Struggles and triumphs of getting an internship in a recession.
I spent the better parts of 2023 and 2024 searching for an internship, swimming against the largest wave of tech layoffs in recent history. I pulled all-nighters, applying to job after job for months to no avail.
My friends and I hid which companies we were applying to out of fear of losing an opportunity to the other. Some of us started thinking about extending graduation to excuse our joblessness. The first look at our careers was not hopeful.
Tech internship culture also feels like a battlefield. Having to impress phoney recruiters with a corporate act, hoping for a job offer, or adding people on LinkedIn that I will never speak to again makes me physically cringe.
The industry is even worse; it’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid complicity in the military-industrial complex or stealing people’s time, money, and data with no accountability (I’m looking at you, Zuckerberg). So, what was I to do now?
With that question in mind, I booked a meeting with a “career mentor” through LinkedIn for advice. I was told that, with my prerogatives, if I did not grind in the industry the way others were, I would have to “lower my expectations” about the offers I would get.
I was insulted and discouraged. I care and strive to produce good and meaningful work, but refuse a life in which my job consumes or corrupts me. Turning me into a corporate robot.
I realized then that I did not have to follow all the conventional rules of career-building. This acceptance radically changed my outlook and my career-pursuit style. From that point on, I sought out opportunities that aligned with my life philosophy in ways that felt more holistic and genuine to myself.
I stopped attending “networking events” simply because they were advertised as such. Instead, I went to conferences and events that genuinely interested me, which led me to connect with like-minded individuals and sparked meaningful conversations about mutual or differing curiosities.
I also picked up a side project. The truth is, a personal side project, which can be as simple as a certification in an art medium, skill, or trade, is necessary to supplement your education. Mine was a C# certification with Microsoft. I started sometime in 2023 and abandoned it halfway through. I kept it on my resume, incomplete as it was.
To my surprise, it’s what led my current company to hire me this September. They were impressed that a student had already learned the C# programming language since it’s not taught in the curriculum, setting me miles ahead of other applicants.
Some rules, however, still applied: I signed up to as many job boards as possible with every single imaginable notification set: “computer science,” “software engineer/developer,” “remote/hybrid/in-person,” “Montreal/Quebec/BC/Ontario.”
I still solve LeetCode problems and talk to phoney recruiters, but I now bring friends along and make a memory out of it.
The internship journey is different for everyone, and you might struggle more than others, but while you wait for one, your life is still happening. So don’t fret and wish it away.
Pick up a personal project you enjoy, attend events that pique your interest, and bring some friends with you. Eventually, an internship will string along, and you’ll realize that the struggle was (maybe) worth it all along.
