An Internship at Expedia
Simple Habits that Improved my Lifestyle
I was 16 when I first had the chance to work for 8 weeks as an intern for a tech company: Expedia Group, an worldwide leader in travel and lodging. From my interview a month before I started to my last day at the building, I leanrned many invaluable lessons from fellow interns as well as the very supportive team I was blessed to be part of. Here, I’ll share 5 lessons I leanred and some advice on landing internships and how to make the best out of them!
1. Embrace minimalism
As I had prior experience in working with machine learning algorithms before my internship, I was naturally keen to come up with the most complex and mind-blowing ideas and apply them to the problem we were trying to solve. However, complex algorithms like the generative adversial network (GANs) and writing lots of lines of redundant code just to write more code proved to be roadblocks in the long run.
Eventually, as other programmers at the office seemed to confirm, the simplest solution requiring the least complexity is usually the best solution. Although it may seem daunting and even motivating to come up with creative solutions that are on par with genius-level, it is likely that the energy invested in perfecting the complicated program just isn’t necessary.
2. Adopt a learning mindset
At 16, I was officially the youngest employee in the Expedia building that summer. Willing to show that I knew how to code and that I wasn’t just sitting around doing nothing all day, I would always tell my team that I knew all the tools they were working with and would only ask questions to show them how much I seemed to understand.
Although I did have a decent knowledge of the tools that were being used, asking for clarifications and even extremely basic questions was something that other programmers were really willing to hear and to help. From their perspective, it is very normal for an intern who didn’t even complete his high school degree to not fully grasp the tools he was working with, and questions themselves are signs of strength that acknowledges our drive to learn more and to better master the tools at hand.
An internship passes by very quickly. Best take advantage of it to learn as much as possible!
3. Keep communications brief and frequent
A programmer’s worst nightmare is a client who shows utter unsatisfaction and dread towards a project that the former spent so much effort to craft. As a matter of fact, it isn’t uncommon for coders to write code in complete isolation, only to figure out that their piece of software wasn’t really needed.
To counter this problem, my team would hold meetings every day lasting no longer than 15 minutes where each member had the opportunity to summarize their progress, their next steps and what they might need help with. With concise communication lasting a relatively short period of time, members of the team were then able to continuously adapt their code to directly suit the needs of the ongoing project.
4. Continuous improvement
A couple of weeks into my 8-week internship, work suddenly became strangely routine. At 8:45 AM, I would set up my computer, then go to the kitchen, grab some carbonated water (or free Coca-Cola, depending on the day), and code. Other than the usual meetings and the lunch break where we, interns, would show our skills in frenzied table soccer matches, the routines were the same.
I knew that as an intern, I wanted to get the best of my experience. Hence, after a few weeks, before going to work, I would ask myself, “how can I be better at my internship today?” The result: I would make small incremental changes every day to my work style, until eventually all those small changes made me better at writing quality code as well as learning how to better contribute to a team in the workspace.
5. Work on each other’s strengths
Although we were all computer science interns and programmers, each person had a certain uniqueness when it comes to talents, interests and finding ways to solve problems.
After only a few days, my fellow intern working on my team and I were able to discern each other’s strengths: she was very fluent with math and statistics, and I had some skills with machine learning. Knowing this, when we crafted new data analysis software for the team, we would naturally divide the work in a way that suited our own preferences. My colleague would employ statistical methods to mine the data we had, while I would use this knowledge to build more reliable machine learning models.
In the end, we acheived a symbiosis that produced very efficient and effective work.
Pro-tip: How I applied for the internship opportunity
The intern position I applied to was officially known as the Apprenticeship Program at Expedia Group which specifically attracts pre-university students. As I already had a couple of years of programming experience and worked on a few coding projects, I felt that I had decent chances to get accepted at a job where the other applicants had no specialized training or education in this particular field.
Surprisingly, my application got rejected a few days later! However, a surprising turn of events made it possible for me to reapply. At the same time, I was co-organizing my high school’s first hackathon, BrébeufHx, when Expedia contacts us for sponsoring the event. We happily accepted. On the day of the hackathon, an Expedia representative casually mentionned that I should apply for their Apprenticeship program. It was really thanks to this valuable connection that I had a second chance to reapply and luckily got accepted.
Long story short, when applying for any job position, it is helpful to realize that the recruiters could receive dozens, even hundreds of applications. The recruiters don’t always have the time to get to know you just from a few paragraphs on a sheet of paper, so, it is helpful to draw a complete and honest image of your experience that anyone could easily visualize. Another aspect is connections. They are valuable, and referrals tend to be somewhat more efficient than an applicant which we have no other information about but their CV.
Essentials of getting the best of an internship
Thank you, dear reader, for staying until the end! I do hope you enjoyed reading my experience and that it might have been informative and insightful. Before leaving, I wanted to share a few elements to help optimize the experience as an intern:
- Lean as much as you can
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions
- Make new connections
- Try new things
- Participate in company activities and events!
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