Inside the Pinterest Engage Scholars Program | My First Internship
The internship that changed everything for me
Hey everyone, so you probably have an upcoming internship at Pinterest and are wondering what it’s like to be an intern at Pinterest, or a Pintern. Another case could be that you have an upcoming internship and are wondering how to best prepare for your internship.
I was fortunate enough to participate in the Pinterest Engage Scholars Program a few years ago and decided to share with you my experience in the program.
Specifically, I’ll go over the overview of the program and share my experience with each of the sessions in the program.
Background
The Pinterest Engage Scholars Program is dedicated to providing growth and learning opportunities to first year and Sophomore students actively enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program with a demonstrated interest in a technical major.
Pinterest believes that building diverse teams is essential to building great products and encourages applications from underrepresented groups in the field of computer science. One item to note is that this program series is an unpaid training opportunity during the months of June to July.
So in terms of applicants, they’re looking for first-year and second-year students enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program with a demonstrated interest in majoring in computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, or a related technical major.
As mentioned before, applications from groups currently underrepresented in the field of computer science are especially encouraged. They’re also looking for students with an excitement and curiosity for computer science, technology, and passion for Pinterest. Also, they’re looking for an availability to regularly attend weekly virtual evening program sessions.
In terms of the program itself, Engage Scholars will attend up to two evening workshops/events each week during the months of June to July. They will work on improving technical and interpersonal skills to help prepare you for success in software engineering.
Past workshops included live mock interviews, skill-set development and recruiting deep dives. In addition, they will partner closely with an engineering mentor to set and achieve a growth goal during the program duration.
Session 1
I’ll go over each session in the program, starting with session 1.
In session 1, we discussed an overview of the entire program.
We first touched on the Program Goals and Learning Objectives, which were the following:
‣ Prepare for and land your ideal internship or role
‣ Find success and excel in a Software Engineering Role
‣ Navigate and Develop your career in Software Engineering
As for the program overview, we went through the topic for each session.
The first session was: How do I set and achieve goals for professional growth? We’ll kick off our program with a deep dive into Pinterest. You’ll meet your mentor and work with your mentorship group to set goals for the program.
The second session was: How do I stand out as a candidate in person, online, and through my resume? We come prepared to learn from recruiters on how to improve our presence as a candidate.
The third session was: How do I prepare for and ace technical interviews? We learn how to tackle technical interviews from the interviewers themselves.
The fourth session was: How do I succeed in a Software Engineering Role? We meet Pinterest engineers who started their careers as Pinterns and learn their tips and tricks to finding success in future roles.
The fifth session was: How do I learn more about different software engineering roles and specialties, and what might be the next step for me? Learn more about engineering at Pinterest and different skill sets that make up an engineering organization.
The sixth session was: How do I prepare for the next steps in my career? Everything from future resources to professional headshots.
In the first session, we set SMART goals, where SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.
Specific means well defined, outcome is clear. It provides enough detail so there is no indecision as to what needs to be done or how it’ll get done.
Measurable means know if the goal is obtainable and how far away the completion is. It also means to know when it’s been achieved and how it’ll be measured.
Attainable means Achievable; a goal even when it’s a stretch, should be possible with the current team and resources. It also means clearly defined steps.
Relevant asks the following questions: Who is the main person responsible? Who are the support people or dependencies?
Time-bound means a specific date or timeline has been set for achieving the goal(s). It also means the time is appropriate for keeping performance/work focused and on target.
Then, we went over the chart of setting SMART goals. The chart has the following column headers: state an intention, describe an area of focus, include the rationale, add the activities, predict a completion date.
In the session recap, we went over the best tips on how to get the most out of being a mentee. As a mentee, you’re responsible for driving the relationship with your mentor. To get the most out of your mentorship group, remember to:
• Understand what you want and need
• Think about the future
• Be honest and real, and
• Say thanks
We also went over how to set your personal goals for professional growth. It’s a specific way to articulate and focus goals. To set successful SMART goals, make sure they are:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Results-oriented or Relevant
• Time-bound
Session 2
Now let’s discuss session 2.
In this session, we’ll focus on how to best represent yourself and your skills as a student, engineer, and candidate. Pinterest recruiters will cover the most fundamental ways to stand out as a candidate through different platforms, events, and more. Through interactive workshops, hands-on help, and tips and tricks, we’ll focus on improving your overall presence as a candidate.
So we got a tour of one of the Pinterest offices. Then, we got the opportunity to work with several recruiters on different topics, such as building and leveraging your professional network, resume review, LinkedIn tips and tricks, and standing out at campus events and career fairs.
Then, we went over the resume building checklist. For content, it’s good to list your education, specifically your most meaningful classes/projects and explain why they were meaningful in 2 bullet points or less and list all honors, awards, or scholarships. It’s also recommended to create space to list finite skill sets and include any engineer, design, or business tools you know with proficiency. In addition, it’s good to share your internships and work experience and explain your impact at each role. Some other important tips are to place the most important and relevant information at the top of your resume, decrease your margins to .05 for more writing space, and include links to your GitHub profile and projects.
