On the Road(ie) — 3 Takeaways from Interning at One of the World’s Coolest Companies.
The interns with CEO Tim Westergren (I’m the guy in the light blue shirt on the right)
By Miles Hinson
Software Engineering Intern
Pandora Roadie, Class of 2016
I’ve never been a particularly musically literate person. For a long time, I would jam to the same playlist with the same 20 songs and call it a day. As I started to use Pandora, I found myself able to explore new and incredibly diverse songs and genres. Pandora has become my favorite music service by far, and getting the chance to work at this company has been a dream come true.
It’s incredibly inspiring and rewarding to work on a product that I love. But my two months at Pandora taught me far more than software development, it’s given me an appreciation for the kind of workplace and environment I need to be in to grow and thrive, both as an engineer and as a person. Here are some of the takeaways from a summer I’ll never forget…
1. Culture First
It’s hard to understate how impressive of a culture Pandora has built in its 12 years. At 2500 people, Pandora to me still has the feel and intimacy of a small startup. I found people reaching out to me to say hi as soon as I got on the job. I found myself constantly grabbing coffee with people from other teams, and playing Super Smash Bros. and foosball with the full-time employees. It illustrated plainly for me that at Pandora, people want to get to know you.
In addition to the people, I felt incredibly supported from a technical perspective, as I made my first jump into the realm of software engineering. The difference between writing code for school assignments and writing code for a company is vast. Getting my bearings in an industry setting took far longer than I expected. My production in the first half of the summer often felt far behind where I expected myself to be. Throughout all this however, both my manager and mentor at the company were incredibly helpful, supportive, and understanding.
At Pandora, people want to get to know you.
That being said, you have to take advantage of being in such an open culture. When you’re struggling and need help, don’t keep it bottled in. Communicate as much as possible with your manager and mentor about your progress. The more they know about where you are in your progress (and how you’re adjusting to the company in general), the better they can help. Communicate as much as possible with your manager and mentor about your progress.
2. Approachability Matters
I’ve mentioned that everyone on my team and around me was always down to talk to me. But it surprised me how approachable everyone top to bottom was at Pandora, including the top executives at the company. Pandora scheduled almost weekly talks with many high level folks at the company, who all appeared super excited to take time out of their day to come talk to us interns. For me in particular, I was able to grab coffee with the CTO of Pandora just by shooting him an email, and I and a few other interns were able to get coffee with the CPO the same way. You get to learn from such senior people, who have so much experience, just by reaching out to them. That’s how you not only convince people to come, but get them to stay and grow at a company.
You get to learn from such senior people, who have so much experience, just by reaching out to them.
Taking advantage of this means stepping out of your comfort zone at times. Connecting with people at this company, many of whom have years of experience in music and other industries, goes a long way. Think about what you’re interested in learning, look up people doing work related to those things, and ask them out for lunch. Initiative is everything.
The fact that people at every single level of the company want to see you succeed isn’t something to take lightly — it’s not a trait you’ll find at every workplace.
3. Everyone Can Be Your Teacher
While my mentor and manager were both great resources, I found it just as useful talking to my fellow interns and people outside my team when I needed advice, specifically in technical problems. I remember in particular consulting other interns about dealing with Kakfa, a new service with which I and many members of my team were unfamiliar. Having an open developer community, where people feel free and encouraged to share projects and ideas, is something I value greatly.
Having gotten to speak with other engineering interns/full-time employees around the Bay Area, I know that some companies keep their engineers incredibly siloed in their projects, but Pandora feels the exact opposite. The way I approach my daily tasks are totally different when I know I have people I can rely on. I got the most out of my internship when I learned to be humble, to seek help often, and to realize it can be found in places I might not expect. The work at Pandora can be difficult, and there’s no shame in asking peers & co-workers for help; it’s entirely expected.
I got the most out of my internship when I learned to be humble, to seek help often, and to realize it can be found in places I might not expect.
These are my thoughts on how to get the most out of a Pandora internship. It’s been an amazing 10 weeks, and I couldn’t imagine spending it anywhere else.
