Non-engineering tech internships: why and how should we do it?
Greetings!
Welcome to the tech world, fellow IT students. Is there any of you who thinks that you’re not proficient in programming? Thinks that you don’t have any chance to follow your seniors’ steps?
Worry no more. If you answer ‘yes’ to both questions, please do continue reading this article, and here’s my take on your insecurities:
Non-engineering tech internships really does exist.
(What if you do not answer ‘yes’ to both questions? Just keep reading. Maybe you’ll consider shifting your interest.)
Non-engineering tech internships, what’s that?
First of all, as you can see in the title of this part, the internships that I’ll be talking about is the non-engineering ones. It means, we’ll take out these titles: front-end engineer/developer, back-end engineer/developer, mobile app developer, software engineer/developer, web developer, QA engineer etc — from this discussion.
(Side note: You’re still valid as an IT student even if you don’t become an intern in engineering world.)
Why?
Because in these jobs, the programming skills is not strongly required. As a future IT graduate, having knowledge of basic programming skills is a must. Or else, how can you pass those mandatory courses?
From several chats I had with my friends who also have joined non-engineering internships too in the past, we concluded that you don’t have to be able to be proficient in programming. The only thing that you must own is computational thinking (CT). It’s not programming. According to Google for Education, CT is a problem solving process that includes a number of characteristics and dispositions.
So, what kind of jobs you’re talking about, exactly?
I’m talking based on my experience, or my friend’s experience, or some random discussions I had with my colleagues, be it from the same school or not. From these valuable information, I think I can classify common jobs for non-engineering internships into 4 fields:
- Design
- Analysis
- Consulting
- Product
In my honest opinion, these four fields actually intersect each other.
For example, I once had an internship as a product design intern. As you can read from the job title itself, it requires understanding from both worlds: product and design. Another title that you might see in job vacancies is product analyst, and again, the two fields intersect. The only field that can stand alone is consulting. Some of my friends had their mandatory internships at Accenture and Deloitte.
For design field, the common internship jobs you might want to pursue usually sound as follows:
- Product design intern
- Product researcher intern
- User interface designer intern
- User experience designer intern
- User experience researcher intern
For analysis field, these are the common roles:
- Business analyst intern
- System analyst intern
- Product analyst intern
There are actually not much naming for internships at consultants. It can be as simple as ‘project intern’ or ‘X intern’, when X is the division you’re assigned to. How about product? Same. No difference. The role that is strongly associated with product internship is the role of product management intern.
Do I really have to join non-engineering internships?
This is a simple answer for you: it depends. The rest of the answer will be quite general and apply for ALL internships out there.
If you don’t want to sacrifice 3-month holiday for summer internship or 1-month holiday for winter internship, then don’t.
If you don’t want to get to know a glimpse of professional life, then don’t.
As an intern, whatever your role is, you have a professional responsibility. Your work plays a part to your employer’s business activities. Moreover, if you have a crucial role during internship, the responsibility is even greater.
But well, if you are:
- looking for an opportunity to bridge yourself from college life to real professional life
- willing to allocate time, attention, and effort to prepare and perform your internships
- wanting to explore how your college lessons can be applied in real life scenarios
then yes, please do apply for an internship.
What should I do when I want to apply for non-engineering tech internships?
The first and foremost step is: choose your direction.
You cannot arrive in a destination without a direction, right? Select which field you want to focus on. If not for the rest of your career, just choose one for some time being.
If you want to apply for an internship in general, do these things at least:
- learn how to write a great CV in accordance with the field you choose
- learn how to write proper business emails to apply for internships, respond to offerings, and communicate with your co-worker
- learn how to conquer an interview in accordance with the field you choose
Specifically, I also have some of my two-cents in terms of preparing your non-engineering internships application.
If you want to be an intern in design field:
- prepare and build your portfolio through freelance jobs, online design courses, mini redesign project, design challenges, and design competitions
- compose a creative CV to show your creative side to the recruiter (Canva can be your option sometimes)
- display your works at online portfolio (Dribbble or Behance)
- get familiar with design processes (design thinking, user-centered design methodology, etc)
- build a strong and logical argument each time you make you design
Oh, have I told you that consulting field is undoubtedly an analysis field? The only thing that differs the two is the place. Consulting internships take place in consulting firms, while internships as analyst can be done in any company that requires an analyst role. Referring to this, this are some steps to take before applying for consulting or analysis internships:
- form a team and join business or business-IT case competitions
- be familiar with frameworks (McKinsey 7S, 4Ps of marketing, Ansoff matrix, etc)
- enlist in consulting clubs (in Fasilkom UI we have Consulting Special Interest Group (SIG) provided by SISTEM Fasilkom UI)
- read example cases for consulting interviews and practice (one of the most familiar case is market sizing case, Google them to know more)
Lastly, how about product internships? Here’s my take:
- form a team and join business plan competitions/hackathon(s)/ideation competition
- read product management books (Inspired by Marty Cagan is a must-read book!)
- lead tech projects with developers (yes, leading. PM jobs require leading by influence, they say. Project management is also crucial but PM is not always about it.)
- take online courses (try LinkedIn Premium’s trial and take their courses for free for a month, you can get a certification!)
Quite practical, isn’t it? Exactly. I don’t want to give lengthy advice, so instead, take these bite-sized advices. Maybe you’ll relate to it easily.
What are pros and cons of taking non-engineering internships?
Pros: you don’t have to do programming if you’re not proficient in it, some jobs are really suitable for extroverts who love meeting new people and talk to them.
Cons: a little drop of insecurity every time you see your engineer friends can easily get a job because the demand is so massive, and of course, smaller salary. (But, it’s an internship anyway. Your main purpose is supposed to be learning.)
Will I stray away from programming?
Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Some analyst roles require SQL skills, so get your grasp tight on Database lessons.
So, what’s next?
That’s all that I can say. Yes, I admit, this writing is lacking on solid references, but since when you need a solid references to construct a valuable advice?
(Sometimes you need it, though, LOL.)
As this writing come to an end, I’d like to say: good luck on your non-engineering tech internships! Have fun and enjoy your time, fellas!
