Internship hunting: a practical playbook
For student developers, the path to a first tech internship can feel overwhelming. In a recent GitHub Campus TV episode, Co.Lab Co-founder Helen Huang — who moved from earth science into a product manager role at Microsoft — broke down the process into four distinct phases: gathering experience, writing your resume, applying, and interviewing.
Breaking the process into stages
Treating the internship search as a sequence of steps rather than a single hurdle makes it more manageable. Huang’s framework gives students a clear order of operations: build relevant experience first, then package it into a resume, then work through application portals, and finally prepare for the interview itself.
The interview is where candidates often lose sight of what matters. Huang emphasizes authenticity over rehearsed answers. Hiring managers want to see personality, communication style, and the transferable skills that make you a unique fit — not just a recitation of coursework. For her, the interview is as much about showing who you are as it is about proving technical competence.
Tips that get you noticed
Beyond the general advice, Huang shared a handful of concrete tactics for standing out in a crowded applicant pool:
- If you find a role on LinkedIn, identify who posted it and reach out with a respectful, direct message rather than only applying cold.
- Study the two canonical texts in the field: Cracking the PM Interview and Cracking the Coding Interview.
- Use centralized application portals to widen your reach without burning time on repetitive form submissions.
- Quantify your accomplishments on your resume, making impact concrete and universally readable for recruiters.
- Start a blog or newsletter to demonstrate skills, interests, and motivation outside the constraints of a resume.
Full details from the conversation, including audience Q&A, are available in the archived episode on Twitch. GitHub Education also streams new content every Tuesday at 9 am PT on its Twitch channel.
