r/cscareerquestionsCAD • u/Relative-Pace-2923 • 18d ago
School Internships after first year
Hi, I’m first year engineering at UCalgary. Been programming for a long long time so have lots of Python and Rust experience, 5 on AP CS with like 3 weeks self study in grade 10. I’m trying to get ahead of others who are mostly looking at school right now and seeing what I need to do to get internship experience in my first summer. Is this realistic? How and where should I look to apply? Anything I need to start doing right now? My goal is big-ish tech but I’m aware I go to fucking Calgary and should’ve applied to UBC with that sweet Alberta percentage boost fml
2
u/DisastrousFox6467 18d ago
I would recommend trying to get a summer research position where you will be for sure doing technical stuff like programming
1
u/WholeObligation1048 18d ago
Commenting here because I’m in the same boat as you but at UofA.
1
u/Relative-Pace-2923 18d ago
Awesome, we can def discuss. One of the things with these schools is the environment isn’t as grindy as say Waterloo so would wanna keep in touch with the fewer people who have the same ambitions. Gotta push urself up here
1
u/Particular-Page-9628 17d ago
If you have no connections then research or a startup are your only realistic options.
1
u/BertRenolds 15d ago
Make a blind account and get someone from Amazon to refer you and then grind DSA
1
u/Relative-Pace-2923 15d ago
Are u being fr? I do have a connection with this senior Microsoft software engineer from rocket league lmaoo but he in Seattle
1
u/BertRenolds 15d ago
Yes.
So if I referred you and you got hired, I would get $500 for a referral bonus. So if someone asks me to refer them, sure. It scales with level, I think it's $500 for an intern, then like $5000 for a senior etc.
I don't understand what the location has to do with it, but understand why you'd be confused. Regions don't matter for referrals. I can refer you to a organization in Argentina, if you get hired, I still get the money.
If you don't get hired, from my end, so what? I didn't lose anything
1
u/Relative-Pace-2923 15d ago
I didn’t know this somehow. But there’s still probably an element of like I don’t wanna risk referring a random who might not be strong cause it might make me look bad to employer or that I give bad references? Like might affect their rep if they recommend a bad candidate cause or else I feel like everyone would be doing this, there’s gotta be a reason people don’t just refer everyone
1
u/BertRenolds 15d ago
If I referred someone and they didn't work out, well I mean I attempted to bring talent to the company. Maybe they had a bad day, it's not my problem?
> or else I feel like everyone would be doing this
They are. Look, I am like 7 beers into my night so I won't argue with you, but this was the first hit
https://www.teamblind.com/post/how-do-blind-referrals-work-r5cd7eku
Think about it this way, you do not need to find someone to be friends with, you need to find someone like me who wants a chance at a couple extra bucks. You win, I win, right? I have no idea what other people in this thread are on about, it being hopeless. First year? yeah maybe tough, hopeless? Nah.
1
u/Relative-Pace-2923 15d ago
Lol not trying to argue was just curious. Good point. Thanks a ton for your help and info I’ll get back with any questions
1
u/Relative-Pace-2923 15d ago
Damn it’s saying you need a work email so not sure how I’d do this
2
u/BertRenolds 15d ago
nah, you just need an e-mail that does not end in gmail, yahoo, hotmail, whatever, something common.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/s/Uh9QzJoOy7
I think this is where I tried?
https://www.reddit.com/r/slavelabour/comments/rpv4s7/task_need_a_blind_account_that_can_post_20/
The end result was me buying a cheapo go daddy account with a custom e-mail and then signing up that way and getting referrals.
I am going to head to bed, best of luck 😄
1
u/Mundane-Vehicle1402 14d ago
Is it gonna bite me in the ass if I use my university email?
2
u/BertRenolds 14d ago
No. But I'd be surprised if it worked. I remember trying with mine and it didn't work.. years ago
1
4
u/Neither-Visual6179 18d ago
Unfortunately I don’t think it’s all that realistic. It’s definitely doable but a long shot. I think your best shot is to apply to all the big tech and big tech adjacent internships targeting first years. Things like Microsoft explore, Uber star, etc. These are generally pretty competitive and I would imagine there’s not many seats compared to their regular internship streams. I also think application timeline is pretty aggressive and they will be starting interview process soon if not already I imagine.
You can also try some smaller and more local companies but in my experience they don’t like taking a risk and instead would rather target someone in second year, where they would still have plenty of selection for local students with how the market is.
Finally failing these I would mass apply to general internship pipeline for big tech and big tech adjacent, really anything that you can apply for apply for. Success rate here is probably terribly low, but some companies won’t have a separate application for first years.
Ultimately there is just a low pool of jobs for first years. If anything id focus on getting a solid resume format, trying your luck at applications. See if you can join any coding competition at uni to help practice leetcode style problems, and maybe have an ongoing side project to talk about.
I went to a non target school, didn’t have an internship Y1, and ended up with solid opportunities at well known tech companies. If anything the time I put into trying to find a job Y1 prepared me a lot, even though I only ended up with one or two interviews.