How I Landed a SWE Internship.

Hey everyone!

I’m super excited to share some great news—I just landed a Software Engineering (SWE) internship! It’s been a crazy few weeks of waiting, interviewing, and preparing, but the hard work paid off, and I couldn’t be happier. I wanted to take some time to talk about what the process was like for me and maybe help anyone out there going through something similar.

How It Started

I submitted my application for the SWE internship in early October. After waiting for about a week with no updates, I decided to email one of the recruiters. I introduced myself, gave a quick rundown of my background, and asked if there were any updates on my application. The next day, I got an email letting me know I had passed the assessment and was moving on to the first round of interviews. This company uses a third party called Karat for their technical interviews, so I got an email from them to schedule my interview.

The Technical Interview

The Karat interview was pretty straightforward, which helped calm my nerves. Here’s how it went:

• First 5 minutes: Introductions and basics get to know each other questions.
• Next 10 minutes: Quickfire questions based on two categories I picked. I went with Front-End Web Development and Testing. One of the questions was something like, “Given this code, what color will the text be?” Pretty manageable if you’re familiar with the basics.
• Last 45 minutes: The real coding challenge. I finished the first question, which felt like a LeetCode Easy, but ran out of time before starting the second one (closer to a Medium). Even though I didn’t finish, I explained my thought process and talked through some pseudocode, which seemed to go over well.

This interview happened in mid-October, and just a few days later, I got the email saying I had passed the technical round and was moving on to the final interview.

The Behavioral Interview

The final interview was in early November and lasted about 45 minutes. It was a mix of technical and non-technical questions.

The interviewer asked me about my previous projects, how I approach challenges, and my thought process when solving problems. I focused on being honest and tying my answers to experiences from my role at this company and what I’ve been learning in school. I also made sure to share how excited I am about contributing to their tech initiatives, which I think really resonated with them and showed my interest in the company.

Final Thoughts

By mid-November, I got the amazing news that I had landed the internship!

Looking back, I think the biggest lessons I learned were to follow up on applications, prepare as much as you can, and be yourself in interviews. The technical questions weren’t as intimidating as I expected, and explaining my approach was just as important as getting the right answers.

I’m so excited to start this next chapter as a SWE intern. This opportunity is a huge step toward my ultimate goal of becoming a full-stack developer, and I can’t wait to get started.

Thanks for reading!