Last week, I had the honour to be one of the panellists for NUS CFG Internship Thursdays featuring Indeed. This is the profile I shared with NUS:
Jiayee is a software engineer at Indeed. She graduated from NUS Computer Science in 2019 and joined Indeed as a fresh graduate. Before she joined Indeed, she had the opportunity to intern at various reputable companies such as SGInnovate, Visa and ViSenze. At Indeed, she gets the chance to learn from brilliant engineers in the company while indulging her passion for creating impact through technology.
And here’s my answer script for the questions asked during the panel discussion:
What were your expectations of an internship?
- Learn skills that will be relevant to my career
- Use of relevant technology
- Soft skills (be a better person!)
- Mentorship
- Learn from the professionals
- Make sure I’m on the right track
- Not for hand-holding but to help unblock when shit hits the fan (don’t say this for real)
- Learn more about the company
- Whether I’m a good fit
- Confirm my choice of career
How else would I have prepared for an internship?
I wouldn’t. I’m convinced that I should focus on improving my technical and soft skills. This is so I can be better at what I’m interested in and stay motivated.
And how would you know if an internship is something you are going to like? Ask about the company and internship.
What helped you receive a return offer back then?
Not receiving a return offer doesn’t mean that you are bad or incompetent.
- Attitude
- It is good to have basic soft skills so that you don’t step on people’s toes. Feel free to check with your peers and/or CFG on whether you are on the right track.
- Ability to learn
- Companies are not supposed to expect 10 years of experience from you. But, they can expect you to pick up the necessary skills to deliver your project.
- Furthermore, technology is very fast-paced. We have to be able to catch up with these changes.
- Exceeded expectations
- Ask questions.
- Bring new ideas and perspectives to the table.
- If time permits, propose ways to optimise your project.
Lastly, do you have any tips or advice for our NUS students here on how they can become a SUPER INTERN during their internships?
Passion. Never do what you don’t like.
Last but not least, there was one question which I prepared for but wasn’t asked. Here you go:
How did you prepare for internships back then?
- Build your resume
- Find the missing things in your resume (if any), such as work experience.
- Have a plan to get these helpful experiences and skills. Common examples are internships and personal projects.
- Boost your problem-solving skills
- Gain a strong command of data structures and algorithms. Master your ability to apply them to solve various problems.
- Personal projects
- Apply
- Study about the company first.
- Talk to them at career fairs or other outreach events.
- Don’t be afraid of failure.
Hope these answers will help someone somehow sometime somewhere!