Re:Ask HN: how to go about finding internships?
by rednum on Friday May 20, 2011 @02:38AM
(#2566672)
It is too late for google, microsoft and facebook - their hiring processes for summer start in winter (I even know some guys who had interviews in november) and most places are taken; you can however try autumn if you want - I know that fb hires for autumn now.
Try some smaller ones - you are on site dedicated to startups so you should find some that hire! My algorithm when searching for interns was going through lots of companies, look into their jobs/careers for interns ad and sending my cv, starting from the most intersting.
Edit: I didn't have lots of projects to show either, but many companies don't really ask for them during interview (however for some it's a must - eg my friend wanted to work in android apps startup and they wanted him to already have something done for android) - algorithm puzzles seem to be popular, also you may be asked to read/write some code and some easy questions checking what you wrote about technology you mentioned in cv. That's really all I think.
It is probably way too late to make it anywhere for this summer at these companies though, given their structured schedule in recruiting (the intern season at Amazon has already started).
Talk to small companies. I have a friend who literally drove down the highway with a stack of resumes. He walked into every place that seemed like it would be beneficial to work at, walked in, demanded to speak to a manager of sufficient seniority (didn't take no for an answer), explained to said manager his skills and how he could contribute to their business, gave them his resume, and left.
He's also the guy I know who never seems to be lacking a job.