Time To Look Around

What’s up, what’s up! You’ve been doing amazing work so far and I’m sure your team is noticing. Still, it’s important to keep an eye out for the future and think about what you’re going to be doing post-internship.

And that’s the focus I want you to have this week. We’re gonna talk about shadowing other teams and getting a feel for your organization at large, and about what you’re going to be doing next summer.

Shadowing Those You Admire

What is shadowing exactly? It’s basically tagging along with a person or a team as they go about their day-to-day to understand what they do and how they go about it. You might want to do this with a team that is working in a role that you are considering or that just seems really cool.

For example, in my second internship, I occasionally worked with someone on a data pipeline and management team who fed us data. I kind of understood their responsibilities and stuff but I was really curious to know more. So, I reached out to him and asked if I could join him in his meetings and working sessions to get a better feel for that kind of job.

Now you’re going to need to get permission from your manager to essentially take time off from your work to go do this but as long as you’re in a good place with your assignment, it shouldn’t be a problem. If you’re unsure about how to make this happen or you haven’t interacted with anyone from a team that interests you, talk to your mentor. They will more than likely make a connection for you and introduce you to a person or a team in that capacity.

Another really cool outcome of this could be getting a job offer from that team. Story time: In my first internship, I shadowed a team and really liked what they were doing, which I made sure to express to them every chance I got. A week later, the manager for that team called me up and asked if I’d like to intern with them the following summer and set up an interview for me. Unfortunately, I kind of fumbled that but the fact is I wouldn’t have even had that opportunity if I never reached out to shadow them.

Looking Towards The Next Summer

I know you’re still pretty much in the trenches of this internship but, unfortunately, due to how much recruitment cycles are getting shorter and shorter, you’re probably going to have to start applying for your next internships now or pretty soon.

And I’ll say that regardless of how your current role is going, it’s still a good idea to get start prepping for interviews. You don’t want to get complacent or feel like this company is good enough cause you never know where you could go next and you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. Starting to prepare now is also going to take some pressure off of you once college starts and you get busy with schoolwork. So if you’re in tech, get back on Leetcode, if you’re in business, crack open those case studies and get yourself ready for another season of recruiting.

A final piece of advice on this topic is to lock down a return offer with your current company. Regardless of what happens, you’re going to want a safety option that you can fall back on and this is going to be the easiest to get. Talk to your recruiters, get on their good side, and learn about what the return offer pipeline is going to look like and make sure you’re compliant. If you’re interested in another role or team, you can talk to them about a potential shift for the following summer or doing a co-op program the following semester. Co-ops are usually limited so talking to them now will give you a higher chance of getting it.

That’s it for week 7. Sorry if this stressed you out, I just wanted to get you thinking about the future cause that’s something I didn’t do sooner. Continue to enjoy every single day you have left this summer!

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