Making the Most of Your Internship
5 former Microsoft Design interns (now employees!) share their advice on learning, connecting, and growing
Summer’s here, which means interns are all over Microsoft’s Redmond campus! There will be endless opportunities for them to learn, grow, and explore new environments and challenges over the course of the summer; personally, I’m incredibly excited for interns everywhere to begin their internship journeys.
Out of both parts curiosity and nostalgia, I reached out to my Microsoft Design internship cohort from two summers ago, and I asked them: Was there anything you wish you had done during your internship? Anything you wish you had known before starting? Any advice to share with incoming interns?
So, behold! Five former Microsoft Design interns, who are now full-time designers (and one writer — me!) in Microsoft’s various design studios, share their advice on making the most of an internship:
- Write down all of your questions.
“Write down any questions about the product or process. Looking at problems or questions freed from pre-existing assumptions is something you can never replicate once you settle into the process.” — Hanna, Designer, Personal Shell
For most teams, it’s wonderful having a fresh set of eyes examine their products and processes. When you’re working on a product, everything seems intuitive (of course — you’ve created it!), and it’s easy to lose the broader perspective. As an intern, when you’re first stepping into a space, ask questions, and write them down. It’ll be helpful not only for you as you start working on a product, but for your team, as well, to understand the user experience and perspective, and how they can improve.
2. Reflect on your goals.
“Think about what you are passionate about, the way you work, and what your goals are during this internship. Having a bit of introspection before the internship, and reflecting throughout, can help us be more intentional with our time here and what we are learning, and it can also facilitate communication with your manager and team.” — Julia, Designer, Surface Hub
Be clear about what you want; it’ll help you get it done. ;) Personally, I like writing in a journal, but talking to friends, managers, or mentors can also be productive for hashing out what you can and want to get out of your internship.
3. Grow your skills.
“Expose yourself to different teams and products during the internship. By seeing how different teams work, you can identify skills you might want to improve or learn, and build a wider scope of experience back at school.” — Eugene, UX Designer, Microsoft Web Framework
Valuable workplace skills can be very different from what you learn in school, so internships are a great time to see what skills you should develop for the future. This can be anything from prototyping to presenting, or using new-to-you tools, such as Figma, JavaScript, or Git.
“Be proactive and honest with your manager about what you’re passionate about, what you want to learn, and ask your manager about how you can grow. They are there to help you and I wish I chatted more about personal and career growth…now I realize how great of an opportunity I missed when I had a mentor dedicated to me!” — Julia
And these skills don’t have to be technical, either. Leadership, teamwork, career growth and development are all tied together, so be sure to observe and understand what’s going on around you.
4. Explore your interests.
“Find your passion! If you have opportunities to work on projects that you’re curious about, seize them. In addition to my internship project on the Inclusive Design team, I worked on a Hololens project for the Microsoft Hackathon, which ultimately led to a job offer on my current team.” — Alex, UX Designer, Hardware incubation
Chances are, you won’t be working in a vacuum, and people around you will be working on all kinds of different project areas. If you’re a designer and want to learn more about coding and development, or you’re a software developer and want to learn more about business and marketing, follow up on those interests! Who knows? Interesting opportunities might present themselves.
5. Connect with people!
“Schedule time with as many people and disciplines as possible to learn about their work, and how they shaped their career to follow their interests. It is a great way to understand the workplace ecosystem from a human perspective…I wish I had started talking across more organizations earlier in my internship to get a broader understanding of the company.” — Hanna
“Be proactive. There are many brilliant people and resources. Don’t be hesitant to ask or reach out and perhaps people might give you a tour or chat with you about what they’re doing.” — Julia
All five of us agree that meeting people is essential for making the most of your internship. Everyone wants you to succeed and grow, so take advantage of it! I definitely wish I had known sooner. Luckily, being a full-time employee isn’t any different, and I can still actively do these things :)
If you’re an intern this summer, whether at Microsoft or elsewhere, we’re wishing you all the best. Have an awesome internship!
Want to come work with us? Check out available internships here.
