I’m currently studying CS and I’ll get my bachelor’s degree next year. I’ve been searching for remote SWE internships for months now and have not had any luck. I even made a project to put on my resume and it’s still just rejection email after rejection email. Maybe I need more projects? What tips do you have for getting an Internship?
I really don’t want to go back to my previous job cause working with old people in rural America as a minority is literally hell. I think I might just go into omega debt instead lol.
FAANG manager here.
First, I’d advise to manage expectations when it comes to remote internships. There might be some companies offering them, but there’s possibly going to be a lot of tradeoffs. Larger companies that hire summer interns will often offer relocation, housing, and salary. We do it because we use the internship program to find new hires. Interns get an onboarding experience into corporate culture and a chance to work with mentors on a deliverable product that will be presented to a corporate audience. Not all interns get an offer, but the point of the program is to find candidates.
With that out of the way and assuming you’re a US citizen with a good GPA, also consider looking into things like the National labs programs. They also offer competitive salaries, relo, and housing (iirc). Other government agencies probably have similar programs in place. If you have a research interest you’re interested in pursuing at the graduate level, make sure to mention that as well as any relevant work.
Neither the top tier companies nor government programs generally work with recruiters, and especially not with interns, and most especially not with undergraduates. Like someone else said, you’re probably a bit late off the mark for intern programs for this year (but it doesn’t hurt to look). On the other hand, you might have enough knowledge and experience to take on a junior programmer position at a smaller firm, which might be open to remote work. The pay won’t be much, I suspect, but it’d be resume fodder and a real job, which also looks good on a resume. You can still do an internship if you decide to do grad school, but this time with real world experience as well.
Good luck!
This doesn’t match up with my experience at all. But internships aren’t something that recruiters can make good money on so they don’t bother.
I’ve brought on interns/RAs in roles as a professor at a university, as a scientific researcher at a national lab, and as a manager at a large company. They usually pay the equivalent of $60-80k, except for the RAs who get a stipend/room and board, and a tuition waiver (which works out about the same depending on the school). Every position was filled by a person making a direct application, either to me personally or via a position advertised on the company website. One or two might have been from an institutional outreach program, but I’ve never heard of an intern coming in from a third party recruiter.
I’m absolutely not disagreeing with you. Your experience may be very different (my current company doesn’t deal with third party recruiters at all, and my org doesn’t even use contractors). I just wanted to throw my experience out there so that people would realize there’s a variety of opportunities that might require different approaches.