A summer of exploration: My experience interning at Microsoft and living in Los Angeles
This past summer, I was an intern at Microsoft through their Explore program — a 12-week rotational internship in software engineering and program management for freshmen and sophomores. Since it was remote because of the pandemic, I took a leap of faith and traveled to the West Coast (for the first time ever) and spent 3 months in Los Angeles, California. It was hands down one of THE best decisions I ever made!
Here’s the breakdown: this reflection consists of 4 parts including how I got an internship at Microsoft, why I chose Los Angeles, what I did during the summer for my internship, and what I did outside of it. Honestly, I feel like living in LA might deserve its own article but for now, I think its home is here in this one because I can’t talk about one without the other.
How did I get the internship?
I applied for the internship online as a freshman sometime in September last year, I had a phone interview and 2 coding interviews, and I heard back in late October that I got the job. I was so happy and surprised. I remember screaming out of excitement and telling my mom the moment I found out since I stayed at home that semester for online classes.
I was even more excited to visit Seattle because I had never been there before, and it was one of the places I wanted to go to on my bucket list. However, we weren’t allowed to go there so they gave us a housing stipend instead. What I did with that… well, you can tell from the title.
During my interview, I talked about my experiences in doing sustainability research and doing a Google summer program (shout out to my lecturer and mentor, Adekunle Adedayo, for recommending great books and being an amazing role model). Of course, I was pretty nervous during my interviews but I tried my best to portray my love for technology, ethics, and sustainability using the S.T.A.R method, which is something I learned from my other incredible mentor, Carlos Frevert, from the Built By Girls WAVE program.
I also always wanted to explore more of the program management aspect of technology since I used to run an online fashion business and I just love social entrepreneurship.
Behavioral Interview:
Personally, I think it’s just important for you to talk about what you’re passionate about. What sets you apart from everyone else that’s applying? It doesn’t have to be related to technology, but as long as you can show that you have the drive and mindset to learn, that’s all that matters.
Specifically, the Explore internship is designed for people who might not know if they want to do software engineering or program management. So, why are you interested in exploring the two?
Technical Interview:
It’s okay to make mistakes and be stuck during the coding interview but just communicate your thought process. If you don’t know how to do something, you can say so. Explain what you’re trying to do and how you would do it, even if it might not be right. The interviewer can be really nice and help guide you if you’re stuck.
Why did I choose to live in Los Angeles?
If the internship was in person, it would have been in Redmond. So, why LA? Out of all the cities in the United States, I originally narrowed it down to 4:
- Seattle
- San Francisco
- New York City
- Los Angeles.
The only one I had visited was New York City, and since I wanted to try somewhere new, I crossed that one off my list. Then, I searched on AirBNB and joined subletting groups on Facebook. After seeing the high cost of rent for San Francisco, I decided that it would be better as a trip versus living there for now (so, I traveled to SF for a mini-vacation in July instead).
Seattle or LA. I did a lot of research on the two and made many pros-and-cons charts, but I ended up trusting my gut instinct and going for LA because it was one of my dream cities. LA is home to my favorite influencers and creators, and there’s so much to do there. I was inspired by movies like Starstruck, which made Hollywood look better than it did, and bands like LANY and COIN, who wrote awesome songs about LA and Malibu.
The weather would also be more than perfect for exploring because people said it was sunny every day (I had to go find out if it was a myth or not). There would also be a balance of exploring the city and nature. Hiking is one of my favorite activities, so I wanted to make sure that I had places to go.
From hiking to the Hollywood Sign to sunbathing on Venice Beach, I was looking forward to meeting new people and trying new things. I always wanted to go there, and I guess I was like, why not now?
What did I do during the summer at Microsoft?
During the summer, I was on the Azure Identity & Access Management team. I worked on redesigning the Users and Devices pages of the Azure Portal in React along with 2 other teammates in my pod.
Going into the internship, I was both excited and nervous. Going to California and tackling my first internship was something I looked forward to. However, I felt like I was out of place and that I didn’t deserve to work at Microsoft even when I was welcomed at online events during the first week. Working at a place where everyone is insanely talented made me feel like my accomplishments were small in comparison and that I would not be able to learn as fast enough or do everything right.
