Five tips to make the most of your Engineering internship
October 22, 2019
For young engineers, internships provide an ideal opportunity to experience an organization’s culture and work environment, engage with senior leaders and mentors, pick up new skill sets, and learn more about what an ideal career in tech could look like. Since the internship can go by quickly, it’s critical to optimize time spent at a company and make the most of it.
With this in mind, we asked some of our Bloomberg engineering interns from the 2019 cohort (comprised of over 150 interns at our offices around the world) what made their experience unique this summer. Here are their top five pieces of advice on what to look for to make sure you have a meaningful and productive internship.
Work in an open, receptive environment
Bloomberg is a truly open place. If you don’t understand something or want to learn more about a particular function or process, you can always ask questions or take initiative, and no one will ever question that. – Tiffany Moi
My team at Bloomberg was smaller than in my previous internships, which made for a great opportunity to get to know people better. In past experiences, there were one or two designated people I could ask when I had a question, but now there are many more. It’s a more personal experience. – Elisa Guerrant
Learn new languages and skills
One thing I was looking for was the opportunity to build a really good technical background, meaning I would get to work either with newer technologies or, if working with technologies I had experience with, being able to expand upon my knowledge. I also really wanted to work across teams, and that’s something Bloomberg does very well. Even though I was working on a particular team, I had many opportunities to collaborate with others. I really enjoyed that aspect — it was an opportunity for me to improve my communications skills while also developing my technical acumen. – Tiffany Moi
For me, when looking for an internship, I want to make sure I would be working on projects that interest me, let me grow and improve my skills professionally. A successful internship for me is the one that is exciting and challenging daily. – Gintare Statkute
Own projects that make a real impact
For me there was never any hesitation after I received the offer from Bloomberg. The promise of working on a project which could actually make a contribution to the company was what convinced me. – Ashwin Maliampurakal
I was definitely looking for the opportunity to program in industry. It’s completely different from writing code in school, where the focus isn’t necessarily on the quality of the code, just whether or not it’s correct. In the workplace, not only does your code have to produce the correct output, but it has to be written in a way that other engineers understand and it has to be efficient. Those extra aspects were important to me in an internship because I knew I wouldn’t get them anywhere else. – Joey Jiemjitpolchai
Build relationships with mentors and senior leaders
My mentor at Bloomberg introduced me to a lot of projects that tested my knowledge in C++ and Java, really expanding my skill set. He really taught me to think of the problem first, which was very useful lesson. In the projects I was working on, I was building everything from scratch, and I was surprised by how much I could actually do on my own, thinking of the problem from beginning to end. I used that hands-on knowledge from Bloomberg in my college Computer Science classes, which helped me immensely. – Stephon Lawrence
I think it is important to realize you can ask anyone for help. It’s easy to fall into the trap of always just asking your mentor when you have a problem, but by approaching other people in the team you can get many different perspectives. In my experience, doing this massively helped me learn the roles different people play within the team. – Ashwin Maliampurakal
Participate in a culture that allows for growth and curiosity
Coming in, I had high expectations both in terms of the talent and culture as I had previously read a great bunch online about the company- its reputation and history of industry-leading excellence. However, there was one thing that truly surprised me- every single employee, including those in senior positions, is always open to help or grab a cup of coffee and chat. Everyone is approachable which is quite rare, especially in the financial industry. This has made working here that much more interesting; being able to pick the brains of the smartest people is an exciting opportunity. – Gintare Statkute
Spending time getting to know employees’ genuine experiences is a great way to understand a company’s culture. Get involved with different employee communities during your internship. You’ll meet new people and have interesting conversations while gaining a new perspective on what it’s like to work at the company. – Alejandro Castaneda
Looking forward
For those looking for their next internship, be open to asking questions of those you meet, network, or interview with to ensure you land at an internship that can provide you with the tools and culture to help you grow, stretch your boundaries, and set you up for future success.