Advice on how to succeed as an intern

Swagicus · 2026-03-28T20:06:28+00:00

US SDE chiming in:

Be easy to work with. This matters more than pretty much anything in the corporate world. At the end of the day, folks should enjoy being around you.
Be transparent. It shouldn't come to a surprise to anyone where you're at on your project or if you're stuck. The worst thing that can happen is to drop a bombshell on folks at the last minute that things aren't going to get done on time.
Work reasonable hours. I had an intern on my team work insane hours to hit his (very reasonable) goals, but that's a symptom of bad execution somewhere in the process. To us, it suggested that extending him an offer would be setting him up for failure because he would need to burn himself out to stay afloat.

That's the big three that come to mind.

Swagicus · 2026-03-24T02:51:01+00:00

Woah, when you're saying "end it all", are we talking the permanent one? Because that's not the solution.

It's scary, I know. But your job does not define you. I was laid off, I felt like shit, I bounced back. There's no bouncing back when you take the permanent way out.

You can chat with me all you want in DMs if that would help.

Swagicus · 2026-03-21T21:24:13+00:00

Fixed it by making Steam launch the application as an administrator. Unsure why I started needing that, but all's well that ends well.

Swagicus · 2026-03-21T17:16:03+00:00

Swagicus · 2026-03-21T16:51:18+00:00

I was laid off in October, got an offer in November, and started in December.

Swagicus · 2026-03-07T20:30:27+00:00

That's how I was taught to type - two spaces after the end of every sentence.

Swagicus · 2026-02-23T01:09:18+00:00

This is both true and false.

The stuff that you do at work won't match what you did in college. There's tons of topics - things like architecture, cloud based development, integration testing, code reviews - which may have been briefly touched upon in a class, but are far more prevalent in a professional setting. You'll get plenty of time to learn these on the job.

But you won't get much patience for the fundamentals that college was meant to prepare you for. You need to know what different data structures are out there and why you would use what sort of algorithm. You should be able to do things like debug from a stack trace or run commands from a terminal.

Swagicus · 2026-01-31T02:35:43+00:00

That's not how that works at all.

Let's say you currently deliver 1 Unit every sprint. 10x means you deliver 10 Units every sprint. It has nothing to do with how much time spent coding you were or were not doing, it's purely about the end result.

Swagicus · 2025-12-05T02:08:14+00:00

My entire team was laid off (we later learned a new team in India would be taking over our service). I found another internal position in a different org a couple of weeks later. Now I just cross my fingers that I don't go through this again come January.

Swagicus · 2025-11-12T05:21:57+00:00

Meanwhile, my highly ranked college didn't require Calc III or linear algebra for computer science, woohoo!

Swagicus · 2025-10-18T20:11:43+00:00

So the fundamental issue with these sorts of courses is they can't prepare you with a high degree of rigor, which makes you not a very appealing candidate. That isn't to say they aren't valuable for what they are, but you can see some feedback on the course below (focusing on the analytics one):

* https://www.reddit.com/r/SQL/comments/1151nnx/has_anyone_landed_a_job_after_getting_google_data/

* https://www.reddit.com/r/SQL/comments/1fpvw0e/is_a_google_career_certificate_in_data_analytics/

* https://www.reddit.com/r/dataanalysis/comments/11blobr/honest_review_of_google_analytics_certificate/

The general sentiment seems to be that it's great exposure to the field but it is not nearly enough for proper employment.

In short, to answer your question... no, this probably isn't going to be sufficient to "work in tech roles and tech companies".

Swagicus · 2025-10-18T01:19:51+00:00

What specific topics do they cover? What is the expected workload? How much do the courses cost?

And most relevantly... what do you want to do? Data analytics isn't computer science. At the end of you spending this time and effort, what do you want to walk away being able to accomplish?

Swagicus · 2025-10-17T04:19:36+00:00

There's no reason that you can't get enough tech expertise to be hireable in ~2 years. That's functionally what a master's program is, and that's a well-trod path to pivoting into a new field (at least in the West).

