From First Internship to Full-Time: A Software Engineer's Guide to Breaking into Tech

By Eric Chen

If you’re interested in a software engineering related degree or career (i.e. Computer Science/Engineering, Software Engineering), then you may have already heard about the co-op program that many schools offer for these programs. Co-op and internship experiences have been critical for building my career as a software engineer, and are extremely helpful for understanding the industry. As a Computer Engineering graduate from UofT now working as a software engineer/developer at Amazon, I’d like to share some tips and lessons that I have gathered in the past 5 years. 

Your Internship Experiences Compound, Start Preparing Early 

Throughout your university career, you will have at least 3-6 opportunities to find an internship, depending on if you’re in a co-op program. Your first work experience in university may not be extravagant (for me, it was a part-time job helping incoming students prepare for UofT), but it still puts helpful & transferrable experience and skills on your resume. This allows you to find a better role the second time around, and even better the third time. With adequate preparation, you can expect your internship quality to improve every time, and therefore it is crucial to start early. Many big companies offer specialized internship programs for first and second year students, such as Microsoft Explore, Uber Star, Google STEP, and more. These postings have a less rigorous interview process than their general software engineering postings, and would give you a significant boost in landing other top positions in your junior and senior years. 

The Complete Internship Search Process

Job searching often feels like a daunting task as you have to somehow convince a huge company to hire you as a teenager in university. If you don’t know where to start, I want to first go over the complete process of landing an internship. 

1. At the start of each hiring cycle (usually September for summer internship of the year after), you should spend a solid amount of time fine-tuning your resume. This entails choosing a suitable resume template (such as Jake’s Resume), and writing strong resume points using the well defined XYZ method. Ask your friends, your school’s career center, or even AI to review your resume, because there will always be room for improvements.  

2. Once your resume is ready, find resources where job postings are aggregated, such as LinkedIn, Simplii, or Github Repos. Apply to as many jobs (don’t be too picky if this is your first or second internship), as soon as they are posted. 

3. At the same time, practice leetcode, which is a problem bank of algorithmic coding questions that companies will ask you to solve during technical interviews. Neetcode.io is an excellent resource for this!

4. When you are selected, companies usually begin the evaluation process by sending you an Online Assessment. This is a timed (and sometimes proctored) test where you will be asked to solve coding questions similar to the ones you have done in leetcode. Nowadays, these assessment portals may have built-in AI chatbots that can assist you during the test.

5. If your online assessment score is accepted by the company, they will typically invite you to a 1-2 hour online interview with an engineer, where you will once again solve coding problems and answer behavioral questions. Oftentimes, the interviewer focuses more on your problem solving aptitude rather than the absolute correctness of the solution.

6. Once you pass the interview, you will get the internship offer!

The Power of Return Offers

Some companies may offer a system for giving out return offers (ROs) for their interns. This means that during your internship, your manager will evaluate your deliverables to determine whether you will receive a return offer. Getting an RO means you are automatically extended an offer (without having to interview again!) to rejoin the company, either as an intern if you still have 1+ year of school, or as a full-time employee if you are set to graduate within a year. This provides you with a peace of mind during your next recruitment cycle as you will have a backup option. Alternatively, you don’t have to search for a job all if you’re satisfied with your offer! Nowadays, an increasing number of companies hire a large percentage of new-grad engineers from their return intern pool, while external candidates need to go through an arduous 4+ hour interview process. This makes a return offer a truly invaluable asset to have. However, this may not be true for every company.

Stay in The Loop.. In Moderation 

To be successful, I found it beneficial to be adequately knowledgeable about the current climate about tech internships. Online communities such as CS Career Dev Discord have up to date information about many company’s interview timeline and processes. Reading about other people’s experiences can give you an understanding of which companies are suitable for your circumstances. For example, I learned during my third year that companies like Meta and Amazon traditionally hire a large number of interns and have a well defined return offer system, providing a pathway to a full-time offer. I also find that staying in the loop also makes internship search less daunting. However, I’d advise against spending too much time on the Discord server, as it may start to feel overwhelming or even toxic. 

I hope this blog was helpful for you! If you want one key takeaway, that would be to start looking for internships early in your university career. You will have more time to discover what you like, don’t like, and get comfortable in this environment. 

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn! Also, be sure to check out the 1-on-1 mentorship program with Bridge to Campus to speak to current students who are currently going through the process.