, having an advantage of experience in a real-world tech company, I ended up getting six months long Paid internship in one of the big Tech companies I can ever imagine.

Here is a screenshot of my email I received that has an Internship offer from a company

As soon as I got an offer, Without wasting a bit of time I just accepted the offer to achieve the next milestone in my tech journey.

I started working as my first “Software Engineering Job” years ago and I must say that having an internship before getting any full-time job was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my career.

Now unlike hundreds of other blog posts (or experiences) you’ve read on the internet, this post is going to be different.

How is it going to be different?

Well, I am going to reveal the actual strategies and things that helped me, along with all Resume tips, Profile optimization, Portfolio website, and Internship Platforms so that you can get a clear idea on how to move things in the right direction.

So without wasting any further time, let’s get started.

We will cover the following topics -

1. Choosing Tech Stack and How to start with Fundamentals only
2. Building REAL WORLD projects and Setting up your portfolio website
3. Optimizing your Resume Profile
4. Applying for Internship

Let’s dive deep into each of them…

1. Start with only fundamentals

The most common advice any Tech Person can give you about choosing a Programming language or any Tech Stack is to start learning Python, Java, HTML, or Javascript or Select language that has high demand in the current world.

Now let’s be clear on one thing —

There is nothing called “High demand and Popular Language/Tech Stack”, Whether it is “Java” or “Python”– everything has a demand as long as you are learning.

The Tech industry doesn’t have any metric called High Demand (the competition inside the different languages is competition for industry and not for Developers that are learning multiple languages or only one language).

The greater the competition in Tech, the more likely the competition for developers and hence more salary potential too.

Here is what you can do to find the Programming Language which can be easily chosen:-

1. List all Top Programming Languages you have ever heard. From Job Survey of Indeed here are the top 5 Programming Languages that you can choose -

                               - C
                               - Java
                               - Python
                               - Javascript
                               - Ruby
   

2. Do not Choose any Tech stack at first glance — Be open wide that you can learn anything.

3. Start with only Fundamental concepts and then try to learn advanced stuff in any language you choose.

Note: My First and always recommend is to go with C language. Because it teaches you core programming concepts that you can apply to any other programming language when you learn after C.

The reason why I said — Do not choose any particular language or stack is that when I started applying for my first internship, I only knew the C language and fundamentals of HTML and CSS in Tech.

I started applying for an internship using only those few skills and hoping that someday I will be able to get an internship in a company as a C developer.

And guess what, I gave the interview based on my only C fundamentals and ended up getting an internship as a Role of Front End Developer where I had to start learning from scratch.

Initially, I started learning HTML, CSS in detail and after that, I worked on real projects.

By doing this, you will be having more scope and more knowledge in Tech that anyone could have at the first attempt.

2. Build something REAL WORLD PROJECTS

Creating Real-world projects like if you know HTML and CSS, building Websites of Online Restaurants, Online Ticket Booking, Ordering a Food, Booking a Taxi can set you apart from other people.

Having different projects is so important when it comes to establishing trust in applying for internships online.

Also, If you have a Portfolio with detailed information on your skills and projects can give you a better impression in an interview. Because it is far important in today’s world when it comes to establishing trust online.

Investing $10 to purchase a domain or creating a free portfolio from sites like Netlify, Heroku, GitHub could be the best investment you can make.

All you have to do is make sure whatever you write is well-presented and can understand when anyone comes to visit your website.

You need to make sure that you don’t need to have a sidebar section or a lot of menus on your portfolio website, this will save more space and make everything simple and readable.

You want to focus more on Readability!

Following are the Basic Pages you need to make sure have in your Website-

                                    1. About Us/me
                                    2. Contact Us/me
                                    3. Projects
                                    4. Skills
                                    5. Privacy Policy
                                    6. Affiliate Disclosure ( if needed)

Let’s make things more interesting -

When I applied for an internship, I had only one project that I had built during my academics that was too in C language.

Hence, I started applying for an internship with that one project all I had, and guess what, I was not getting any response from companies.

The reason is, My profile was so simple that anyone could reject me. I had not optimized my resume, portfolio site, and not having enough projects to showcase my talent and skillsets.

The moment I started working on my Resume, Portfolio site and built another two projects, that is when companies took the interest to notice me and stand out from multiple candidates.

Warning- Don’t just complete those online certification courses on different platforms for sake of mentioning on your Resume. Because it is not going to be worth it at all if you don’t build something REAL PROJECTS by yourself.