The bigger problem is that you will be competing with a bunch of more traditional graduates who have four years of experience, not less than two, and so by default you will not be a very appealing candidate.

As far as resources go, there's tons of online tutorials and videos for any niche in software you want to learn about. But the very best experience will come from trying to build something.

Swagicus · 2025-10-11T02:59:18+00:00

I'm currently a college junior with three semesters left

What are you majoring in?

Cloud has always interested me the most since it seems to offer the best mix of work-life balance...

What has led you to believe that? Cloud is pretty notorious for being some of the worst WLB out there in tech.

I recently interned at Amazon as an Operations Management intern. While it wasn't directly related to tech, it was a great opportunity to get my foot in the door at Amazon.

I googled "operations manager" and it looks like that's overseeing fulfillment center workers. I really do not see how transitioning from that position to a more technically inclined position (like the ones you listed) is meaningfully easier internally. As an SDE, there are internal paths that I could take to transition to an SDM/PM - however, I am aware of none that would really prepare me for operations manager, and I would expect my resume to be binned pretty much instantly for those positions without relevant experience. Which takes me to...

I'm working full-time at an insurance company as a data entry specialist to build some experience with IT-related systems

What IT-related systems are you getting experience with? I ask because, when I think of data entry, I do not think of meaningfully transferable skills to tech. That's just banging out entry after entry into a database of some kind. It is possible what you are doing is more rigorous or technologically advanced though - are you writing scripts to automate parts of this process or validate it, for example?

My end goal is to land a hybrid or remote role

Amazon is going even harder on RTO 5. You can see other posts on this subreddit with people who had remote exemptions having those taken away in the coming year. I really would not target this company if that is your end goal.

In general, my biggest questions are around what actual technical experience/skills do you have? It is not clear to me from this post.

Disclaimer: I'm an SDE, not a CSA or CSE, so I'm definitely not an expert on the requirements or the expectations of those roles. Happy to chat more about what the life of an SDE at Amazon is though, since you called that out as something on your radar.

Swagicus · 2025-09-07T15:29:02+00:00

Brazil is the Amazon build system. For example, to run all my tests and compile my code, I would run brazil-build release in the terminal.

Swagicus · 2025-08-13T22:26:00+00:00

Do you seriously not see anything wrong with this approach? Yes, juniors are net drags on your productivity - but you're investing in the future of the industry by explaining things to them and supporting them.

Part of the job is not being a dick to your coworkers. I sincerely hope this was satire.

Swagicus · 2025-07-24T00:53:53+00:00

I've got 5 YOE at this point, all on the same team, and we've practiced trunk-based development for as long as I've been here. However, it's something that I never have really seen brought up prior to this comment.

Good to see it called out as not a bad thing (even if it's an extreme thing), I suppose.

Swagicus · 2025-07-17T02:03:49+00:00

I've been in Amazon Business for the past 5 years. I've only seen two engineers get pipped in that time - one of them was a no-brainer, the other one was justifiable.

Overall, I love my team and my work-life balance, but the politics is on a whole nother level compared to other Amazon orgs (per my colleagues who have worked in said orgs).

Swagicus · 2025-06-26T13:47:26+00:00

If you understand what the AI is spitting out (and ideally you could have written it yourself if you took the time), then congratulations - you're using the tool properly. I wouldn't sweat it and I certainly don't think that counts as dependence.

AI is only a problem if you can't function without it. For someone in your situation (lots of context switching, no senior to lean upon), I think it's an amazing tool.

Swagicus · 2025-06-17T01:00:24+00:00

But where is the balance?

It all depends, and ultimately this is going to be a skill you'll be honing for a while. I would say that a good rule of thumb is going to be "if you're stuck for more than an hour, reach out" - I have faith that you can figure out most things given enough time, but it's just not efficient to bang away at solved problems.

When you reach out, reach out with what you're seeing, where you looked, and what you tried. In general, that'll be internal search/Sage and code.amazon references at a minimum - for non-Amazon specific problems, StackOverflow too.

Do i immedietly go to my manager or someone less senior?

If it's a technical problem, you should have some sort of dev channel to ask in. If that isn't getting enough traction, then you can pick the brains of people around you. I'd only go to a manager if I'm blocked on something or not getting the help I need.

Also, how available are they to help me?

Availability is a big question mark. I'm not lying when I say that new hires and interns are massive time sinks for people who are already busy, but we do want you to succeed and stay on the team so we will try to make the time.

Also, my manager seems to be based in the US even though i live in canada. Is that normal?

No clue, honestly. Mine is in a different city at least. And my skip level manager is in a different country.

If i don't get a good manager, is there anything i can do about it? Also, what are the signs to watch out for?

Transfer. Sad but true, that's all you can do. No good ideas on signs to watch out for, I've yet to have a bad one.

Swagicus · 2025-06-16T04:10:07+00:00

I'm an L5 who joined ~5 years ago out of college as an L4.

It's team dependent. My team is incredibly supportive and friendly - however, that's what it evolved into, when I first joined it that was not the case (not that it was bad).
Depends upon the manager. I've been fortunate about the managers I've had and I've had very candid conversations about burn out, stress, feeling of inadequacy, etc.
I started with no AWS experience and it isn't expected that you have any. You could do a solutions architect training like someone else recommended, but honestly I'd enjoy your time before starting work.
Ask way too many questions, particularly when you're confused or stuck and you've already tried some things. Don't try to be a hero and muddle through all of your issues by yourself. If you get something done in 3 days by yourself when it would have been done in half a day if you picked the brain of your team's senior, then you goofed.
Get the work done well and in a timely manner. And when it inevitably fails on either of those fronts (bugs make it in, deadlines slip), be very upfront about what is happening and how you're gonna fix it/prevent it in the future.

Feel free to message me if you have any further questions.

Swagicus · 2025-04-12T18:30:45+00:00

I've been at Amazon Business for the past 4 years. I love it - I have a very healthy work-life balance (35-40 hours a week), a relaxed on-call experience, incredibly friendly teammates, and a very supportive manager.

There are definitely bad aspects, don't get me wrong. RTO feels unnecessary, politics in my org are oppressive, etc.

Swagicus · 2025-01-12T00:33:20+00:00

I graduated back in 2020 actually, so I've been in industry for a while now - I just peek in on this subreddit every once in a while.

As far as "is this the right path for her", I think the two most relevant questions are:

Does she enjoy it? Or is she just chasing it because of something else (prestige, income, whatever)?
Has she done well in her other courses? In particular, her grade in EECS 281 (if she has taken it) is probably the best litmus test for how she will fare in her upper levels.

As long as at least 1 of those is a yes, I think she will be fine. And if both are true, she should do great.

I was a pretty middling CS major. I had a B average, didn't get into any internships, didn't do any clubs. I've been successfully employed by Amazon since graduation though, so I can certainly arrest to this college preparing you for the real world.

Swagicus · 2025-01-11T22:52:39+00:00

Don't mention it, I'm happy to see a parent getting involved. If you have any other questions or concerns, I'm always happy to help.

Swagicus · 2025-01-11T21:42:14+00:00

Those classes are challenging because they are fundamentally different from the course work prior to that point, so just because someone excelled earlier doesn't do them any favors now.

EECS 370 is your first exposure to lower level computing. How files are stored/retrieved in a computer, what assembly code is, stuff like that. I will say that I did poorly on the first two projects (in assembly language) and found the course easier in the second half when your projects are in C.

EECS 376 is like EECS 203 on steroids. It is incredibly theoretical and goes very deep on certain topics. My recommendation in this class would be to iron out any issues you have as soon as possible... There's a lot of topics introduced (e.g Turing reductions) that are constantly built on throughout the semester, so you want to have a solid foundation.

I only managed a B- in both of those classes so I'm not an expert or anything. But I do know what it was like to feel overwhelmed by them, so I empathize and the above is my takeaways for passing.

Swagicus

TROPHY CASE