This summer, I worked as a software engineer intern at Apple in the Bay Area! While I think there are a lot of technical skills that I learned this summer, many of the nontechnical takeaways I’ve received have been so much more valuable.
Here’s what August Anna would want to tell May Anna, after having worked and lived 12 weeks on her own:
You can learn how to be confident!
Most people aren’t born with an inherent corporate swagger. I certainly wasn’t. But we survive in a trial by fire!
You’ll get really good at messaging people on Slack, from finding out what they work on to begging asking for help. You might still spend a lot of time drafting them in your personal DM (God forbid you hit Enter instead of Shift+Enter and accidentally send it), but you’ll get faster at articulating your intent.
You won’t be afraid to ask your manager for feedback on your work — and even lightly challenge some of it with support. You won’t be afraid to ask for a justified favor from your manager’s manager. You won’t even be afraid reach out to other teams to see if you’d be interested to work for them in the future.
It’s definitely hard, but it does get easier the more and more you try these seemingly daunting tasks. One thing that really surprised me was how much less tense I’ve become when talking to people I label as a lot more “successful” or “advanced” than me — such as people in roles I want to be in or people much more tenured than me — which actually makes our conversations a lot more enjoyable.
You’ll learn how to work with others who are much older and much more experienced.
Everyone on my team had kids within 5 years of my age — which is a lot more common than you realize, particularly at companies where people stay for a long time. It’s really scary to be working with people that have lived through the same quantity and types of life experiences as your parents (!!) and I also feel like many people don’t talk about the initial shock of this realization.
You’ll actually learn that everyone really wants you to do well as an intern. They hired you for a reason! They literally hand-picked you! And someone put you on this team and not some other team, also for a reason! Host managers fight to get interns (OK, not literally), so they’re really, really excited to have you! They’re not lying to you when they say that 😉
Interns can often challenge the status quo on a team or a company because you haven’t been morphed by the ridges of the corporate world. The relationship between a really successful mentor and an intern can truly be symbiotic, where you learn what it takes for you to get there and they learn what the fresh new minds are up to.
TL;DR: You don’t owe anyone anything for the opportunity, because for every thing you earn from the internship, you’re also giving something back!
“Every ‘no’ you say opens another door for you to say ‘yes’”
A manager on a different team told me this — and I genuinely think about it every day. How many times have you agreed to something at school or a club or a job that you probably didn’t have the bandwidth for? 🙋🏻♀️
You can’t do everything. That’s the reality of life, and it doesn’t go away in the real world. Interning is a really good experience for learning how to develop and balance priorities both in and out of work, and you’re going to do great!
Now that I’m heading back to school soon to start arguably one of the most painful semesters of classes, this is something I’m be carrying with me. I tell this to all of my friends, and even if they don’t understand it yet, I hope they will too someday soon.
The days are long but the years are short, and I can’t believe this summer is already over! I’m looking forward to next summer already 😀
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