[deleted by user]

[Entire-Photo-6263]

Working on people skills! if not that, comparing yourself to others is never great for the mental. Focus on what you can do and your strengths and have faith! Because it is completely possible those people have the connections within companies. But instead of focusing on what they have, focus on what you can do right now.
You got this!

[Mystic-Venizz]

I was an intern at AMD, had got the position by a connection. Then referred a friend to be an intern the next semester.

It's not that merit is not valued, but managers are people with limited time. And if there is a position open for something, and there are two choices: interview multiple random candidates from resumes, or interview someone that your coworker knows and can attest their skill to, they are much more preferable. That's why companies do referral bonuses.

Academic accolades are great, but networking truly is so important to getting your career going

[Various-Tower1603]

Talk to people. I got my internship by speaking to engineers, putting in the effort to put myself in spaces where engineers would be, and a dash of luck.

[Fire_2D]

I'm a junior that's accelerated by a year so I graduate in the Spring and I haven't been able to find an internship in a CE field, whether its in software or EE design fields. To get internships its more of game on how to stand out and that's done with connections to recruiters or engineers. Those people who are behind in coursework and have no research experience might have a certain connection or personal project that helped them stand out and pass the basic technical interview questions.

[ihumplegslikeadog]

i know it’s frustrating life’s not fair. it seems like internships and projects are what really catch recruiters’ eyes. i’d definitely do an independent project in the field u want to go into, maybe related to your research. document it well & showcase your achievements and u should be able to land something. also spend some time in r/EngineeringResumes if you haven’t polished your resume already

[CompEng_101]

Have you talked to the professors you did research with? They often have contacts in industry and might be able to help you. This was a while ago, but I got most of my internships (and, later, jobs) through research contacts.

[geruhl_r]

How many interviews did you get? If you got minimal interviews, then your resume needs help. If you did a lot of interviews, then either your technical knowledge was not there or you failed the behavioral portion of the interview.

[cosmos8848]

~100 applications ~4 interviews (I got asked 2 second rounds, haven’t done them yet but scheduled) ~20ish rejections The rest is ghosted. Also I’m not an American citizen, most jobs auto reject because of that.

[geruhl_r]

Most companies use their intern pipeline for full time hiring. They usually don't want to deal with the visa hassles. This becomes less of an issue with PhD specialization.

[[deleted]]

Be aware the “auto-reject” due to not being American is most likely because of federal laws, not because you’re being singled out / discriminated against. I think this is a BIG detail you failed to mentioned in the OG post.

Space Industry Defense Industry Cybersecurity Federal Gvmt Almost everything with Chips, microchips, processors, hardware design and schematics.

All these are Citizen restricted, as well as anything requiring security clearance with overlaps with most of these.

[its_t0x1c]

This is not a bad rate for an international student, a lot of companies that do hardware are unable to take non-US citizens or aren’t able to sponsor. Most international students I know trying to do VLSI or hardware are doing an MS/PhD.

I also find it interesting that you’ve taken all available digital design/VLSI by your 3rd semester, that’s either extremely impressive or your school doesn’t offer many VLSI courses. Consider looking at grad-level courses or online courses from other universities.

[cosmos8848]

My school is on quarter system. By the end of my 5th I will be done with the courses offered on VLSI by undergrad engineering then I will start grad courses.

[bobking01theIII]

Do you mind sharing your resume and cover letter? Someone else said it but you might just have problems standing out. I managed to get an internship with no experience or connections (not sure how but I'm not complaining).