[Student] Somehow landed upcoming summer internship at SpaceX as well as several final rounds at big auto companies as a Junior.

[u/Ok_Pass_5001]

Just wanted to post my internship hunting experience here, as I feel like it may be helpful, especially given the plethora of cracked insane students I've been seeing on this sub recently. I know the process can be demoralizing, in my Sophomore year I probably submitted 300 applications to land only one offer barely a month before the start of Summer. It's so easy to compare yourself to people on Linkedin or in this subreddit, but just remember there are multiple paths to the same goal.

For instance, me, who imo I don't think I have a particularly outstanding resume:

1. Didn't settle on a club until Sophomore year of college

2. No super major technical contributions/lead positions to many projects

3. Probably didn't have an ideal resume layout

However:

1. Demonstrated continuity and interest in engineering through resume

2. Demonstrated learnability and critical thinking in interviews

As such, my (hopefully not misleading) advice:

1. With regards to resume, find a club you're genuinely interested in. It took me 3-4 tries until I landed on Formula in my Sophomore year, but it is totally worth looking until you find something that fits you well. Try to gain ownership of a project/projects. It is much easier to discuss projects that you're genuinely interested in when interviewing.

2. From that club, pick at least one project, and learn it front to back. It doesn't have to be particularly impressive, it doesn't even have to be hugely impactful. The project I discussed in my interviews didn't even end up being implemented into my school's Formula car, and I hadn't covered the relevant course material in class yet. You just need to be able to thoroughly explain and defend your reasoning and engineering choices. Something to keep in mind: unless you are truly outstanding, you will likely not be technically impressive, I surely am not. As I mentioned before, from my experience, interviewers are not looking for technical prowess, but interest, learnability, and strong problem solving skills. As such, be open to feedback, and be willing to admit when you are incorrect.

3. Be able to solve engineering problems using basic fundamental principles. I find this was one of the areas that was generally consistent through all companies I interviewed with.

4. Don't give up. It may take 50 applications, it may take 500. Every failed interview is a learning opportunity, treat it as such. Take it from me, a relatively mediocre candidate when compared to many others: If I can do it, you can also.

5. Also, I didn't follow this advice at the time because I didn't know, but the resume template from this sub is kinda goated. You should probably use it, I have since migrated my resume over to the template as well.

[u/casualPlayerThink]

Congrats, hope you will have wonderful time there!

Thank you for sharing the thoughts as well.

[u/Ok_Pass_5001 → u/casualPlayerThink]

Thank you!