The importance of the Internship
Why does LEARN emphasize the importance of the internship?
Many ask why we emphasize the internship as a part of the programming for LEARN. The answer is because our students need experience. They gain both real world experience with interviewing for actual tech companies and working with them for a full month. Not to mention the multitude of connections they make during the internship interviewing process. They gain first-hand experience in understanding what tech companies are seeking from candidates technically and culturally. Even before students experience the internship, we immerse them in a classroom setting which is designed to give them the feel of a programmer as either an intern or a full-time employee.
How do students prepare for the internship?
We prepare the students before their internship interviews by doing resume reviews and interview coaching. We focus on making sure they understand how to structure their resume for tech companies highlighting their past career experiences, career transitions, and technical skills.
How do you match students with the right company?
We match students with companies based off company cultural fit and required technical skills sets usually coined as “development stack.” We also prioritize companies who are hiring junior developers.
Here is an outline of our internship process:
1. Several companies are selected for our students to interview.
2. The companies present themselves to the every student individually, highlighting their development stack focus and the company culture of the day to day operations.
3. Students are able to ask more specific question on the requirements of the intern and what they can expect.
4. The students then choose between 4 and 5 companies they desire to interview.
5.The students then interview with the CTO or Senior Developer.
6. The students rank the companies on their first choice picks and so do the companies. This way students are excited about interning at the company and the company is also excited about working with the student.
We do take other factors into consideration when matching students with particular companies and vice versa. We consider the skill levels of the students and the development stack of the company. Also, we make sure the students pairing with each other for the internship is a perfect match. LEARN’s goal is to give every student real world programming experience with a senior mentor by their side.
Do students think the internship is helpful?
Yes of course!!! Our students need to experience the pros and cons when it comes to development. This can mean the luxuries of working remotely or spending hours tediously looking through code trying to find a solution. We check in on the students regularly to make sure that their experience is both positive and beneficial. We check with the companies as well to make sure that our students are meeting their expectations.
Does the internship set LEARN apart from other bootcamps?
Yes, our internship component is a deciding factor for many of our students. They are able to leave LEARN with a multitude of connections in the community, actual experience on a dev team, and a strong resume, complete with tech experience.