I have a high school Senior going into CS at a liberal arts school next year. She's majoring in CS because of practicality but also wants to explore her other interests. I don't think I'd even want her doing a CS internship after first year. She'll only have taken a few CS classes. She has some experience on her own but not a ton. Maybe if your kid is already really good at programming? (If so, why worry? They'll get a job.)

My husband is at a FAANG and his interns have all been rising Junior or Seniors and that was before the downturn.

So I guess I would say what's the rush? Especially with the downturn. Give it a few years for hiring to improve. Programming skills matter more than anything

But I also hope my kid will go to grad school for something. High school was one giant stressor. She worked her butt off. Got into good school with merit. I just want her to enjoy learning for a little while.

I used to hire our summer interns. I never interviewed a freshman who had the skills needed to be useful (and as a small company we did need our interns to be at least minimally useful). Either they your child and hadn’t taken the necessary classes yet or worse they were self taught and thought they knew everything but wrote appalling code. We very rarely got second years we could work with either. But we have hired third years who only had unpaid projects or retail jobs on their resumes the preceding summers. It’s not career ruining although I can understand why your child is disappointed. Good luck to them!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is a freshman with over 60 credits and 4.0. Nothing lined up but still looking. It’s rough out there. Might be looking at continuing to work on a research project and lifeguarding.

OP here. DC also has over 60 credits. I think this is part of why DC is anxious? They feel they are more like a sophomore than a freshman, maybe.

I'm trying to tell DC that credits mean nothing for internships. The vast majority of their credits is in GE classes (thanks to a ton of APs and the like). They are taking 200 level CS courses, but still doesn't mean much for internships.

How to convince DC, though.

Then there is not much to worry about. CS, unlike other majors, has a much wider range of students. You will find students already working on the side or capable of doing 300/400 level courses in the first year and will have no problem getting internships. Others who are doing 100/200 level courses may find it more difficult to get internships just after one year, but they will still do OK later. I understand it is not easy to get sucked into the rat race, but try to point out that CS has the largest enrollment at UMD for a reason. Enrollment numbers are a result of industry needs. Ask your DC to spend some time on open source projects, or work with a professor on a research project, etc. during the summer. Good luck!

Look into Microsoft Explorer program, meta-university program, or Google step program. These are created for first and second year students. And your kid applies directly to the company and not through their school, so it wouldn’t necessarily matter what school they attend if they can pass the test.

They used to say “ we encourage URM to apply” but it’s just that they want underprivileged students to feel
Comfortable not that it’s exclusive. Actually, most students that make it through are not URM, but that’s another issue

Anonymous wrote:Mine does not and is really upset. Thinks their career trajectory is now tanked. I told DC that most internships don't take freshmen, but DC said they know a few freshmen CS majors who have internships, and that things are different now... that if you don't have an internship by now, it will be harder to get one sophomore year.

DC has a summer job in retail lined up, so it's not like they will have nothing to do over the summer.

Tell me DC is wrong, and I'm right... please. I hope.

Could he try talking to the retail business and see if there’s anything he could do for the company that’s CS-related?

My sophomore didn't even look for one.

Anonymous wrote:At Northeastern, NUWorks which is the database used by employers, is still pretty robust with the usual FAANG companies. But remember, these kids as soon as they enroll are taught to network and interview for a co-op. I'm not sure if that database is available to the general public, but it pretty much starts you on second, if not, third base.

Thank you booster.

At Northeastern, NUWorks which is the database used by employers, is still pretty robust with the usual FAANG companies. But remember, these kids as soon as they enroll are taught to network and interview for a co-op. I'm not sure if that database is available to the general public, but it pretty much starts you on second, if not, third base.

Anonymous wrote:Some big tech companies are not hiring even within their intern pool. The demand for entry-level/a few years experience is very low right now.

This varies widely from company to company, and also by what degree and specific skills the new grad brings to the table.

Ongoing shortage of logic designers (VHDL/Verilog) with experience in FPGAs or ASICs, for example. Not a lot of those jobs are in metro DC. Most are in Austin, Boston, Portland, San Diego, or Silicon Valley.

Anonymous wrote:Don't fret, many internships come in the spring

someone up thread said they were usually all full in the November internship fair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rising junior has an internship this summer but is getting ready to apply for Summer 2025 internships. Should he list his specific CS courses with grades for each course, or instead list overall GPA?

Either is ok, as would in-major GPA, so go with whichever one looks best.

Thank you.

Don't fret, many internships come in the spring

I think this is somewhat cyclical

Anonymous wrote:Get internships lined up early for the next few years! Several tech companies, including some of the biggest, are not hiring new grads outside of their intern pool, which also happened last year. With the tech layoffs, the CS job market for entry-level SWEs is nothing like a few years ago.

And many big companies offer far fewer return offers than they used to to interns.

Anonymous wrote:Even the networking mentioned above isn’t enough. They need to begin preparing for tough data structures and algorithms focused interviews.

The best resources for this are a website called Leetcode.io(in the software industry leetcode is a verb now haha). a book called “Elements of Programming Interviews” is also essential. Mastering these materials well enough to consistently pass interviews can take months of hard work.

Facts. Similar to case studies for Consulting Gigs and Waterfall Analysis for banking. It takes more work than just sending in an application. Kids are prepping for months, have study sessions and clubs for them.