Ask HN: How to make the most out of a summer internship at a SF startup?
Hello.<p>I just accepted an offer from a startup in downtown San Francisco. This will be my first time working in a SF startup. Could any startup veteran give me some tips on what to do to really grow as a developer in such an environment? Sorry for asking noob question. I would really appreciate any recommendation!
4 comments
Basically this... slightly differently - but this:
http://loganrandolph.com/blog/2014/2/4/want-an-internship-in...
simply put: engage.
attend every meeting you can, take notes. afterwards, ask people if there are things there you don't understand - acronyms, assumptions, etc. in those discussions take notes. then read like mad every evening.
with your work, deliver. get your work done on time, without issue. think of the internship as part extended interview and part actual work. get your stuff done. i have had interns over the years who were (honestly!) thinking "oh, you wanted me to _do_ that? ohhhh ... whatever. i didn't." a sure fire way to get kicked to the curb and ruin any hope you have of working there and not having a positive recommendation coming out of the internship. better to ask a question that may appear stupid than to make an assumption which is possibly wrong and get penalized for it.
go to lunch with people from across the company. if you're in engineering, don't just go to lunch with engineering folks, go to lunch with marking, product management, sales, etc. this is an opportunity to see the wide variety of roles and jobs needed in a business.
so: engage. engage the work - your output - and engage the opportunity to learn via listening and studying.
attend every meeting you can, take notes. afterwards, ask people if there are things there you don't understand - acronyms, assumptions, etc. in those discussions take notes. then read like mad every evening.
with your work, deliver. get your work done on time, without issue. think of the internship as part extended interview and part actual work. get your stuff done. i have had interns over the years who were (honestly!) thinking "oh, you wanted me to _do_ that? ohhhh ... whatever. i didn't." a sure fire way to get kicked to the curb and ruin any hope you have of working there and not having a positive recommendation coming out of the internship. better to ask a question that may appear stupid than to make an assumption which is possibly wrong and get penalized for it.
go to lunch with people from across the company. if you're in engineering, don't just go to lunch with engineering folks, go to lunch with marking, product management, sales, etc. this is an opportunity to see the wide variety of roles and jobs needed in a business.
so: engage. engage the work - your output - and engage the opportunity to learn via listening and studying.
When not working, be learning and networking, at least some. Meetups, events, etc. Take stuff you learned at work home and practice.
Having interned in SF last summer, I would definitely recommend that you take as much time as you can to meet other people, especially those outside your company. The best way to do that is to join the "201X Bay Area Summer Interns" facebook group. I was in the 2013 one and there were almost 5000 members. Every day people were posting with what they were up to and looking for people to join them. Its a great way to meet other interns and experience all of the things that can be done in the bay area.