3. Optimizing your Resume

Creating your Resume is so simple but optimizing it to stand out among all is quite hard.

But you don’t need to worry, here are the common mistakes I have noticed people do in their Resume :

A. Talks more about things like certification and forget to discuss projects that they have already worked on.

B. Not using Proper Resume Templates to stand out and making it unique.

C. Not Staying consistent with Font and its size. Not using any proper Formatting.

D. Making Resume more than 2 pages long.

E. Having common silly, Grammar mistakes.

F. Not using a PDF format file.

All the small mistakes in your resume can lead to different aspects of your personality to the Recruiter. Therefore it’s our job to make the Resume error-free and stand out unique.

Here are the few points you should consider when you are optimizing your Resume-

1. Sell yourself in your Resume -

Don’t be shy about your skills, certifications, and accomplishments. Have a detailed paragraph in bold that lists one impressive achievement you ever had in your career.

Be it anything. Write it down.

2. Add Little Personality of yourself -

Don’t just make your Resume with keywords stuffing everywhere. Do have a little personality that can be remembered in your profile when any recruiter goes through it.

3. Use Proper Formatting -

Having proper formatting in a resume makes readability more clean and neat. If you use any font keep it the same throughout the resume. Don’t change it.

Have the same font size. Use Bullet points when it is needed.

4. Avoid Long Resume -

Do not ever make Resumes more than 2 pages long. Recruiters are busy and reviewing a lot of resumes they have.

They don’t have any time to read all your pages of long resumes. Try to keep it short.

5. Use Online Resume Templates -

Using an online resume template make sure that your resume stands out and unique. I suggest you using following one of the online tools to make your Resume :

a. Canva

b. VisualCV

c. Kickresume

d. Zety

6. Focus on Relevancy -

List out only relevant skills in your resume. Focus on emphasizing the technologies you want to get a job in. Don’t list every piece of tech skills you have never used.

7. Always use PDF file -

A PDF file will ensure that your formatting is the same as how you want it to the recruiter looking at it.

Here is a Sample of the Resume template you can refer to when creating your resume.

As I have explained various types of mistakes and how to overcome them in the above section, now you must have an idea about how you will display and showcase your Resume.

If you can manage to get a bunch of people or your friends to share their feedback on your Resume, you can get FREE tips plus mistakes they will come across in your resume, so it’s an advantage.

4. Apply for Internship

After you complete above all the steps and if you are fully convinced that you want to get an internship in the company, the only thing you left with applying for an internship and having industry experience from it.

Here are the most popular websites that you can start and apply for an internship from my opinion :

a. LinkedIn

b. Internshala

c. Glassdoor

d. AngelList

When you apply for an internship for any company, try to apply for 2–3 highly relevant internships on one of the sites and apply when you can match at least 50% criteria

It takes time. Do not give up after applying for 2–3 internships and getting rejected or not getting any response.

I applied for an internship for more than 30+ companies and cracked one interview, got selected after 3 months.

So don’t give up. Optimize your profile and learn from the mistakes.

Just Apply!

What will be the worst case, they will say a big NO to you only. And what if you get that internship that you have never dreamt of. So start applying as long as your matching criteria.

Get some industry experience. Repeat this process until you feel confident and then Get a Full-time Job. It will all be worth it.

Let me tell you important thing that happened to me ever-

As I have completed an internship in the company before completing my graduation, I felt more confident than anyone else.

I was having good industry experience and I started interviewing for a full-time software engineer position as soon as I completed my graduation.

Here is a screenshot of my email I received that has an offer from a company for a full-time Software Engineer Position worth $45k annually.

It was my first full-time job offer and compensation was also better for me where I was starting my first job right after my college degree.

Hence it was best in my way to fulfill those wish that I was dreaming way before my graduation. I accepted the offer then happily and I was very grateful for that as well…

Summary

I have tried to give you 100% actionable tips backed with my own experience without considering any hypothesis for getting your internship.

If I had to sum up everything in one line, I would say:

Build Skills, Create REAL WORLD Projects. Companies will reach out to you! Chasing companies without building skills and having REAL WORLD projects, you will eventually die chasing!

So if you are serious about taking advantage of an internship, I wish you luck and I hope to read your story someday.

If you liked this perspective on Internship, Do not forget to tell me what you think about it.

You can connect me on Twitter if you’d like to tell your thoughts and follow my experiences in real-time as well!