We also went over tips on an elevator pitch. It’s important for several reasons. One reason is you’ll be able to summarize exactly who you are and what you can offer to employers. Also, it can set you apart from other candidates who are vying for the same position. In addition, it makes you feel confident in accomplishments, projects, and experience. Some things to avoid in your elevator pitch include having a disorganized pitch and using acronyms, slang, or other jargon your audience may not understand. To craft your elevator pitch, it’s recommended to write down the following steps: define your goal, explain what you do, highlight the details, hook them in, and be yourself.
Then, we went over LinkedIn tips and tricks in a checklist. The first point is to change your URL to best reflect you as a candidate, student, and Software Engineer. This will also make you more searchable for recruiters. Also, select a professional photo of yourself as your profile picture and include a professional banner image with your portfolio and personal website links. Your summary should tell people who you are, highlight your strengths and values, and describe your experiences and skills. For your experience, summarize your experience in 2–3 concise sentences and describe the value you bring to a team or company and list a major accomplishment/project. Also, include your passions and interests to show your extracurricular activities and skills.
We also wrote example messages to send to the recruiters as if we’re applying for a role at Pinterest. My example is as follows: Hi [RECRUITER_NAME], I am [MY_NAME], an Engage Scholar and third year B.S. Data Science student at UC San Diego. I enjoyed hearing about your experience and resume tips, particularly with including interests. I would love to connect with you to share my interests in the American Red Cross and software engineering!
Then, we went over the session recap. So when attending a networking event, remember to be yourself, take notes (if you can), ask great questions, be specific and engaged, and don’t be afraid to join in. When sending a LinkedIn message or email, make sure to be specific and be personable.
Session 3
In this session, we focused on technical interviews.
Pinterest engineers shared their tips and tricks, led interactive workshops, and helped you feel prepared for every aspect of the interview process. We focused on helping you ace your future technical interviews, including resources on how to prep and guidance on asking the right questions. We did live mock interviews and interview prep with Pinterest engineers.
We discussed interview prep. Some general advice is to focus on one programming language and practice white-boarding for the technical interviews. In addition, it’s good to research the company beforehand by using the product or service and looking for recent news that you can bring up during the interview. There are numerous resources to practice technical questions, such as Leetcode and HackerRank. One important tip is to practice using the STAR format, which stands for situation, task, action, and result. It’s a technique used by interviewers to gather all the relevant information about a specific capability that the job requires.
We also discussed interview etiquette. It’s important to be yourself and practice running through your answers to potential questions for a phone or on-site interview. To follow up, go through the recruiter to get the engineer’s contact information. Also, keep LinkedIn follow-ups to a minimum. In addition, it’s important to ask the right questions to demonstrate that you have done your research and are being thoughtful with your questions.
We also discussed technical interview tips. Some tips are to keep your introduction under 5 minutes, listen carefully and ask for clarification questions, and ask questions during the wrap-up portion of the interview. There are 2 example problems to practice.
For the session recap, it’s important to know that interviews aren’t black and white, it never hurts to ask questions, always confirm that you understand the problem before you begin coding, and if possible, break your solution into functions. For technical interviews, start with an inefficient solution and optimize it later, use descriptive variable and function names, and comment the code.
Session 4
In the next session, we focused on how to succeed in a software engineering role.
We listened to a Pinterest engineering panel answer commonly asked questions about their work and life and Pinterest.
We did a deep dive on feedback. Good feedback is specific, clear, and actionable. When asking for feedback, be direct and upfront and be specific about your objective and what you would like feedback on. To turn unconstructive feedback into good feedback, ask a clarifying follow-up question, ask for an example, and ask about an action you can take to improve. To react well to feedback, practice your conversation about feedback, take a minute to prep before going into the conversation, and take notes to improve your feedback. One way to implement feedback is to set SMART goals for yourself.
Then we did a deep dive on collaboration. It’s important to work cross-functionally to work on your communication skills and understand ways to offer suggestions for an interdisciplinary team. For teamwork, it’s important to never assume anything, understand the what vs how, build together, and clarify decisions. We went over a chart going over examples of each of these tips.
In terms of ownership, it’s important to set your own goals, take full responsibility for your project, and be flexible with the ever changing environment.
Session 5
In the next session, we focused on learning about different engineering roles.
We had a Pinterest engineering skill set fair where we learned more about roles and specialties including:
• Mobile (Android and iOS)
• Web
• Machine Learning
• Infrastructure
• Data
• Full-Stack
• Product Management
• Data Science
I specifically remember talking with people from the Data Science and Machine Learning teams and their take on bachelor’s programs in data science. So it was a great opportunity to learn about data science applications in industry.
Session 6
In the last session, we focused on the next steps in your career.
We did a goal check-in and setting workshop talking about resources for your future growth and development. We also had dinner and dessert with the program’s speakers and facilitators.
So I hoped you found a lot of value from this article.
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