My First Internship Experience in Tech

Lin Yuhan
Lin Yuhan
Aug 9, 2017 · 4 min read

Last year, I decided to pursue a master degree in Statistics after studying Political Science for four years. I wasn’t sure if I would like it but I knew qualitative skills are not sufficient to analyze social science.

Graduate school became difficult for me. I was no longer confident with my math skills like I used to in high school. I had no coding experience at all prior to graduate school. In addition, studying at a private research school taught me that there is a huge gap between academia and industry. Therefore, I decided to start learning how to code on my own, which was challenging. Luckily, my high school friend Young who TAs statistics at the University of Wisconsin Madison would walk me through the code and math via Skype on almost every Friday night for two months. I am still very grateful for that. I tend not to study well with a group of friends so I spend most of my time studying alone. I also decided to stop using a cell phone to help me concentrate (there are other reasons why I give up using a cell phone, which I will cover in another blog).

I still didn’t have much confidence in getting a summer internship in tech, but I figured I should give it a try. There were only a few internships that I sincerely wanted: World Bank education sector and Altschool — an edtech company in San Francisco providing K-8 personalized education. In May, after two rounds of interviews and a tech round, I was informed that I got the data analyst internship at Altschool.

I was overwhelmed with confusion and fear instead of excitement when I was giving the internship offer. Why me? What if they found out that I am not tech-savvy at all? How can I make contributions to the company? I reached out to a senior professor in my research area. I thought that he must have some secret sauce to help me become qualified. I intended to ask him questions on how to improve my tech skills but instead, I told him “I feel like a fraud. I am afraid Altschool is going to find out.” He scratched his head and said “But Lin, I am a fraud too. There are so many times that I had to look up how to do things when I was given projects. You are going to learn so much this summer. You are going to be fine.” The conversation didn’t go as I intended but hearing my professor’s sympathy calmed me down.


I can still recall my first week at Altschool. Seeing an army of engineers was intimidating. When my supervisor Lucas walked me through my summer projects, I was excited and scared. I had no idea what he was talking about. He then gave me some small projects to work on to prep for the bigger ones. On my first day of work, it probably took me half an hour to write two lines of code. During that week, the word “project” haunted me. I felt terrible so I told Lucas my fear. I would rather be honest with my supervisor about what I don’t know and my inclination to learn rather than pretending that I know everything. He said to me “You just gotta fake it until you make it.” I felt much relieved hearing this from him. He gave me a safe space to address my fear and encouraged me to learn. During that week, I took online classes every day after work and revisited my lecture notes to help me prepare for the upcoming projects. My immediate goal of that month was to not disappoint my supervisor.

Instead of putting me in front of a computer to code for the entire summer, Lucas encouraged me to understand Altschool’s culture by visiting classrooms and talking to employees in other teams, especially the educators. The month following that, I attended a town hall meeting at Altschool, where our executive shared some confidential information on Altschool’s growth. I appreciated the inclusion and started to grow more attachment to this company. The second month into this, I realized I no longer was afraid of the word “project”; instead, I became excited when Lucas asked me if I was ready for a new project. I believe no matter how mundane the project was, it would have an impact on our beneficiaries.


Interning at Altschool for the past 3 months has been rewarding. I interacted with two types of programmers this summer, the ones who code with a passion and the ones who don’t. I believe my supervisor belongs to the former. I learned so much about Altschool and myself this summer. I don’t necessarily think the specific technical skills I’ve learned and used this summer would be much applicable elsewhere; yet, this internship helped me to think more analytically and gave me reassurance of how much I care about promoting effective education.

This really is the best internship experience I’ve had! I hope everyone who will be getting an internship gets to meet your Lucas, and I hope that I always remember to code with a passion.

Lin Yuhan

Written by

Lin Yuhan

Studied Statistics and Political Science. When I am not busy coding, I enjoy painting, baking and biking. Still a believer of taking notes by hand.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade