
What should I focus on to land an internship the summer after my sophomore year? - ConvictDev
The title pretty much says it all. I have very minimal programming experience and I will be starting school in 3 weeks for computer science. I understand the utter importance of internships in finding a job out of school, and it&#x27;s my goal to graduate with two, not just one. I&#x27;m assuming an internship the summer after my freshman year will be pretty damn difficult to find, given that I am not coming in with experience and will be at a CC in the midwest (before transferring to an average state school here next year). I&#x27;ll be working 30-35 hours a week, but will only be in 6 hours this semester, followed by 9-11 hours next semester. I&#x27;ll cover intro to programming, object-oriented programming (both done in C++), and a couple of math classes such as Statistics, Calc 2 and Discrete Math in this time. Given my workload and 2 hours of commute each day, I&#x27;m going to have a pretty busy schedule. I still want to make the most of my time outside of class and work to develop the skills necessary to land an internship early on. Where should I be focusing my efforts in these first two years to help me achieve my goal? Thanks!
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FlyMuf
Hello, I am halfway through my sophomore year in college and I have already
been through two internships: one summer and one spring semester - summer. I
would say that the most important things are grades and understanding, however
basic that may be. The good grades will land you an interview, but your
understanding will land you a job when you nail the technical questions during
your interview. It wont hurt to try applying for some after your freshman
year. It's very important to send out as many applications as you can. Look on
job posting sites and apply to any internships you think you could be a good
fit for. Don't worry about your lack of experience; everyone has to start
somewhere, and there are plenty of companies that are looking to take on
younger interns.

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ConvictDev
I know there's know one-size-fits-all answer, but would it be helpful to learn
some data structures and algorithms in my own time? Was knowledge of these a
necessity in landing your two internships?

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FlyMuf
Definitely know your basic data structues, ie linked list, vector, etc, as
well as your basic sorting algorithms. A lot of my interview questions had
something to do with these topics. Also, in your spare time it wouldnt hurt to
pick up a new language that you can put on your resume. That will open up more
internship opportunities for you and make you a more desirable candidate. In
my opinion, I would suggest learning python; if you are going to be learning
C++ in school, python should be pretty easy for you to pick up. If you have
any other questions feel free to ask.

