Get Ready to Get Social!

Confession time: I was so introverted during my first internship that I barely spoke to anyone except my mentor and 2 interns until halfway through it (the fact that it happened during Covid did not help).

I don’t want this to be your experience so this week’s newsletter is going to be all about putting yourself out there and growing along the way.

Covering Your Bases

So the third week is mostly going to consist of further research and experimentation for your project. In my first internship, I was working on something that was new to everyone in my team so most of my time was spent on Stack Overflow and technical blogs. In my last one however, I had a good idea of what I had to do but there were a lot of avenues I could go down so I did small experiments with each approach to see which would be the most efficient and feasible.

Wherever you fall in that range, something to keep in mind is that your teammates and manager are there to help you. I didn’t take advantage of this much in the beginning because it seemed like a sign of weakness or a show of my inability to perform well. But looking back, that’s a pretty limiting mindset. You are here to learn how to approach real world problems and create large-scale solutions. No one expects you to have that knowledge coming in and the only way to gain it (without wasting a bunch of time and resources) is to learn from those around you that have been at this for much longer.

I’ve also talked to a ton of managers (mostly in tech, but I think this applies across the board) about the one thing they want interns to do sooner and it’s always “ask for help”. So go and talk your troubles out with your team instead of hunkering down and trying to power through it.

Coworkers → Camaraderie

Imagine you’re starting a new hobby, what’s the first thing you do? Ask your friends or look up YouTube videos on it, right? Well don’t treat starting work any different.

You can and should go around asking all your burning questions and getting advice on how to start off right. Give yourself a tutorial before starting the game. And what’s the best way to do this? Grab coffee or lunch with all your teammates individually. Chat with them about how they felt when starting out, what wins and losses they’ve faced so far, how they balance work with life, etc. Get a new perspective on technical things by figuring out how they approach new problems, communicate with stakeholders and so on.

This can seem intimidating but start off with your mentor to ease yourself in and go through the rest of the team in order of most warm to least. I can’t tell you how much I learned about everything from giving great presentations to managing romantic relationships just by sliding a cup of coffee to a colleague.

Get Yourself a Gandalf

Continuing with the theme of benefitting from the knowledge of those around you, this is a great time to start looking for ideological mentors. What does that mean? Well I’ve already talked about establishing a good rapport with the mentor that’s been assigned to you from your team (who you can think of as a technical mentor).

An ideological mentor on the other hand is someone that is doing or has recently done something you want to do, someone that embodies your ideas and visions. This is someone you’re going to want to grow a relationship that will last far beyond the end of this internship and will be a support you can use to guide you in the future.

Most people tend to start looking for this mentor towards the end of the summer as they happen to meet more and more people and get a clearer idea of what they want. I, however, am a huge proponent of creating your own luck. Starting now will give you more time to find the right person who is not only a source of wisdom but also someone that you vibe with and enjoy talking to.

So say you’re working as a data analyst intern but want to get into product management. Awesome, ask around and go through your company’s directory for people that are in that role and, crucially, narrow down on people that have recently gotten there. You don’t want someone that’s been doing this for 10-15 years because while they can give you a really in depth understanding of their world, they’re not going to be able to tell you specific, actionable things to do to propel you into the position you want. Instead, if you find someone that’s just made the trek you’re about to go on, you’ve got a nice little path carved out for you.

Now that you’ve got a shortlist of people that you’re interested in getting to know better, here’s what you don’t do: message them saying “Hey, I’m so-and-so, will you be my mentor?” I’ve used that exact phrasing in the past and honestly it is one of the worst approaches you can take. They’re gonna have no idea what to do with that or how to respond. Instead, I want you to ask a very specific question or their opinion about something you’re working on.

Here’s a foolproof template you can use for that:

Sticking with a hypothetical data analyst intern that wants to get into PM, maybe you’ve just done some research and analysis and found some interesting data. Now this might be the end of your task and those insights go on to fuel someone else’s job, but you can still reach out to this mentor about how to present this information in support of a change you want to make to the product.

This [problem] can also be related to personal projects you’re working if your current role and your dream role don’t have any overlap. So say you’re a software developer but you really need help with marketing a product you’re personally working. You might email them saying:

“Hey, I’m so and so, I’m working on this product and this is my target audience and my KPIs, I would love your advice on how I can market this better on social platforms. Here’s what I’ve tried and here’s what I’m thinking my next step should be…” 

This is awesome because, one, it shows that you’re not just messing around and, two, there is a very specific ask that they should have an answer to if this is in their domain.

And I know there is this inherent fear and anxiety of reaching out to more senior employees. Thoughts like “what if they’re really busy”, “what if they think I’m stupid for asking this question”, and so on are bound to pop up. But dude, if anyone bashes you for wanting to learn, they’re not worth your time anyway. Most people, from my experience, love to talk about themselves and what they do and they love to provide value. So if someone of quality reads this email from an industrious intern, they’re gonna respond. And if they don’t, fine, forget about them.

That’s it for week 3, do good work and get social! I’ll see you next week with tips on how to turn those replies into relationships.

If these words have been useful to you or motivated you, go ahead and help your friends and fellow interns out as well by clicking the big button below!