Internship Season

Why and how to get a UX internship

Interning at Google in NYC last summer.

This piece was originally written for my classmates at Emily Carr University.

Here we are, 3rd year Interaction Design. This means you’re more than halfway through your degree. It also means this summer is most likely your last chance to get an internship at a (big) tech company.

Why does that matter?

1. Some jobs are famously difficult to get (Google, Tesla, etc.)
   One way to hack your way in, is to get an internship while you’re at school. For them, internships are just a part of the hiring funnel. It’s basically a 3 month interview geared towards making you grow, sot they can offer to hire you once you’ve graduated. (How sweet would it be to start 4th year with a full time job offer for once you’ve graduated? Many of my friends from this summer are doing just that.)
2. Low risk, high reward
   It’s a low commitment way to see if you’d like to work there. If the answer is ‘no’ at the end of those 3 months, it’s a valuable experience to refer to when you’re looking for a different job, and…you made some money.
3. Structured programs
   No, you won’t be picking up coffee for your team. I was surprised at how welcomed and included I was from the very first day: participating to meetings, sharing my work, giving feedback. Everything from the recruiting process to actually doing the work was super well structured.
4. The Intern Card
   I was surrounded by people that were much smarter and more experienced than me. They offered guidance, advice, and were extremely generous with their time. Being an intern at a company gives you a VIP access to talented people in the company, as they won’t typically say no to a coffee with an intern. I ended up reaching out and talking to dozens of designers working on different teams, to learn more about their background and get some career advice.

What are these companies looking for?

What can you do until January to help improve you chances of getting an offer?

1. Project Range
Recruiters are looking for range in projects, as it displays that you are comfortable tackling work out of your comfort zone. So curate your portfolio to showcase an interesting range of skills and project types.

If you’re looking for ways to fill up your portfolio, I can’t recommend hackathons enough. One weekend, very little sleep, but a great portfolio piece and a proof that you can work with a diverse team. You can also try out Daily UI challenge (which, to be honest, I only stuck to for 3 days), it’s a quick way to put forward your interaction and visual design skills.

2. Having worked with tech teams (esp. Engineering)
It’s important to understand the dynamics of a product team: Product managers, engineers (developers), designers of different types. Understanding what actually happens to our designs when they get implemented makes us much better designers.

3. Interestingness
Companies are looking for diversity in many ways .What makes you unique? What makes your point of view different? It’s important to display the life and work experiences that make your vision of the world unique and interesting. This is often what will make the difference between 2 candidates with equally good portfolios.

4. Applying.
Yep, that simple. Most people miss out because they assume they’re not good enough and just don’t apply. Take a chance, you have nothing to lose.

And finally, you should also try to get referrals by going to events and meet ups, or ask friends who know people who work at those companies. And if you are serious about this, know that it’s a numbers game. Apply everywhere. If it’s not a company you actually want to end up at that offers you an interview, see it as practice.

Good luck!