How to Do an Internship the Right Way (Part 1: Impostor Syndrome)
So you’ve locked down an internship for the next 4 to 12 months. Congratulations! That’s step 1.
This is the first in a series of posts about making the most out of your internship. I’ve had 3 internships so far as a University of Waterloo co-op student — my current one being at Boston-based Toast — and I have 3 more in the next 2 years. Through my experiences, I’ve managed to learn from my mistakes and improve both my effectiveness as an employee and myself as a person. I’ve assembled the lessons in this series partly for my own sake, but I hope you use them to make the most out of your experience, grow as a person, and return (if you want to) with a full-time offer locked down.
Don’t Underestimate Yourself
This first lesson stands out from all of the others in this series both because it speaks to a different part of your experience than most of them will, and because it was one of the most important ones for me personally. During the majority of my first internship, and for a decent part of each of the following two, I felt like I was hired by mistake. I felt like I didn’t really know what was going on, and that I didn’t have what it takes to be in the position I was in. Now I know that most people feel that way. This is called Impostor Syndrome.
Impostor Syndrome is that feeling you have when you feel like you’re a fraud. When you feel like one day someone’s going to find you out. When they’re going to tap you on the shoulder and say “Hey you! You don’t know what you’re doing here. Get out!”
If you haven’t heard of impostor syndrome before, I recommend watching Maryam Pasha’s TEDx Talk: Impostor Syndrome: Talking about our shared secret. I hadn’t heard about it until I heard Julie Pagano speak at CUSEC 2015.
Most interns and recent-grads, and even a lot of people who have been in industry for years, have some degree of doubt inside them. Doubt about whether they’re right for the position that they’re in. Doubt about whether they’re good enough. They feel that they don’t know the answers and are struggling to pick up on things that others are able to easily.
We see this a lot in the tech industry, where every developer has distinctly different strengths, backgrounds, and experiences. The reality is that everyone in a workplace is struggling to solve problems, and that each person applies themselves differently to these problems. This means that if you took 3 hours to come to a solution, there’s probably someone that can do it in 10 or 15 minutes. It doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily a worse developer, it just means that it aligned better with that person’s strengths. I guarantee that there will be a time when the opposite is true for you. If industry’s problems were already solved, or had easy solutions, none of us developers would be employed. Although it may seem like everyone else already knows the answers, it isn’t true.
The upshot of me telling you this is that there are ways to get past impostor syndrome and become confident with yourself and your contributions. One of my favorite ways to work on this is through pair programming. Initially it can feel really uncomfortable, especially when you’re the one at the keyboard. But once you find yourself pointing out problems in your partner’s code, teaching and learning in comparable amounts, and seeing yourself grow through the exercise, your impostor syndrome will begin to diminish.
In addition to pair programming, there are other things you can do that might seem scary, but will do wonders for your skill and confidence as a developer, especially as an intern.
- Ask Questions. Although we hear this advice all the time, many of us are afraid to ask questions. I was in that boat for a while, until I learned that asking questions leads to sharing of knowledge and confidence, both of which help with impostor syndrome. It may seem counterintuitive at first (you may feel like asking questions will make you feel dumb), but I promise you that isn’t the case.
The only stupid question is the question that is never asked.
- Provide Input. Sure, you’re just an intern and you may not know everything (nobody does), but that doesn’t mean your opinions aren’t valuable. We often have reservations about providing input and answering questions because we’re afraid of being wrong, but it’s okay to be wrong! Even when you attempt the one that comes up with the correct answer, providing input is still extremely valuable and will be appreciated. It’s important to recognize this.
It’s okay to be wrong.
- Seek Feedback. Lack of feedback feeds impostor syndrome. Positive feedback reaffirms your sense of value, as does acting upon constructive feedback.
Feedback builds a better business, the same as it builds a better person
Little by little, doing hard things that scare you during your internship can actually have a very positive effect on you as an individual. With impostor syndrome, it’s easy to underestimate yourself. Try not to fall victim to that. And as you make progress, read my other lessons that follow. I want you to squeeze every last drop of value out of this experience.
Thanks for reading! If you liked the post, please click on the ❤ button! If you want to get in touch for any reason, including to chat about the content of this post, I’m always available. Reach out at jhudson@jhudson.ca.
