I've been something of a programmer for the past few years, though I've never put out anything incredibly serious. I just finished high school and I'm taking a year off before I enter college, and I thought maybe I could do an internship in development this year or next summer. What types of things would a developer look for in my resume (languages, projects, experience, school-related stuff), and what are some tips as to finding internships?
+4
A:
As someone right out of high-school it's going to be really tough to land a paid internship.
Even college students typically don't land internships until their Junior Year.
Couple that with a tough economy for college graduates, and the glut of generic coders on the market and it doesn't paint a pretty picture for landing a summer internship.
That said, if you are an amazing standout developer (like the kind of guy who creates jQuery), then you might have a shot.
When I was hiring interns, I looked mostly at school work:
- Algorithsm
- Data Structures
- Operating Systems
- Techincal Communication
All areas I expect a college level engineer to have under their belt by time they're looking for a job. Languages are less important, if they have the fundamentals. Anyone can write C++, but not everyone knows why an O(n^2) algorithm is bad.
As for tips regarding internships, I landed my internship by talking to the career services guy on campus. You may not have access to one, since you're not enrolled in school. Like most job searches, you'll be more successful if you network.
- Do you know of any developers that might be looking for an extra hand?
- Since you have little formal education are you willing to work for free?
- Do you contribute to an open source project?
- Do you have examples of interesting projects that show off your unique skills?
- Have you had your resume proofed by a professional?
- Have you considered a code camp, like Microsoft offers or Google's Summer of Code?
Alan
2010-07-23 05:21:23