Mistakes I did and lessons I learned while applying for SDE/ML interns in US
An intern search in US is not a cake-walk is what I realized at the end of my first year. To give a rough idea, I had applied to almost ~300 positions (both SDE and ML combined). I had around 15 written tests and was interviewed for 5 of them. So, it’s less than 2% in my case.
I made a couple of mistakes and am jotting it down so if you are planning for an intern in SDE or ML position in US, these pointers might be helpful.
Start applying early
I started actively applying for my interns in mid November which is considered to be bit late. Because by then, most of the companies might have started their hiring process and it takes months to come back to you.
There’s no perfect time to begin applying. Mostly, people start by Mid September. Even though you are not good at Leetcode or not good at your basics, just apply. By interviewing with a couple of companies, you will realize the areas you have to focus. If possible, have mock interviews with your friends. Talk to people to understand what kind of questions the companies are focusing on.
Polish your Resume
Even though you have all the skills, you might be rejected because the resume filtering is done mostly by keyword matching. So, spend some time and polish your resume, include keywords and tailor it for your position. You can share it with your friends for suggestions.
Also, save your resume as <YOURNAME-RESUME.pdf>etc instead of <RESUME (10).pdf>. This is a minor mistake and an important lesson I learned because your resume will be in a flood of others and it becomes easier for recruiters to recognize it. Also, it’s a standard practice and commonsense.
Do Leetcode, revise basics even before coming to MS
Well, it might seem bit demanding, but this makes you life way easier. A solid practice of around 100 questions (Blind 75 is a good start) and proper foundation of basics will help you to crack a lot of interviews (for SDE, it should be more than 100 for sure). The quality (and different types) of questions matter than quantity.
If you are into ML, revise Probability, Linear Algebra and different ML algorithms. If you are good with ML and DL coursework from Coursera and have hands-on experience, you will be good enough. As you will already do coursework in university, you will understand the areas you need to focus on.
Getting into ML intern without prior experience is bit difficult compared to SDE, so be patience.
Referrals, referrals, referrals!!
Try to connect with as many people in LinkedIn. Ask them for referrals. Most of them will be happy to give. And do thank them (give an update with your application) later so they will stay in touch. I regret I didn’t thank few of them in the entire process :(
Cold Emailing, Twitter/LinkedIn feed
Always, there will be people who post about job postings. From what I observed, the chances of getting interviewed or getting feedback is higher if we contact the person rather than applying via portal. Out of 5 companies I had interviewed for, 4 of them were via mailing the manager/tech lead.
Apply to roles even if you feel you are not qualified
Let the recruiters decide whether you are eligible or not. Most of the times, we won’t satisfy all the requirements mentioned in the job description. Even if you satisfy a few, just go ahead and apply.
Also, one thing I observed is, students will filter out companies before applying. They want to work with only FAANG or top 50 companies etc; While aspiring for it is good, it’s better to apply to as many roles as you can. Don’t undermine startups as you can learn a lot from them. Securing a job/internship is more of a number game. The more you apply, the more chances you have to get one.
Talk out loud during interview, even though you don’t know the answer
There are times when I literally don’t have an answer for the question the interviewer asked. All I did is “I am sorry, I don’t know this concept”. Most of the times, they are friendly and will help you out. An interviewer said, “We don’t expect the correct answer, but we observe your thought process to arrive at the answer.” And the best way for the interviewer to know our thought process is to talk to them. Ask them every single detail. Tell them what you think, how you would like to approach the problem. Talk as if it’s a general conversation.
Don’t expect individual feedback
A lot of students will be applying to a lot of companies, so don’t expect individual feedback. There are lot of companies that are yet to respond to my application. So, don’t expect anything while applying.
I saw a lot of students who didn’t get interview calls even though their written tests went well. And a lot of my friends who didn’t get an offer even though their interviews went well. So, realize that talent is not the only component which will fetch an intern.
For some of ML intern roles, there will be some companies who give “Take-home assignments” i.e it’ll be like a mini project and they’ll give a week time to do it. Even though you did satisfy the requirement, don’t expect any feedback incase you get rejected.
Don’t lose hope
I got an intern around May 6th. Literally my last day of Spring semester. Even though I am skeptical about securing a summer intern, I didn’t get disappointed during the process. I realized that luck plays a huge role and that’s not in our hands. The things that I can control are: “Improving my skills, applying to more positions” and that’s what I focused on. Don’t start feeling afraid or getting irritated when others are getting intern. Your day comes. Leave the result and just trust the process.
And one good quote I heard from my friend is — “Interviewing is an art. It’s more like a game. The more you play, the more you will be skilled at it. And you play more only if you apply more.”
Also, some of the resources I found noteworthy (other than LinkedIn and AngelList) are:
Levels FYI — https://www.levels.fyi/internships/ (This has lot of information about full-time, internship in various sectors and is quite useful)
Crunchbase — https://www.crunchbase.com/ (Useful when you want to know about the startup)
TeamBlind — https://www.teamblind.com/ (Employees write reviews about the companies they are working for. Didn’t explore it though)
YCombinator — https://www.ycombinator.com/ (Again, to more about startups)
My Visa Jobs — https://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/ (I didn’t explore this much, but this has statistics about H1B filing.
Resume Worded — https://resumeworded.com/ (To polish your resume)
I am not sure about the credibility of the above sources. So, use it carefully.
If you don’t know me, I am a Masters student in Computer Science at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. I am currently interning at Truera, an AI startup which works on explainability of ML models.
Feel free to check my other blogs at https://namburisrinath.medium.com/ (Do follow if you like it) and connect in LinkedIn.