What It’s Like to Be a Design Intern at Salesforce?
Four emerging design leaders reflect on their experience and share tips for aspiring interns.
“I’m a first-generation college student and a first-generation Latina woman in tech,” said Marianna Flores, Salesforce program manager intern. Flores was among a recent cohort of interns on the Salesforce Designer team who presented their projects during a virtual showcase. But she almost didn’t pursue the internship.
“Initially, I was not going to join the program because of hardships I was facing in my life. But I took a chance and I’m thankful I did, because I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she said. With a completed internship on her resume, Flores is looking for a job that leans on her creativity and new program management skills.
Other interns highlighted learning new technical skills, such as collaborative design tools.
“I had no idea what Figma was until I started working with it,” said Tiffany Pradaxay, Salesforce associate design intern. She had always been interested in UX design. Unfortunately, her university didn’t offer those classes until her senior year. After graduation, she decided to study software and application development. Today, she’s prototyping on Figma.
Laine Riley Prokay is a lead design program manager at Salesforce who supports the team’s intern programming. “College is what happens in theory,” she said. “Now, they see it in practice.
One of her favorite moments is seeing interns excel and return as full-time employees. This happened to Bianca Moy, who was promoted to Salesforce Associate Product Designer last year. “I was able to experience a realistic perspective of a product designer’s job. Along the way, I learned how to communicate my design decisions more effectively.”
A work-and-learn model
A background in XD, UX or UI is great to bring to a design internship. It’s not necessary, though.
Working in retail visual merchandising was an asset for Salesforce associate design program intern Lyssa Tompong, who values experience design. Flores brought in artistic sensibilities from hand painting murals. And Moy tapped into marketing talents from her days as chair of her university’s design community.
Each intern brought their perspective to real projects that contributed to business operations.
For Pradaxay, it was working on a store fulfillment app. She used the Jobs to be Done framework that she learned on the UX/Commerce Cloud team. It was a journey that tested her ability to adapt. Whether it was team priorities or creative direction, the needs were always changing. Flexibility became key. “Be patient. Don’t be stuck in your ways because you don’t have time to stress,” she advised.
Some projects were customer-facing. Flores and Tompong supported internal teams.
While she was eager to make an impact, Flores said it was a learning curve. She encourages future interns to start strong. “When you put in effort early on, you’ll see growth later on,” she said. So she invested in her weekly Slack content package for the DesignOps and Sales Cloud teams. Her “Monday Morning Briefing” became a go-to read for product designers globally.
Tompong could relate to hitting initial roadblocks. She asked for help maintaining productivity while working remotely. With support, she moved her project forward. The result is a honed best-performing #channel list that’s sent to new UX employees. She’s made it easy for other new employees to discover valuable internal conversations.
The interns had many day-to-day responsibilities. They became aces at calendaring, facilitating meetings, making org charts, and creating Quip agendas. Routines balanced projects, team admin, and skills labs. One day could be QA or a design workshop. The next might be leading a research workshop or participating in a UX critique. Throughout their six-month program, teams asked thought provoking questions like: What is design really?
“Design goes beyond the scope of the laptop,” Pradaxay said. “Now, every time I see something, I think about the design thinking that went into it.”
New takes on design
The interns broadened their definition of design. They now understand the practice as more than one thing: creating and constructing, abstract and expressive, making and managing.
Tompong delights in how multifaceted the field really is. “I didn’t know much about design management. This program gave me a foundation for where I want to go in my career,” she said. This fall, Tompong will return to school to finish her degree in business management, which she hopes to apply to the design industry.
Design has opened the possibilities for Flores. “It’s about building a relationship with someone and their eye and translating that into an experience,” she said. “I believe design is the future. It gives you new ways to look at things.”
Steady support
Each intern has a manager and mentors who invest in their journeys and guide them through the program. A few interns even teamed up with employees they met in their onboarding training to grow their support networks.
“My mentor and onboarding buddy have been very patient with me and given me design principles for the future,” said Pradaxay about Yuri Sebata-Dempster, Salesforce principal product designer; and Simran Bansal, Salesforce associate product designer. These cheerleaders also helped her practice public speaking skills, which led to presenting to engineers and developers.
One-on-one weekly meetings ensure interns can meet such goals.
Teams review resources, arrange priorities, and share contacts. It’s also when employees can check in personally. Moy recalls loads of praise. Her manager Rebecca Yukelson, Salesforce senior manager, design systems UX; and mentor Pavithra Ramamurthy, Salesforce UI/UX senior product designer, admired her project: an internal tool that built icons and illustrations with the help of API.
Celebrating wins and talking about challenges, like imposter syndrome and remote-work distractions, were common topics
“My mentor gave me life lessons as someone who had been in my position before,” said Tompong about Christopher Duenas, Salesforce senior technical program manager, Product Ops. Co-hosting town halls was a highlight, thanks to encouragement from her manager Riley Prokay, who enjoyed seeing her grow.
Flores also felt this support. When she was sick during her internship, her team reinforced rest.
“The people at Salesforce have shown me why Ohana matters and have been a great definition of what a support system is,” Flores said about her mentor Venita Valencia, Salesforce Manager of Demand Generation/ Integrated Campaigns; and manager Lisa Gordon, Salesforce Lead Design Program Manager.
In one word, how would the interns describe their experiences? Abundant, fulfilling, exciting and empowering. Today, these four interns are moving forward with learnings they can apply in their careers.
Interested in internship opportunities?
Apply in one of two ways — through FutureForce, the company’s university recruiting program or YearUp, a partner and national nonprofit with a mission to close the opportunity divide.
What is it like to get your first design job? Check out Design School vs Design Reality: A Letter to Emerging Designers.
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