Getting past the feelings of impostor syndrome — doubting your achievements and feeling like a fraud — was difficult. It never truly went away even as I progressed through the internship, but I was reminded that I had other interns and mentors to support me and that others felt similarly. One of the tough aspects of being a female or minority in the tech industry is that you often feel alone because there aren’t as many people who look like you. But the Explore program does a great job of creating a diverse space because people came from different countries, backgrounds, etc.
At the time, one of my concerns was that I had not taken Data Structures and Algorithms yet, one of the most important CS classes, so I had to do more catching up than other interns. Outside of work, I took time to learn about these data structures that I hadn’t heard of before with the resources that my mentor provided me.
Throughout my internship, I learned a lot about front-end development with React and designing with accessibility and efficiency in mind. But for me, the most rewarding parts were meeting the kind, hardworking people on my team and learning and applying PM concepts to my project.
The people absolutely transformed my internship experience. Having teammates who were willing to help me when I was stuck during coding made a huge difference. My mentors, Peter Dawoud and David Parks, were also my rock when it came to navigating the SWE and PM aspects of the project.
I learned a lot about taking initiative and ownership of my ideas, collaborating and communicating with others, and setting meetings that weren’t at 7 am or 8 am (it’s too early, but we had to do it sometimes, IYKYK — or if you didn’t know, it was because of time zone differences).
Being a PM meant thinking about the big picture and the future of a product. It meant getting the ideas and opinions of the users as well as other people on my team. I loved every minute of creating our slide decks and presenting at sessions with customers and other employees at Microsoft. Using customer feedback and other metrics to help build the vision of a product was very meaningful to me. I’m a people person, and I’m naturally drawn towards taking on different hats, whether that means designing the product or talking to customers.
It’s one of the reasons that I’m going back as a Program Manager Intern next summer, but that’s a story for another time.
What did I do during the summer in California?
Before going to California, I created a bucket list of destinations that I wanted to hit before I left. It was my favorite conversation starter with new people I met in the city, as well as a way to track the wonderful memories I made.
I hit almost all of the places I listed.
I lived in Los Angeles for 3 months, but during the July 4th weekend, I also traveled to San Francisco with one of my roommates.
Words can’t describe how much I enjoyed living in LA. The weather was amazing. It was sunny almost every day, and it didn’t rain at all. It was hard to say goodbye to a city that I loved so much, but because I made a lot of friends there, I know I’ll be back to visit again in the future.
Here are some of the highlights of my summer in LA:
- Walking through the suburbs of Pasadena
- Doing hot yoga at Hot 8 Yoga
- Picnicking at the beach in Santa Monica
- Hiking and thrifting in Culver City
- Picnicking and playing We’re Not Really Strangers at the beach in Malibu
- Riding a scooter from Venice Beach to Santa Monica
- Meeting a Tik Tok star in Hollywood
- Meeting The Try Guys in Hollywood before watching the Jimmy Kimmel Show Live
- Seeing the Shrek star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Hiking to the Hollywood Sign
- Hiking to Elysian Park
- Hiking to Wilacre Park
- Visiting The Last Bookstore in Downtown LA
- Eating everything in Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, and the Original Farmer’s Market and The Grove
- Eating more at the Smorgasburg Food Market
- Trying In-N-Out Burger for the first time and buying their shirt
- Drinking Philz Coffee
- Brunching at Urth Caffé and hiking in Beverly Hills
- Thrifting on Melrose Avenue
- Watching the sunset at the Griffith Observatory
- Admiring art at the Getty Center
- Filming a Tik Tok at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Having a bonfire and s’mores at Manhattan Beach
- Road tripping to Newport Beach
And here are some of my highlights from SF:
- Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge
- Walking through the streets of Sausilito
- Eating everything in Chinatown and Japantown
- Watching the fireworks and enjoying fine dining at Pier 39
- Taking pictures at the Palace of Fine Arts
- Not seeing seals at Fisherman’s Wharf
- Getting a personal tour around Stanford University’s campus
- Eating at the Castro District
- Hiking to Twin Peaks
- Drinking tea at the Japanese Tea Garden
- Smelling the flowers on Lombard Street
- Looking at The Painted Ladies (it’s funny how it’s three houses and not actually ladies who are painted)
- Walking up the 163-step staircase of the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps
If you’re interested in seeing more photos of the places I went to in California or other cities, then check out my travel photography on my website!
