Finding and securing an internship is a vital part of your tech career, and we’re here to help. We’ve pulled together all of our top resources to make it as easy as possible for you to know:
- How to find internships
- How to get an internship
- Internship interview tips
- How to succeed in your internship
and so much more.
We know the internship search can feel overwhelming, with highs, lows, and a lot of uncertainty. If you have ever felt stuck or discouraged, you are not alone.
Read: You’re Not Alone: What 3,400 RTC Members Say About the Recruiting Struggle
This guide walks you through the entire internship journey, from preparing your materials to evaluating an offer. Each section links to deeper resources so you can take action without guessing what comes next.
Prepare Your Application Materials
When preparing to apply for jobs, you want to make sure that all of your materials are of the absolute top quality. This may sometimes mean preparing more than one resume if you’re applying to different types of jobs.
Swadha Rai, Data Analyst II here at Rewriting the Code, keeps a master resume document that includes everything she needs for the different types of roles she applies to. That way, she can just pull what she needs from it and doesn’t have to generate anything new.
Watch: How Swadha Organizes Her Resume for Different Tech Roles
If you’re looking at us like, wait a second, I need help even putting together a solid Tech Resume, don’t worry, we’ve got you.
A strong tech internship resume includes skills, education, and experience. Without these sections, your tech resume doesn’t show everything about you. Companies want to know your skills, need to know your education, and want to see your experience. Make sure it’s known.
Read: How to Build a Tech Resume (includes recruiter-backed resume template)
Search Smart and With Intention
Okay, but where do you actually find internship opportunities?
For Rewriting the Code members, we have actually made it easy(ish) for you. In your teamRTC account, you have access to roles specifically sent to us by our partner organizations.
Explore: Internship Roles Available Through teamRTC
Beyond teamRTC, we encourage you to take a Values-Based approach to job and internship search. A values-based job search prioritizes alignment over application volume. Rather than applying to thousands of jobs, identify values and research a company, tailor your resume and cover letter to highlight those values, and apply with intention.
This approach helps you apply to fewer roles with more confidence and stronger applications.
Read: How to Conduct a Values-Based Job Search
As we mentioned in the previous section, having different variations of your resume can be helpful, and customizing your resume (and cover letter) to fit your desired internship is really important.
All Rewriting the Code members have access to nSpire, where you can use their AI platform to help customize and tailor your cover letter and resume to the job you’re applying to!
Use: nSpire to Tailor Your Resume and Cover Letter
Interview and Follow-Up
Last year, we asked TechConnect (our annual online Spring recruiting fair) attendees, “If tech interviews were a video game, which difficulty mode would they be?” and they responded with:
- 29.9%: Nightmare mode – almost impossible
- 37.4%: Hard – brutal but doable
- 30.8%: Medium – challenging but manageable
- 1.9%: Easy – a walk in the park
Most students find interviews challenging, but preparation can make them feel manageable.
Read: How RTC Members Prepare for Technical Interviews
In order to help combat that, we’ve put together a list of resources you can use (by our amazing VP of Data and Technology, Lucille Tasker) to help prepare for interviews.
Study: Ace Your Next Coding Interview With These 5 Resources
But what about after you interview? We’ve also put together a complete guide on how to message a recruiter and get a response.
Read: How to Message a Recruiter After an Interview (and Get a Response)
Excelling at the Internship
Setting yourself up for success in your internship is critical. You’re interviewing them just as much as they’re figuring out if you’re the right fit.
The most important thing is to be proactive, not reactive.
- Reach out before the internship begins to say hi to your internship coordinator/manager.
- Set up one-on-ones with your manager early in the process if not done already
- Ask for tips on excelling in the role.
These early actions help set expectations and build trust from day one.
Read: How to Make the Most of Your Internship
If you’re curious about how to make sure that internship turns into an offer letter, take a look at our interview with Swadha (that we mentioned earlier), where she goes in depth about how she landed not one, but two offers.
Watch: How Swadha Turned Her Internship Into Two Offer Letters
Make the Most of the Offer
Okay, so now you’ve applied, interviewed, interned, and then got an offer letter. Now what?
You take your time saying yes.
Reneging is on the rise, and while you don’t think it’ll happen to you now, you don’t want to end up stuck between a rock and a hard place, questioning what you want to do.
So before you accept the role, you need to ask yourself:
- Do I actually want to work for this company?
- Does this company align with my values?
- Is the location/pay right?
- Do I think I can grow at this company?
We offer a bit more on the renege process and what you can do before making a decision in our article, “So You’re Thinking About Reneging?”
Taking time to evaluate an offer is part of being a thoughtful professional.
Read: So You’re Thinking About Reneging? What to Consider Before You Decide
Community is at the Heart of It
You got this.
Reach out to the community around you. Complain in Slack. Ask for help.
You aren’t alone.
We’re in this together.