Ask HN: CS Master's and non-traditional background. How to get first internship?

[OkHedgehog1508]

I’m a 1st year master’s student in CS at Columbia University looking to intern at a company this summer. I would like to gain industry experience before I graduate as I’d be able to learn what I can improve in terms of my skill set before looking for a full-time position. Before this, I got a bachelor’s in piano performance from Juilliard, the performing arts school in New York City. During undergrad I got interested in programming and learned on my own through things like Harvard CS50 before officially taking CS classes at Columbia through Juilliard’s exchange program.

In terms of my internship search, I’ve applied to 78 internships so far and have done a few online assessments but otherwise haven’t been successful yet. Aside from my classes I’ve been practicing 1 or 2 leetcode questions each day (also following the Blind 75 list). The job market seems particularly tough right now. I’m open to any suggestions or leads. I have a few personal projects on my website: https://rsoeyadi.github.io/projects. Thanks!

[derekja]

It's a hard year for internships. The school I work at has a CS co-op program which requires work terms. Several students a term just can't find jobs they are more excited about than an idea of their own. We often host them at the makerspace as "entrepreneurial co-op" terms. Having a portfolio project out of a term's effort might be worth more than a summer's salary if you can afford to do so.

Edit - Your calendar app is a nice start, btw! Showing users and impacts would be great.

[OkHedgehog1508]

Thanks for the advice and kind words, I appreciate it!

[amykhar]

I would honestly start looking for places that make software for music people. You have some domain knowledge that could be useful. Believe it or not, being able to pick up domain knowledge quickly, being able to write and speak well, and other soft skills will go a long way to helping you get employed in the field.

[OkHedgehog1508]

Will do, thank you for the advice.

[i_don_t_know]

Look out for on campus career fairs, and the student career center or whatever it‘s called at your school. They should have a database where you can enter your resume and companies can find you. You might also ask a professor, some have connections to industry through projects and former students.

[OkHedgehog1508]

Thank you for the advice!