Lessons From Outside the Classroom
Summer is coming up fast, and soon many students will be excitedly (and nervously) starting internships. With three internships under my belt, I can confidently call myself a professional intern. As I finish up my current internship at Imgur as a platform engineer, I would like to share some lessons I’ve learned in the past few months.
Drop “intern” from your title.
The word “intern” has some pretty confusing connotations with it. You’re more than a student, but not quite a full-fledged engineer. You’re given the resources of a full-time employee, but without the expectations: this makes it tempting to be lazy with your work. Mentally promote yourself and treat yourself like a full-time engineer. Instead of perceiving your teammates as superiors, view them as equals. Learn from them, but more importantly, become one of them.
As soon as I set those expectations for myself, I was more motivated to get up to speed and contribute to the team. Imgur made it easy for me to integrate into their platform team, because they treated me like a full-time engineer as well. They gave me real work, and I was responsible to see it through to production. It felt good to contribute to a project that impacted the users. Holding yourself to a higher standard pays off: you do better work, and get better opportunities to have even more impact on the company.
Ask questions.
Okay, so you have the attitude part down. Now how do you actually perform like a full-time engineer? Become a sponge. Your environment is teeming with information: conversations coworkers are having, code people are pushing, meetings that you feel vaguely unqualified for (but happy you were invited to!) Absorb as much information as possible, and the conversations around you start to make sense. Be present, take notes, sneakily Google acronyms — anything for you to understand what they’re talking about. But most importantly, ask questions.
It can be intimidating to pipe up during a meeting where everyone is on the same wavelength except you. But what I didn’t realize is that everyone else in that situation has been in my shoes at some point. These concepts have all been explained to the people around the table, and it just happened to be my turn to have it explained to me. You’re supposed to ask questions — that’s what teammates are for. Once you’re on the same page as everyone else, you can offer your own fresh perspective on the problem!
Be honest.
Being honest may lead you into some tough conversations, but speaking truthfully will always benefit you in the end. Some time into my internship, I was assigned to a project that was not a great fit for me. Of course, I gave it ol’ college try. I could tell that this project would lead to more frustration than personal growth and was better suited for someone with more experience in our legacy code. A couple honest (albeit difficult) conversations later, and I was working on a new project that was much better suited for the space I want to grow into.
Approaching difficult situations with honesty makes you more trustworthy. It allows you to communicate what’s important to you, and what your expectations are for your time there. Once you’re honest about what you believe will lead to the most personal growth, a good manager will do their best to give you that opportunity.
Make friends.
Personally I had trouble being casual with coworkers, just because I’ve only interacted with people I work with in professional settings. Luckily, the people at Imgur are downright amazing, and I got to socialize with people in other fields that I wouldn’t usually cross paths with. Share lunch and get to know the people you work alongside! This might seem obvious, but it was a lesson I had to learn — and I’m glad I did. The culture at your company attracts like-minded people, so chances are that you’ll click with them.
Say yes to lunches, happy hours, outings, and everything you can go to. I was invited to a weekend Tahoe trip with people from other departments that I didn’t know that well, and it took a little courage to sign up. That weekend turned out to be my favorite memory from this whole experience, and I made a lot of friends in a short amount of time. That was the turning point in my internship, and when I could finally see myself as part of the Imgur family.
As my peers and I transition out of internship-land and into the “real world”, there are some misconceptions that we stop learning and start working. I disagree with that idea, because in a challenging job, working is impossible without continuous learning. The lessons just stop coming from a professor at the front of a lecture hall, and start coming from the developer next to you. To new interns: work hard, be curious, be friendly, and be honest.
