A Quite Personal Note on Internships

Like the title says, this is quite personal. This is something I mainly write for myself to look upon during my future internships, and maybe also when starting out on my career. These are the things I’ve learned from my previous internships, and the things that I wish someone had told me on my first one. I hope this is actionable enough for me to act upon and for this to be worth sharing.

Don’t stay blocked. Please, ask for help

This is still a battle that I often cannot win with myself. I have a habit of not asking for help when I’m stuck. I would ponder on the problem for so long believing that I could solve it by myself until it became too long. I agree that you should not ask for help before you google it and try to figure it out yourself, but don’t let that belief be a blocker. 

Here’s a quote from the manager of a fellow FB intern:

If you ask for help after 5 minutes, you wouldn’t have enough context of your problem. However, if you ask after 5 hours, you would have blocked yourself for too long.

My rule of thumb is to ask for help after an hour of trying and failing when debugging or performing a certain task and 20-30 minutes when trying to find something or understand a simple function but couldn’t. Give yourself time to figure it out. It is also very important to note that it is very normal and usually encouraged to ask a lot of questions in your first week of working, but it is also expected to decrease in intensity afterward.

There is a very good article that addresses this. It is a very good read I promise.

Some people, including me, are often scared to ask because we don’t want to be a bother. I’ve learned that the simple solution to that is to ask the person you want to ask through your company’s chat platform before you ask them in person, or directly ask them through chat if your question is simple enough. People can easily ignore chats and respond to them when they become available for discussion. Some people find it painful to be disturbed when they are focused on their work, so unless it is an urgent matter, it is always a good idea to give them a quick chat before popping over to their desk. One important thing, do not be afraid to ask in chat groups for something that you think some people would have the context in!

“Hi X, do you have a moment?”

“Hi X, I’m really confused what this function does, can you give me some useful code pointers that can help me further understand how to use this? Or is there any documentation that I can refer to?”

(In group chat) “Hi anyone familiar with TechnologyX?”

Ask for honest feedback, and prepare to take it well

I used to be terrified of receiving constructive feedback. I used to work hard and put in the extra hours so that I would be praised and that I would only receive positive feedbacks. And I’ve realized that this is wrong. I’ve realized that receiving constructive feedbacks is probably the most valuable thing that helps me grow and be a better engineer.

Most companies have a certain system of evaluation. Most likely, you would be having 1 on 1 meeting with your mentor/manager throughout your internship. If this is the case, this meeting would be the best chance to receive and ask for feedback. If the company does not have any, go schedule for one. What a bold move, you might think. How do you that? Well, simply ask.

“Hi X, do you mind if I schedule a 1 on 1 with you tomorrow?”

If they look bewildered and ask what for, ”I want to hear your feedback regarding the work that I do/I need your input on X”

Now you have your 1 on 1 scheduled, what are some questions and discussion that can lead to good feedback?

“What do you think of my work in this internship so far?”

“I did this on project X, what do you think about that?”

“I was struggling when I did this, do you have any advice on how I can do better?”

“I noticed that we went through a lot of iterations in this code review, do you think that I could have done it with fewer iterations? What do you think of the quality of the code I wrote?”

It is also beneficial for you to convey your feelings about the work you do. Your mentor/manager is there to help you. If you can make them understand what you’re struggling with, what your pain points are, and how you feel about the work you do, they can help you better.

Take note of the feedback you receive. It is very easy to get emotional at the moment when you receive constructive feedback that doesn’t resonate with you. Put emotions aside and actually take note. Review them later, you would be thankful for it. Emotional response to feedback can lead you into denial or the convenient way of thinking “I just have to work harder and put in even more hours from now”. Remember, it is more difficult to give good feedback than to receive it. A very good quote I’ve read on FB’s internal note:

Be known as a person who takes feedback well

It might be difficult at first, at least it was for me. But when you get used to it, it would feel really good to know about which area you can improve.

Believe me, when you’re used to asking for feedback, you become addicted to it. I asked my driving instructor on one of our lessons “What do you think about my progress? What is it that you think I’m still lacking?” and he was like super bewildered like he was never asked the question before. But in the end, I got his answer, and I tried to focus to improve the area I was still lacking in my future driving lessons. Even though I still end up ibu-ibu nyetir

Lastly and most importantly, enjoy and own your internship. This opportunity is as important for you to have a delightful experience in as much as it is important for your growth and career. It is okay to joke around and lighten the mood once in a while.

Happy interning, I hope you have a good one!

I create this little space on the internet to write my thoughts and reflections on being a human, a woman, and a software developer. I don't have Instagram/Twitter but I can be found on LinkedIn. Feel free to contact/give feedback/tell me your story through my email: ivanaairenee@gmail.com