Hello, fellow readers! Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Jack Maginnes, a rising 2nd year Computer Science major at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Today, I want to share my incredible experience as a cloud engineer intern during my first internship. I’ll provide insights on how I landed the internship and what it’s like to work as a software developer for 40 hours a week. I hope my story will be helpful to those of you who find yourselves in a similar situation.
The Journey to Landing an Internship
After completing my first year at school, I knew I wanted to gain practical experience during the summer. However, with only one year of schooling, I doubted anyone would hire me. I was also uncertain about the application process and what to expect in the initial weeks of a job. In this blog post, I’ll share my steps in landing the internship and adjusting to the working environment.
I cast a wide net by applying to 42 positions and received responses from only 6 of them. Out of those 6, I was fortunate to get 2 interview opportunities. Finally, I secured 1 job offer. Some may argue that this approach is not ideal, but it depends on your situation. For me, I simply wanted to gain experience and earn some money. Applying to multiple jobs that seemed interesting to me increased my chances. And who knows, you might end up with multiple offers and the luxury of choosing the best one!
However, luck played a part in me getting this internship. Instead of going through a cold online application process, I sought advice from my academic advisor. She recommended that I send my resume via email, along with a brief description of what I was looking for in a summer position, to family, close friends, and anyone who could help. You never know who might have connections. In my case, a friend recommended me for a position, which led to an interview and eventually the internship offer.
Embracing the Unknown as a Cloud Engineer Intern
Here’s where my story takes an interesting turn. I landed a job as a cloud engineer intern, despite having no prior experience in cloud technologies. In fact, I didn’t even know what AWS was until my first day on the job. I was honest in my resume and application, so I couldn’t comprehend why they chose me. Naturally, I felt a mix of excitement and panic. How could I be a cloud engineer without even knowing what AWS was? It seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.
On my first day, I arrived feeling anxious and underprepared. I felt everyone would see me as incompetent. After all, I was a cloud engineer who didn’t even know the basics. But surprisingly, day one was relatively uneventful, filled with an internship orientation and getting comfortable at my desk.
However, it was on day two that my fears truly materialized. I was given my AWS console login and asked to explore it. Additionally, I was assigned my first task: writing a basic script in Go to retrieve files from an S3 bucket. The problem was, I didn’t know Go either.
At this point, I was in full freak-out mode, imagining myself as the first intern to be fired in less than a week. However, I realized I needed to calm down and start working. So I did what I always do when I need to learn something quickly—I turned to YouTube. I spent about two hours watching videos on Go, focusing on specific syntax and how it differs from the object-oriented concepts I was familiar with in Java. After that, I dove into the AWS SDK for Go to understand the basics of AWS and S3.
With newfound knowledge, I started writing my function. Keep in mind that looking at it now, five weeks later, it’s only about 15 lines of code that an experienced developer could write in just 10 minutes. But for me, it was a significant achievement. It took me a dedicated 2-3 hours of intense concentration, with my desktop split between the GoLand IDE and Stack Overflow (hope I can mention that here).
By around 4:30 PM, I had finished. I was ecstatic because it actually worked! I had written a function in a language I was unfamiliar with, working with a service I had never heard of before. I made a merge request and notified my boss. Expecting the worst, I braced myself for criticism about inefficiency or sloppy code. But to my surprise, within two minutes, I received a response saying, “That was fast. Looks great, I have accepted your request.”
I was overjoyed, and my smile lasted until I returned to work the next morning at 8 AM. This experience showed me that I could be assigned tasks that I initially didn’t understand, but with concentration and resourcefulness, I could cobble together a solution. Fast forward five weeks, and I’m still working on similar projects. I constantly deal with AWS services that I am still unfamiliar with, such as DynamoDB, CloudFormation, and API Gateway. However, when I take a deep breath, eliminate distractions, and focus, I can usually figure things out.
And what happens when I get stuck? What if I can’t figure out the next step? I’ve learned an advanced tactic—asking for help. It took some time for me to overcome the fear of sounding incompetent. Initially, I worried about asking questions because I thought it would reflect poorly on me. What I didn’t realize was that my boss had already seen my resume. He understood that I was new to this and that a lot was being thrown at me. Consequently, he always welcomed even the simplest questions with open arms. So, I learned that if I can’t figure something out on my own after a few hours, it’s best to ask for help.
I hope this post has been helpful and entertaining to all of you reading it. My intention is to inspire you and demonstrate that you can tackle tasks that may initially seem overwhelming. Remember, with dedication and curiosity, you can achieve great things.
Happy programming from your confused intern,
Jack Maginnes
FAQs
Q: How did you land your internship as a cloud engineer?
A: I applied to numerous positions and received a response from only a few. However, my breakthrough came when I reached out to my network and asked for help. A friend recommended me for a position, leading to an interview and ultimately the internship offer.
Q: How did you manage to work on tasks that you had no prior knowledge of?
A: It was certainly challenging, but I embraced the opportunity to learn. I turned to online resources such as YouTube tutorials and official documentation. Additionally, I realized the importance of seeking guidance from my supervisor whenever I hit roadblocks.
Conclusion
Embarking on my first internship as a cloud engineer has been a thrilling yet nerve-wracking experience. I’ve learned that casting a wide net in the application process can yield unexpected opportunities. Embracing the unknown and seeking help when needed have been key to my growth. If you find yourself in a similar position, I hope my story encourages you to take on challenges and believe in your ability to conquer them. Happy coding!