Software Engineer Internship
Software Engineer is the dream job of many people. Everyone starts in different ways. Mine is an internship.
I made so many mistakes during my internship and yet I learned a lot. I’m gonna share the tips with you, so you will not make the same mistake I did.
Don’t ask for everything
Asking questions is a good thing when you are in an internship but asking everything is a bad thing. Everyone in the company has deadlines and responsibilities. Asking for everything will cost them their time. Asking the right question, on the other hand, will save them so much time.
Programming questions should be answered with the help of google first. If you are stuck after several times trying, you can reach your senior/mentor for guidance. Questions about the system, on the other hand, should be asked immediately. Don’t guess how the system works, It must be clear before you start doing the tasks.
Every company has its code standard
Before we start an internship, I’m sure all of us have learned about programming. We can learn it from Bootcamp, self-taught, Universities, mentorship, etc.
We know to program like the one we learned. But we have to be aware that every organization has its preferences regarding the best practices such as file naming, file structure, etc.
I argue a lot about the best practices to code because I love to learn about best practices in code. As long as I learn, I figure out, all the best practices are good, and we should adjust them to the company's needs and preferences.
So make sure you learn the company’s needs and preferences before you start coding.
Listen, understand, and then take action
Some of the statements of our senior/mentor will be so different from the programming that we learned. Don’t be confused or judge whether it’s right or wrong. Listen carefully to the statements and try to understand them.
Some of the decisions are made because of the needs and preferences of the Company. Or maybe it’s just a wrong decision that our senior/mentor took.
Discuss with your senior/mentor if you think they did something wrong and tell them what’s your best solution.
P.S. Make sure you understand the whole thing and why the decision was made in the first place.
Always take a note
“It’s a small thing, I can remember it.”
“I’m still young, I got a great memory.”
“I’m good at memorizing.”
If you have that thought in your mind, you better ignore that thought, we are human, and we make mistakes. It’s better to take a note rather than figure out what the senior/mentor said the other day. Let me give you the case.
Weeks ago the decision was A.
The other day, It was changed it B.
Yesterday someone changed it back to A.
The sample above is only a decision, what if we have more decisions like that? We might forget the last decision that was made and remember the wrong one instead.
My suggestion is always to take notes. Don’t trust your memory a hundred percent, we are human, we make mistakes.
Make mistakes
As software engineers, mistakes are our best friend, It’s good to make mistakes, It means we learn new things.
Even if making mistakes is a good thing, It didn’t mean we can make mistakes on the live Application. We have to know where we can make mistakes and what to do when we make mistakes.
Make as many mistakes as you want in your testing environment, but remember, not in a live Application.
Conclusion
If you want to become a great software engineer, you have to be willing to learn new things, make new mistakes, and keep improving.
Programming is a skill best acquired by practice and example rather than from books.
— Alan Turing
That’s all I can share about my internship. Good luck with your internship — keep improving!
